Finished the baby blanket!
This isn't the greatest picture . . . ok frankly, it really sucks! But it's all I got this morning as I was rushing out the door, so it will have to do for now. It does show the construction of the blanket, which is knit by starting with a stockinette square as the center, then picking up all around and continuing on in the round, increasing at the corners. You can't see it in this picture but the blanket ends with another row of eyelets and then an inch of garter stitch, which I settled on after trying a few different border options. I'm very pleased with how it came out and have already cast on for a second one in a boy color!
For the boy one, I'm using Rowan All Seasons Cotton in a heathered brown. I've had the yarn in my stash for a few years and have swatched it several times for different projects, but it never seemed to find its calling. When I decided to knit this blanket a second time in a boy-appropriate color, I tried really hard to come up with something in the stash that I could use. But it seemed like nothing was quite right!
What's strange about my giant stash is that most of it is already allocated to a project (well, at least in my head). I tend to buy yarn with a project category in mind; so for example, I buy 2 skeins of Koigu if I'm planning to make socks, or 7 skeins if I'm planning a shawl or sweater. I tend to have either sweater quantities or sock quantities for all the yarn in my stash, and this blanket took only 3 skeins of the Dream in Color Classy, which means it used about 700 yards. All the yarn I found that was the right gauge was either too precious to use (no cashmere baby blankets here, at least not until they're for my own baby (someday!)) or there was too much of it to break up the lot and end up with an odd amount.
The latter was the case for the Rowan, too, unfortunately. When I bought it, I thought I might make a man's sweater out of it, so I bought 15 skeins! I only need about 7 of them for this, so I initially dismissed the idea of using the ASC for this blanket . . . but then I realized that if I don't make something out of this yarn, it will be in my stash forever. And it really is perfect for this design, especially since it's a machine-washable yarn (like Classy is). I'm adding a bit of pale blue as a contrast and I think it'll come out adorably perfect for a little boy.
Stay tuned to see that blanket and for better pictures of the girl one! Still have to come up with a name for this design, too . . .
Julie
August 25, 2009
I love it!! You can totally tell that once it’s blocked it’ll be showroom-ready. Gorgeous!! Are you writing up a pattern??