An Agenda

This seems to be the year for babies.  Friends, family, acquaintances, that woman over there - ogling the chocolate aisle in the grocery store; they're all sporting either a pleasingly round bump, or a new little one.  Breeding is IN this year, my friends.  (Though not for this gal.  Oh, my, no.  We're onto the next chapter - the one where the kiddos are pretty trustworthy and independent - which means I get to slack off at gatherings and enjoy my wine, perhaps cuddle a baby or two, while my friends chase their toddlers.  And I get to sleep through the entire, blessed, uninterrupted night.)  All this baby-having is an awesome business, I must say.  Aside from the obvious perk:  that I get to love on some littlies (then pass them back to their harried parents and just maybe refill my wineglass); aside from that, my friends, there's this:  Babies are a major boon for knitters.

You see, knitting is a thoroughly selfish pastime.   Oh, sure, you may think we're quite generous with spending hours knitting a sweater, or weeks on a blanket, but listen up:  We do it, and happily, but with an agenda.  Here's the thing.  Knitting is sort of addicting, once you start.  All the lovely yarns, the sweet patterns...it does become somewhat of an obsession, if you're not careful.  Thus, by ensuring a healthy supply of breeding friends, we are able to justify our little compulsion.  The money spent on yarn, the hours spent knitting (that perhaps should be spent refinishing that dresser I started weeks ago), the time squandered spent wisely browsing Ravelry and Pinterest for knitting patterns.  Guess what?  We'd do all that anyway, if we didn't have you fine folks to knit for.  This way, we can say:  "Ah, dresser-schmesser.  I've got a baby to knit for!  I'm very giving, don't you know?"  "What?  Clean the house?  Well, but I would, only, so-and-so's about to give birth, and wouldn't it be a crying shame if that baby was cold?  When I, in all my generous glory, could have been paving the wool-clad way for that wee bundle?"  Yep, we're sneaky, we knitters.

So, here are a couple of projects I've completed recently...purely motivated by a generous spirit.  Of course.

For J's soon-to-arrive bubby:

 

The chevron baby blanket, from the Purl Bee.  It may be a selfish undertaking...but look how happy she is.  (And that baby won't be cold, you know.)

The next one was somewhat of a conundrum.  My brother and his missus have been expectant for many moons now, and I have been stumped as to what to knit my new nephew.  Because knit I must.  But I knew they weren't really the sort to dig a knit sweater...nor would they appreciate those awesome striped pants I made recently...and they'd probably think I was officially insane if I tried gifting their child a rainbow blanket.  Nor was I feeling particularly moved in the hat direction.  (See?  We may use you to justify our addiction, but we do attempt to make things you'll like.  Mostly.) 

So, the Kiddos and I were at the library the other day, and the Girl pulled a knitting book out, and wanted to check it out.  A toy and stuffed animal knitting book   Now, you may be thinking I have reached the penultimate pinnacle of nerdiness, but upon taking a closer look at the book - Knitted Toy Tales - I decided that it is definitely cool.  And I made this guy:

Who doesn't need a knit elephant, I ask you?  Right.  That's what I thought.

I finished in the nick of time, too...for look who arrived in the world yesterday:

Ahhh, bless.

Now, get out there and make some more babies, people!  I've got to get my knit on!