A Finished Object and Finished Season

Baby bib

Yarn: Lily The Original Sugar 'n Cream (100% cotton)
Color: Pastel print
Needles: US 9s
Stitches: 25

Bailing out of the French film last night meant I was able to make this in time to give to my friends expecting their first baby. There wasn't any rush. She's not due until mid-June, but I decided I wanted to give them the blanket now. Why not knit a bib for good measure?

I had only a couple rows of this knitted before getting to it last night, but it took no time at all. That's good since I didn't set my alarm this morning and didn't have time to weave in the ends or sew on the button before scampering to another screening this morning. I presented my friends with the blanket this afternoon along with some amaretto chocolate chip cookies I made. (If you check out the recipe, I made the cookies and didn't bother with using them for ice cream sandwiches.) I told them that I had one more gift to give if they didn't mind me working on it in front of them. I was able to do the requisite weaving in and sewing fairly quickly. I shouldn't have put the button so close to the edge, but hey, I'm learning.

I didn't know the gender of their forthcoming child, but they thought that the bib colors were good for a girl. And that's how I found out what they're having. These colors are OK for a boy, though, right? Or does it depend on the parents? If I felt in over my head on some of the knitting stuff, the baby stuff is definitely out of my league.

I left their place to stand in line one final time this season for the Blue Jackets cheap seats. (Some might say that's all a ticket to see them play is worth. The franchise has never had a winning season.) I took my spot in the box office line slightly more than an hour before the $10 tickets would be made available. Already there were 25 people ahead of me, so I wasn't as early as I thought.

I got the first seat in a short row, so I had some extra room. Also, being on the side made me less conspicuous, so I decided to knit while I waited for the arena to fill and the game to start. For the Knitterly Letter Swap I want to send my secret pal a coffee cup cozy along with my letter. The cozy seemed like a quick and easy project for the pre-game and intermissions, and I finished about half of it. (As I take a look at it now, I'm probably going to frog it all.)

It's funny how a man knitting in public quiets people. Those sitting in front of and next to me didn't say anything. I'm not the chattiest person when by myself somewhere, but it's not unusual to strike up a conversation at a game, if just to pass the time. There was none of that here. I could tell that I was confusing them. They didn't ask, and I didn't feel like explaining.

The Jackets lost 4-3, although they scored two goals in the third period to make it interesting down the stretch. I went to eight games, with Columbus going 3-5 in those contests. That's the most games I've attended for a pro team in one season in any sport, yet I spent just $86 on admissions. This was my first season regularly following hockey. Prior to this season I'd been to three Blue Jackets games in their seven years of existence. (One season was wiped out due to a strike.)

Despite the losing effort put up by the hometown team, I enjoyed the time I spent watching the games on TV and going to several. Plus, without hockey I likely wouldn't have had as unique of a story about knitting alone in public for the first time.