The secret is out!

No, I'm not referring to Alexis Stewart. You'll need to go speak with The FemiKnit Mafia about that one.

Instead, I am talking about our surprise baby gift for Baby K, the soon-to-arrive son of our very own Stacy. For the past three months, we have been working on a baby blanket for Stacy's little one. We threw her a party at lunch today. Here she is opening up our gift:


We all contributed a square to the project. Here's a "flat" shot of the finished product.


From left to right, top to bottom, the squares were made by Danielle, Christine, Cynthia, Erin, Deborah, Rhonda, Kathy, Paula, Claudia, Katie, Chris Q, and Jess. Danielle and The Mafia worked the border.

Here is a close-up of one section of the blanket, as well as some photos of the rest of us, celebrating with Stacy and enjoying some treats. (The observant among you will notice the chocolate cake from Rosie's Bakery. We also celebrated the Mafia's 31st birthday today.)


And, per my normal obsessive nature, here are the project specs:

Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Wool; 100% superwash wool. We used 12 different colors. I'm not even going to try to name them.

Gauge: One might think that the gauge was 18 sts and 24 rows in a 4"x4" swatch, as the name implies. If one thought that, one would be very wrong! I think our gauges ranged from 16-21 sts/4 in. Our "8 inch x 8 inch" squares were anywhere from 7.25 to 8.75 inches wide. Some aggressive blocking techniques were used before seaming up this bad boy.

Needle size: I used a 9. The Mafia used a 6. I'm guessing the rest of us were somewhere in between.

Pattern: We all chose our own stitch patterns. Except for Paula, who had to knit up her second choice stitch pattern, since Rhonda "took" her first choice. Edging is just a simple garter stitch with a slipped stitch selvage edge.

Baby K, we hope that you will enjoy snuggling up in your blanket during your first New England winter!