A blanket for Tracer's baby

Tracer is "our" waitress at one of our regular pitstops.  When our Little Man (no almost 9) started to walk, we would choose the corner seats, line up the couches to make a little "cage", and he could happily stumble around the coffee table. She used to serve that corner and we quickly became "her" customers - to the point that wherever we get a table now, that poor waiter has to succumb and she will serve our table :-)

The Little Man now wolves down two of his own cinnamon sugar pancakes, instead of nibbling at bits of mine; and he's also brother to a five year old Bull Calf - both loved by Tracer.

She's a single parent, struggling to get out of waitressing, to get a better job.

She also lost a baby a couple of years ago.

So we shared her joy when she announced that a little one is on his way and I thought a little blanket would make a nice gift.

Enter my stash-busting endeavour and pile of Elle Rustica:

A Granny Stripe baby blanket

I wanted to use broad stripes, then realised that some of my colours would not stretch that far! So after a few repeats, the stripes became narrower, and after a few more the stripes became...single stripes.

Rustica is a soft, 20% wool blend, with lovely muted colours.   A also used it for my eldest's Giant Granny (that's the one I'm hooking in my banner photo). It has these black speckles and tend to become a bit pile-y, but is also a hard-working yarn that can withstand lots of use.  I tried to use all my blues, greens, khaki's and browns, with the white thrown in to brighten things up.

Softness

The blankie was delivered last week (she's still working!) and our baby is due 10 April.

Ready for delivery