Sentimental

With the anticipated arrival of baby #2 comes a whole lot of time spent wondering what he'll look like, how well he'll sleep, how well he'll eat, how labor and delivery will happen, how I'll recover, how Teryn will acclimate, how I'm going to get around with a toddler in one hand and a newborn in the other, etc. etc. etc.  You get the idea.  Tomorrow marks my "full term" mark and with every minute that passes my mind races more and more rapidly. 

I mentioned in my last post that everything is ready and waiting for the little man to get here which has freed my mind to think past the necessities and start planning for the fun stuff.  That includes his blessing outfit.  Teryn's blessing outfit was really special because it's the same outfit Tyson was blessed in when he was a baby.  Being the sentimental person I am I don't want to bless any of our other sons in the same outfit because when they're all grown and have sons of their own, who would inherit it?  It's Teryn's and only Teryn's outfit so he can bless his son in the same outfit he and his father were blessed in, and all of my other children will have their own blessing outfits so they can hand them down to their children too.

So a few weeks ago I started looking online for blessing outfits and discovered they are quite pricey.  That's not what our pocketbook needs right now.  I know it's a special occasion that calls for equally special clothing, but when you know your baby is only going to wear it once in their lifetime (for only a few hours to boot) it's not something I (personally) can bring myself to spend money (that I don't have) on.  Plus, in comparison to an outfit that was passed down from a father, how sentimental is a store-bought outfit anyway?

With that said, I started tinkering with the idea of making his blessing outfit.  I have a sewing machine and basic enough knowledge of patterns that surely I could put something together, right?  Or what about crocheting?  I haven't crocheted in years- -probably 15 years, respectively- -but surely I could figure it out and come up with something?

After some thought and internet browsing I decided I would test my skills at crocheting.  I found a few patterns that I liked but had no idea where to begin with understand the pattern lingo.  I asked my mom and she didn't know either but she let me know that a lady in our ward that lives just down the road from me is really good with crocheting and could help me out.  I planned to call and ask if she could help get me started, but while laying in bed that night my mind raced with ideas and none of them entailed anything I couldn't pull off with the minimal crocheting knowledge that I already had.  So I decided I didn't need anyone's help.  I was going to create my own and do it all by myself!  (Call me hardheaded?  Stubborn?  Independent?  Ignorant?  Yeah, I know.)

I'll tell you right now, it didn't end up quite like I anticipated.  Almost, but not exactly.  And that's OK.  I can't get too perfectionistic considering I really don't have much crocheting experience.  I did learn three important things along the way that I need to remember the next time I attempt such a project.

1)  The more you add to a project the smaller it gets.  As the knots get tied together again and again, it shrinks.  Think bigger and it will end up the size you want.

2)  Choose your crocheting material wisely.  The yarn I chose is a soft baby type yarn but it's quite heavy which made for quite the bulky little outfit.  Cute and soft, but a little more hearty than anticipated.

3)  Crocheting hurts your hands.  Well, it hurts mine anyway.  I'll know never to attempt anything larger than this outfit. 

It's far from perfect but it was made with much more love than anything I could have purchased.

I hope that it will be as special to Ryder as Teryn's outfit will be to him.