Did you know that llama pregnancies last for 11 months? That’s probably not a whole load of fun for the mummy llamas, but it does at least give their friends an additional 2 months over humans in which to get something knitted.
I need to make friends with some llamas. The reason for this is that despite the fact that a friend has been pregnant for nine months and I have arguably had plenty of time to get knitting… Despite the fact that I’ve seen her a good few times recently and have cooed over her bump with exclamations such as “Ooh, not long to go now!”… Despite the fact that I possess a calendar and am reasonably conversant with how it works… IT HAS COME AS A TOTAL SHOCK THAT SHE HAS GIVEN BIRTH ALREADY AND I HAVEN’T FINISHED KNITTING!
This is of course ridiculous, given that she is patently not a llama, or a seal (also 11 months), or a giraffe (14 months), let alone an African elephant (21½ months).
Anyway, to nobody’s surprise except mine, she’s already given birth to a gorgeous little girl. Mother and baby are doing just fine, so I hear, although father may yet spontaneously combust from sheer paternal pride.
I’m counting on mother to be a tiny bit too busy right now to be reading here, so let me tell you about the knitting. To my shame, it’s not even as though I’ve had to knit an entire object on my own. Three of us got together and decided to knit a baby blanket together. Each of us was allocated a ball of Ella Rae ‘Cosy Soft Prints’ in ‘Tahiti Rain’, and had free rein to work whatever stitch we chose. New Mum is a knitter too, so she’ll understand the sentiment behind this gift.
Friend One worked a square of ten stitch spiral knitting. Being speedy with the needles, she achieved this in approximately no time whatsoever.
The baton was passed to Friend Two, who worked a leafy, lacy, design and then – being a perfectionist – ripped it all out and worked it again. Look!
These two portions were joined together and passed to me so that I could work a wide strip down the side of both squares. Pah! Easy! I had loads of time!
But I had forgotten that my friend is not a zebra (12½ months), and that time was short. I’d hardly started knitting my section when the baby inconsiderately arrived.
I’m working a version of basket weave because I thought that the interwoven effect would look quite pretty, and I’m fuelled by caffeine and some videos about speed-knitting that I found on YouTube. But if I go quiet for a day or so, you know why, OK?
Still, I should just be grateful that my friend isn’t a hamster: they’re only pregnant for 20 days.
Thankfully Summer is coming and baby won’t need a blanket right away, it is so pretty, I’m sure Mum and baby girl will love it.
Love it, love it, love it! There is lots of love knitted into that blanket to keep young missey warm!
I always smile or laugh out loud at your posts. Can’t believe you haven’t finished it. It’s not like you’ve been building a patio or anything, then I might understand, as it is, well…
Your post made me laugh, I’m normally exactly the same, sewing in the ends as I’m about to deliver a gift! I love the yarn, and it’s really sweet that you got together to make it.
Oh dear, occupied by all kind of things and then that naughty child came! And you were not ready. Confess to your friends and take your time. I make mistakes on caffeine and speedy mode. I think we all do and have to frog. Poor Lama’s, longer then us women. And I thought it endless until I exploded.
I can count on a smile or a chuckle whenever I read your posts. I’m also gobsmacked every time at your skill, and today at your friends skills as well. My goodness what a thing of beauty. Is it as soft as it looks, too? As an aside, did you read “Is your Mama a Llama” to your wee ones? Congratulations to your dear friend and best of luck with your speed knitting. I love that three of you made one blanket. What a terrific gift.
It will be worth the wait, I’m sure. Especially with other knitters…(tongue in cheek), it’s not as if they ever missed a deadline, right? After all, your dear girl was just excited to see what you were crafting for her.
It’s amazing how that happens,but this year has been very strange in that the days have been passing by much faster than normal, in fact I think whole months have simply disappeared, persoanly I think a computer virus is to blame.
This post made me laugh so much, how dare she not be a giraffe! I have been in very much the same situation when pregnancy just flies by and you seem to have not finished your gift by the time baby arrives. I’m sure she will love her blanket when it arrives <3 such a lovely sentiment behind it x
What a lovely idea! and the baby wasn’t even premature I assume!
I feel better now. I have two tiny baby kimono sweaters ready to go in the mail right now for twins that are just home from the hospital. We did not know they were girls until they arrived so this might sound quite efficient. It is not. They spent several weeks in NICU upon arrival (and are fine now), I can knit that pattern in two days, and I managed to take over a week just to sew on the snaps, which takes maybe 15 minutes. To top it off, they live outside the US in a country with sketchy and very slow postal service. I am very late and it is so nice to know that I am not alone!
So much fun to read about all the different pregnancy times for animals! The blanket looks beautiful, this is a very lucky little girl that your friend just had
Love the combination of the pattern. Mom and bub will love it
What a lovely idea, a collective blanket! And it makes me unnecessarily happy that it’s for a baby girl and *not* pink-with-all-the-frills.
I’m also very late with some baby booties for a friend who had twins. I just need to sew buttons on and they’re done, but they’ve been sitting in my UFO pile for months…
Such a cute idea it is. I can see the your love in the blanket. I would love to sew the same design. Thanks for the post.. Would definitely share once i will be done.