Stitched with Love

Miles of garter stitch, a seemingly never-ending edging, and two days to dry, but the blanket is done.

Pattern: improvised log cabin-style blanket in garter stitch with applied i-cord edging
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock (80% superwash wool, 20% nylon), in colorways (from center out) Bittersweet, Jay Pond, Cool, Georgetown, Grape, Mint, Uptown, Purple Iris, and Mixed Berries, with Bittersweet for edging; all partial skeins
Needles: 32" US 2 (2.75 mm) Knit Picks circular
Dimensions: approximately 27" x 27"
Started/Completed: September 16/October 15
Recipient: Amelia

I knit this blanket after a request from Amelia's mother, a coworker of mine. Amelia has a very rare condition having to do with her liver. Because of her condition, she is likely to wind up in the hospital from time to time and may even require a liver transplant one day. In her six months of life, she's already had one surgery and spent time in the NICU. Her mother lamented the fact that she looked so small and cold in the hospital, and at that moment I knew a wool blanket was in order.

I decided to use sock yarn because I knew it would be perfect for a blanket that would be warm but not too heavy. It also needed to be in a superwash yarn so it could be cleaned easily. I chose the Shepherd Sock mostly because I had a lot of scraps left as well as a lone skein of one color; Jen very generously donated two skeins she had that became the two outer stripes.

I purposefully kept the size of the blanket small. It will be just enough to cover Amelia now, and my hope is that, as she gets older, it will be more of a comfort object than a covering.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out, and I'm hoping that all the positive thoughts I put into it as I was knitting provide some comfort to Millie and her parents.