KnittingNatty

Project monogamy

This is what can be done when I stick to a simple and repeditive knit without straying onto other Projects (Please excuse the ends - will be woven in sometime before sending!)

The blankie was claimed by DD as soon as it was off the needles:

She loves da knittin':

and getting organised to inspect...

...dirt.

(as you do when you are 2).

Details: I ordered only 2 balls of Cotton Ease in each colour, orange, green and cream. I knit 8 rows of each colour until the cream colour ran out. I think switched to the next colour change, green, and did an ordinary cast off.

I'll post some better pictures once the ends are woven in and I give the whole she-bang a press with the iron.

Pattern specs to follow.

Bring on the Baby

'Cause finally, I'm ready!

Without further ado, the baby blankie in all its glory!

Would you like to see the personalities of each of the four squares?

Here's a closeup of the edging:

I am so pleased with how this project turned out, I cannot tell you. I envisioned from the outset that it would look beautiful but words fail me to describe it once it was all put together, pressed again, and laid out on the floor to look at. Using different colours creates a "sampler quilt" feel to the blankie that compliments the way that stitch patterns are used in the squares. Using mattress stitch to sew up the half stitch selvedge also adds to this harmoniously.

Looking back now that the blankie is finished, I remember how elated I felt hearing the news that the best man from our wedding and his lovely wife were going to have a baby. I reflected on the utmost value that my husband has always placed on his friendship with "our best man" (they have been friends since they were only a couple of years older than our DS). I resolved to create a blankie to give as a gift from our little family to their fledgling one that would embody the lasting gift of love over time and distance, as only a handknit can. I agonised over colours; yardage and possible yarn subs midships; how to piece the squares together; how to edge it. There were many quandries I faced with this project. The stakes were high.

Before I get too sentimental (Too late you say? Never mind!) I should add that the kids had a great time taking off with the squares around the house; standing on them; playing with them; getting food on them - but let's face it - it's a good introduction for the blankie's future life, so I let them have at it.

Specs:

Pattern: Blanket (imaginative title *snark*), pattern #13 by Kim Hargreaves from Rowan magazine #33; modified to 4 x 4 squares for a baby blanket measuring 95cm x 95 cm (37 inches x 37 inches) including edging.

Yarn:
A third of a ball of All Seasons Cotton (1 beige square); ex Smooch, stashbuster
A third of a ball of Cotton Ease (2 squares in pale blue); ex Bob, stashbuster
4 balls purchased from the Knitting Loft in Mid blue (3 squares); hot pink (2 squares); bright red (none used in the end - will be dishcloths) and Sugarplum (3 squares - I stole some from this ball to make a Panta)
4 more balls in Sugarplum, kindly gifted to me by Sharnette. Sharnette sent me the yarn for nothing, a present, plus she also sent it airmail. I want to say a huge thank you to you, Sharnette and Bless You - this blanket would have ended up being about 9 and a half dishcloths otherwise! (I knitted 5 additional squares from Sharnette's sugarplum CE and all the edging.)

I have a good third of the balls in pink and mid blue left, and about 1 and a half balls of the sugarplum over; plus all of the red, montioned above. These will be face washers or dishcloths come Christmas time. I used a good half a ball for the edging. To do this project again in one colour, I would allow 7 balls of CE. If you want to change the colours, then I would allow more yarn for piecing your pattern.

Needles: 4.5 mm addi bamboo circular 80 cms. I was supposed to change down to a 4.00 mm needle for the edging, but stuck with the 4.5 mm.

A good steam iron, lots of steam and a thick cotton tea towel were also essential.

Notes: See previous 2 posts as well re finishing information. The squares were knit up as a diamond shape really from one stitch up to 44 or so, and then decreased back down to 3 for casting off.

I am no perfectionist, but this pattern has lots of room for the perfectionist that wants to take over my brain sometimes. You could fiddle for hours lining up the squares and blocking and reblocking them for a perfect fit. The way the squares start off in the centre of the leaf pattern means that the cast on is very loopy, and this makes it difficult to seam up neatly perfectly. Also the fact that it is not a lined blanket always presents some perfectionistic finishing issue for me.

This is a beautifully constructed pattern, if a bit fiddly. I love the "yrn" increases which give a lovely half stitch selvedge for seaming, although the decreases on the other side of the square were not as easy, and you had to stick to the half st seam, or have edges that were out a little.

I think there is a lot of scope with this project to weave a little ribbon through the eyelets in the main pattern, and through the edging eyelets if you were so inclined. Also, a button, or some kind of notion cover for the centre of the leaf patterns may hide a seam intersection which is difficult to get right.

This blankie satisfied my quest for knitted construction challenges which is an ongoing theme in the projects I choose to make.

A final big thanks to Sharnette who came to my rescue with lots more Cotton Ease in sugarplum, without whom this blankie would have not been possible in its present form.

The world's flatest tea towel

I have never used my iron so much! It has been a very necessary tool in the finishing of the baby blankie.

This is the seaming on the third side. I measured the edging and had 3 meters a couple of nights ago, but as is often the way with these things, I am somehow still 60 cms short.

Whilst I would like to say that this project is finished,

* with children in the house, progress is always negotiable and a day to day proposition;
* I am also very cautious with a hot iron and Caitlyn around, as I don't use it often enough for her to be used to it;
* I have been very very tired of late - too much knitting into the night, and too much gym- and so decided to put myself to bed straight after dinner last night (this is when I get most of my knitting done);
* I was rushing the finishing, and it was starting to get sloppy, so I needed to consciously slow right down, and say "you know what? the baby is not here yet, why race to finish it?").

I really want the squares to sit square and flat, so I have worked out some things. There is something in the shaping of the bobble end of the square which elongates it. Steam blocking only went so far. So, when applying the edging, I took a half st of the edge and half a st of the blanket; but went to a full stitch on the blanket side where the bobbles start. When I went around the corner, I took at least one and a half sts to ease in the edging, effectively hiding the tip behind the seam. I am also trying to get the point to sit squarely over the corner. But most of all, I just want the blanket to sit flat and square when left to its own devices.

Given my seaming time over, I would also do a russian join for the seam threads. Once upon a time, a former boyfriend told me I think too much. Who knows, he may have been right! The comparisons between thinking too much about this project and the way a woman overthinks the birth of a first baby whilst waiting are not lost on me. So to, the question of when will it be over - this seems to be taking longer than I thought...

I think that I, like the mum-to-be and the baby, am getting there, one day at a time.

AAaaaaaarrrrrrrgh!

Can you see it? I'm not undoing it!

After all, that's what makes something handmade individual. I do wish that it was not at the centre of the blanket, all the same!

Confirmation last night that mother and child are still in one piece...

Things the baby blankie taught me

All the squares are completed, and all the sewing is done.

As this project is nearing completion, here are some things that I learned:

1. A "yrn" ("yarn round needle") creates an increase, which used at the start of the row, creates a really easily picked up half stitch slevedge for seaming. Have a lookie - the seam is done using mattress stitch:

This is a really nice pattern detail which adds to the overall feel of the project.

Similarly to the Embossed Leaves socks, the direction that the yarn is taken around the needle depends on whether the following st is a knit or a purl. It was a real quick lesson in which direction worked, because otherwise, you had no increased stitch to show for your efforts.

2. Aran weight yarn takes up more yarn than what you might originally think, and it is best to overestimate with thicker yarns.

3. Finishing technique really matters with thicker yarns. I did not have a thinner compatible yarn to use for the sewing part, and I did not really want to split the yarn for all those seams, so I used the yarn as is. I used a triple knot to secure the sewing ends, and then looped it on itself on the WS to anchor the thread more securely.

4. A row counter was really indispensible, because although row by row, the pattern was simple, I was easily made unsure of if I had done 1 or 2 knit or purl rows, especially when the pattern was new to me.

I have 3.2 meters of edging to go, and am wondering how the Mum and baby are doing...

One square after another

I have been worknig steadily through square after square of the baby blankie, and here is the progess as at Thursday night 7:43 pm:

Mother and baby are still in one piece as far as we know. I have not been able to get much knitting done during the days this week as usual, partly because DS Ian's play has become less independant again and partly because the Hubster has had evening work comittments. He does get to sleep here but that's about all, so I am *it* through the night and from kid-up to kid-down.

One square to go. The Sewing. The Edging. Let's hope I don't have Stephanie's powers for the Mum-to-be's sake. She's already 2 days overdue.