Blanket No. 1 finished and March for Babies

I finally finished my first blanket yesterday, which made me happy. No stitches dropped, I figured out how to bind off the needles OK and was even able to add fringe to it for a finishing touch. All in all, I am happy it turned out well, and hope one day it will bring some comfort to a family.

I've really been inspired by this project -- and by knitting in general. Knitting seems to be a good way to release emotions -- weather happy, sad, anxious, depressed, its been a comfort to pick up the needles and go for it! I've already started on my second blanket. Since I did blue this time, I opted to start on a pink one. And thanks to my awesome sister-in-law Audrey, I have a beautifully soft yarn to make it with. Also, please don't be surprised if you see Winnie-the-Pooh sitting in a lot of my pictures. Jackson's nursery is decorated in classic Winnie-the-Pooh, so the little guy means a lot to me!

I love the fact that I have some willing knitters to knit along with me or others who have offered some wonderful donations. Thank you again for your willingness to take this project on. I know we will reach many people by doing this. I still have so many ideas swirling around in my head for this, and as I said, I'm excited to see where this will continue to go. After I have a couple blankets ready, I will plan on making my first donation.

With this blog, I also plan on getting the word out about other happenings in the news, other nonprofits, etc ... supporting the prevention of pregnancy, stillbirth and infant loss. The March for Babies (aka March of Dimes) walks are quickly approaching. I know the one in Denver takes place April 24 in Civic Center Park. Registration begins at 8 a.m. I think a lot of the walks are on that same date or around the same date all over the country. The organization's mission is to prevent birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.  So if you feel like getting a little exercise and supporting a great cause, I encourage you to check out the walk in your area. Just go to www.marchforbabies.org, type in your ZIP code and you will be able to see a list of walks, dates and times. Unfortunately, Brent and I will be out of town for the Denver one, but we were able to donate a bit to a friend's team.

One side note about this organization is that when I first got married and moved to Denver, I worked at a day care for about a year. The day care was a big supporter of the March of Dimes, but I honestly didn't give it a second thought. Some of the workers and parents participated in the walk that year, but I opted not to. Now, in retrospect, obviously I wish I had. Obviously I view these causes a lot differently now. Not once in a million years did I ever think something like this would happen to me. That an organization like this would mean so much to me. Or how many people this kind of thing affects. I guess you never know where the life journey will take you.