Little Sweet Baby Blanket

I know I was so worried I wasn’t going to get this blanket finished before the mom-to-be left on maternity leave so you will all be pleased to know that I made it in time. When I gave the blanket to her it was the sweetest thing ever – one of my best knitting moments to date. Tears welled up in her eyes and she just couldn’t believe that I had taken the time and effort to make a handmade gift for her baby. It’s not that often that the recipients of our knits truly appreciate all the work that went into an item, so I was just so touched and joyful that she appreciated all the love that went into that project.

I’m also happy that she loved the blanket as much as I did! It really turned out super cute. The yarn is SO soft and it knitted up into such a cool multi-dimensional fabric. The drape is a little heavy for it to be something you would actually wrap a baby up in, but it will be perfect to throw on the floor for the baby to play on because it is really cushy.

As you can see, my model Joe Cow likes the blanket for cuddling and for playing, and he never once complained about the color pink threatening his manhood. He is such an enlightened soul – much like his namesake.

yarn details
Bernat Denim Style in Weathered Rose
70% Acrylic – 30% Soft Cotton
worsted weight
machine wash cool and tumble dry low
100 grams/196 yds @ $2.97 each (clearance)

pattern details
pattern: “Big Bad Baby Blanket” by Lisa Shobhana Mason on pg. 187 of Stitch ‘n Bitch
needles: size 9 circulars
gauge: 15 stitches and 22 rows over 4” in stockinette
size: final dimensions were 33.5” by 34”
yarn used: just under four skeins – about 750 yards
time: May 1 – June 26, 2008
total cost: about $12

notes…

• By the time I started the third ball I decided to use a new technique of weaving in the ends as I knit. This was really awesome and I plan to do it all the time.
• Wrangling all the ends was tricky because the fabric was reversible so there was no “wrong side” on which I could leave a little tail at the end of my weaving or any way to prevent the end from unweaving itself if I cut it really short. I had the crazy/brilliant idea of using a little bit of fabric glue to secure the last little end of the yarn inside the stitch it was weaving out of and then cutting it really short. It worked really well – I wish I could fast-forward several months after the blanket has been used a bit and see how the ends are doing. I guess I will have to try this trick on one of my personal projects to see how it stands the test of time.
• The pattern calls for holding two strands of fingering weight yarn together throughout, but I just substituted a worsted weight yarn. The yarn the pattern recommends is totally ridiculous – it’s a hand-painted fine wool, which is gorgeous but completely inappropriate for a baby blanket. I looked around a lot for an acrylic/cotton to use instead but I was disappointed because I couldn’t find anything that was quite as pretty. The stitch pattern is about as simple as it gets, so I really wanted to use an interesting yarn. So, I was flipping through my stash page on Ravelry and I remembered that I had this cool yarn which I bought on sale a year ago that would be perfect because it is like two colors twisted together so it has a lot of dimension. Luckily, the baby is going to be a girl, so it was also the perfect color. So, this project had the added benefit of stash busting, which is icing on the cake.
• Overall, this was a great sort of mindless project that I really enjoyed. I’d knit it again if anyone else I know is silly enough to have a baby, ha ha.