The first in a series of posts on knitting the most exquisite pooping surface imaginable

I spent $119 on a special order of Blue Sky Silk Alpaca in an absolutely stunning silver gray (it shines in a way that defies digital imaging) and now I need to find a baby blanket pattern worthy of it.


















Not that this will be the blanket used to take our baby home from the birthing center - that honor goes to some no doubt acrylic heirloom thing my in-laws are insisting upon. I figure choose your battles - Todd and I get to make decisions regarding name and vaccination schedule, so if they want me to wrap the kid in acrylic for cab ride home, well, fine. After that, only silk alpaca for my baby. And yes, I am aware that babies spend half their time leaking out of their diapers and the other half barfing and that maybe something machine washable might have been a better choice, but I hate the way superwash feels and I don't like knitting with cotton and I don't think I even need to say why acrylic is not an option.

Besides, having a kid isn't practical, so why should the yarn for its blanket be?

I was originally thinking about this pattern:


http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/alpaca-baby-shawl/people

But now I don't like it as much.

Then I was thinking about using the Stripes and Torchon Lace shawl pattern and just making it more of a square:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stripes-and-torchon-lace

but I swatched up the central diamond pattern and worry that the lace is a little too open (dime for sense of scale). I knit this on a 5:


















Then I thought of doing a lattice only portion of the Hanami stole pattern:

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/boojum/hanami-stole

But now I think it may be a little too Eddie Bauer Home for my taste...

Then I found this one on Ravelry and I think I love it:












http://www.ravelry.com/projects/KnitYoga/starflower-estonian-lace-baby-blanket

But isn't Estonian lace supposed to be a nightmare to knit? The Ravelry knit along chat for this pattern involves discussions of the best way to knit 3 into 9 stitches every 8th row - that means a lot of pulling and twisting, for sure. Probably not fun, and the pattern is $5, so I'd have to buy it to see how bad knitting it would actually be. Then again, after $119 it's a little ridiculous to balk at $5.

What should I do?