A long time ago I attempted to learn to knit, but it didn’t take. I was intrigued by the idea of picking it up, especially as I got into mathematical crochet and started to meet more and more math colleagues who knit, but I never got the momentum. When the first CPCS silent auction took place in 2007, I decided to bid on a basket of yarn and knitting lessons in the hope that having lessons lined up would motivate me to learn. I won. (At the same event, I auctioned off a wire-and-watercolor-paper mobile made to spec, which is why I can actually say that I’m a commissioned artist!)

I had no interest in the yarn that I won with the lessons, two varieties of rainbow pastel yarns designed for baby wear. I didn’t know anyone with a new baby at the time, and I prefer to give baby gifts in a less assertive palette. The yarn basket sat in my craft closet for the next few years. Then it occurred to me how appropriate it would be to use some of the yarn to give back to CPCS, so I whipped out this little baby blanket for the 2010 auction. It raised twice the cost of the yarn, so I think it did its job well.