Finished Object: EZ's Garter Stitch Blanket

Elizabeth Zimmermann's Garter Stitch Blanket (Opinionated Knitter and another magazine) is knit in four mitered pieces and then sewn together. I decided to update the colors to chocolate brown and robin's egg blue for a stylish little boy's blanket. Lion Brand Woolease fit the bill on color, easy care, and price. I took these pieces with me on a trip to California last fall thinking that the pieces would be very portable. They ended up being very portable, since I didn't get much done on them!

This blanket has been staring at me reproachfully for a year now. Or should I say the PIECES have been staring at me. I knit this for a special baby thinking "oh, a garter stitch blanket, I can finish that in no time!" Needless to say, I had to hurriedly switch to something else at the last minute to make the deadline. In my defense, I did go ahead and finish the knitting, but the seaming looked hard, so there was always time for that another day...One year later...Now I have two things on the needles, the beautiful white Michael Kors sweater from last year's Vogue Knitting Fall 2006 cover, and a little sweater for my 8-year old who claims I never knit anything for him. So with all of this going on, I find out my father has cancer and will need chemo. Having just gone through this with my mother, I know he will need something warm to cover up with during the chemo treatments. Of course, he needs an afghan, and I just bought the Rambling Rows pattern from LionBrand the other day.


But I've got 2 sweaters on the needles and blanket pieces that I keep having to shake the dust off of. Now I'm stressed and guilty. So, I divide and conquer (I originally typed 'concur', I think my brain is making fun of me). I hurriedly finish the last 10 rows on the back piece of the Michael Kors sweater and bind off. Good stopping point.


Then, I send the kids outside to play, lay out the pieces of the EZ blanket on the living room floor and start seaming. Hmm, this wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be, but it still took two hours. There. Done. But wait, I'm actually ahead! I have a baby gift and no baby to give it to! Woo hoo!