Finished: Leaf Blanket

For those of you  regular readers who are already tired of prenancy posts, I've come up with a drinking game to make things more interesting. Every time you read "belly" take a drink. Same for baby and bump and any synonyms for pregnant including but not limited to: knocked up, preggers/preggo, expecting, with child, harboring a fugitive, in a family way, bun in the oven, having a baby, in the pudding club, gestating, baking, on the nest, in a delicate condition, in trouble, glowing and growing, up the duff, eating for two, etc. Drink twice if it's a new-to-you one or I combine terms, like "baby bump." Drain your drink if I say Raspberry. By now those of you already playing should be quite toasty. So, let's begin... 

I haven't posted a single knitting project since, oh, April. That's because as soon as I learned I was pregnant - and with an autumn baby no less! - I started knitting. I've knit so many baby gifts for others that I had a rather long short list of projects. But one of the baby blankets that I knew from the start that I wanted was Susan Anderson's Leaf Blanket.

Image From Spud & Chloe 

I think it's an adorable way to wrap up a tiny baby pea-in-the-pod style. And since a green leaf is gender neutral, it's ideal for Raspberry!

I knit this up in just a few days on size 15 needles in MadelineTosh A.S.A.P., which is 100% superwash merino wool in a super bulky weight. For non-knitters: superwash means that I can throw it in the washing machine without if felting instead of having to hand wash. In addition, I've read that some babies with very sensitive skin can't tolerate wool but that the superwash process, which strips or coats the scales from wool fibers (or a combo of both) can make is more gentle. We'll see!

In addition to being soft and cushy, what I like about the yarn is that the hand dyeing leaves it variegated, with patches of light and dark green. I think the colorway - Jade - is really rich looking.

The whole little blanket is meant to be wrapped around the baby like bunting and secured with a button.  I chose a lady bug button.

Lady Bug button!

Oh, right: we had help modeling the final blanket from Dragon the Hippo, who loves to be a part of whatever fun thing is happening. In his mischiefy way, Dragon is very into being a part of the baby excitement and was pleased to learn that his pot belly makes him a rather ideal model for baby things despite his small size. He was happy to dive in!

Snuggle-Hippo

Anyway, this pattern is super cute and also incredibly quick and easy to knit. A real win!