Rows for Ro

I'm secretly knitting at work. Seriously.
Sometimes, I knit in the storage closet, perched on top of boxes of Physics textbooks.
Sometimes, I tuck my knitting under my desk and listen so intently for my bosses' footsteps that the slightest squish of a rubber shoes makes me jump.
Sometimes I go on "break" to the bathroom, and knit...in the BATHROOM!

It's become an addiction.

When my friend, Cash taught me how to knit, she warned me. "You'll love it so much, you won't be able to stop." Well, Cash, you were right. I'm a stitch-head.

What makes knitting so fantastic, for me anyway, is the quieting of my mind. I'm a busy-brain. I'm always thinking, analyzing, concocting, creating, inventing. And, most of the time, when I have a thought, it comes out my mouth. I'm not much for censoring myself. I've never had the time to think about what I'm going to say before I say it, because as soon as a thought enters my brain, I spill. This is one thing I both love and hate about myself. I'm sure you can understand why.

Anyway, I digress...knitting quiets me. I don't know how to explain it, but there is something soothing about the passing of the textile over your fingers, pulling through the knot, slipping the loop over the needle. I literally don't think of anything else. And I LOVE it this way.

Sometimes my husband starts asking me a question, and I don't even hear him. But I still answer, "uh huh". Then, John calls my bullshit. He's starting to realize that when I'm in knitting world, I don't think. I should make a sign that I wear around my neck. NO THINKING WHILE KNITTING!

Actually, that's not entirely true. I do think about one thing. I think about Ro. He's my motivation for this first piece: a blankie. Once I got the hang of the stitch, and I knew I was going to create something, Rowan was the only person I could see receiving my first project. Who is this Rowan character, some of you might be asking? What makes him so special? Ahhh...allow me to tell you a little bit about this guy.

Rowan is the son of our lovely friends. He is six months old, and he is absolutely PERFECT. Not only in the way he looks (he is literally the most beautiful baby in the world!) but also in his demeanor. He has the coolest personality, and I can't wait until he starts talking. He's going to have so many funny things to say, and I know he's going to crack us up all the time. Sometimes, I can't believe how long I've known him. I remember the day Shannon called me to tell me she was pregnant...like it was yesterday. I was smiling and weeping in my cubicle, and my co-workers thought I had had a stroke. The day Esten and Shannon found out they were having a boy, and brought the sonogram pic up to campus to show John and I, seems like it just happened.

Nine months, plus six months means I've known Ro for a while. And I love him. We dance in the living room to "Jane be Jane" by Ben Folds, and I kiss his cheeks like they'll disappear if I don't kiss them enough. By this point, he's my friend. I think about when John and I will have to move away from our dear friends, and it breaks me. I can't dwell on that too much though, or I'll start to cry.

So for now, I'll finish that blankie! It's got to be ready in time for the Phish tour in August. It's a version of this pattern but it's made with Acryllic for the outdoors. It's going to be durable and washable, but still soft. Ro can chill on it while his parents dance around like crazies. I bet you anything he'll be laughing at all of us. That's his style.