Growing up, I’d seen my grandmother knit or crochet a few Afghan blankets and footies, but I didn’t learn to crochet myself until I went to boarding school and I housed with girls who would sit around making blankets when they weren’t doing chores or homework. They taught me how to crochet a granny square, and I soon made my first baby blanket. Next, I made a throw for my mother, and then I quit making anything with yarn for, oh, 20 years.
Four years ago I found out my brother and his wife were expecting their first baby and the first thing I thought to do was to make a baby blanket for this child. I like the idea of crafting something from your own hands and heart to give to those you love most. I visited a local yarn shop, Knit One, that carries really unique (and expensive) yarns and carefully selected my material.
The yarns in the shop were so varied and beautiful, I was inspired to learn how to knit just so I could work with them. A friend and I signed up to take a 2 hour knitting class offered at the store. I purchased this wonderfully soft Malabrigo kettle-dyed Uruguayan yarn and knitted my very first piece.
Isn’t it amazing what you can turn a simple string into?
This is my friend Alyssa, who took the class with me:
Alyssa and I started a virtual trend, and soon others were crocheting and knitting, too. We got requests, we searched new patterns, we collected books on yarn crafts. We also agreed that the knitting class we took was not worth the cost and I have since learned all of my advanced stitches either online or from a book.
Alison saw this interesting pattern in an Etsy shop and asked if I could replicate it for her.
Baby blankets are always in demand:
And I saw a girl wearing a hat I really liked, so I went online and searched for a pattern. Now I get compliments on this hat almost every time I wear it and I love to say, “I made it myself!”
the Duchess of Amboy 