Tag: baby blanket

It’s Spring! More baby blankets!
Home Stuff · Knitting

It’s Spring! More baby blankets!

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It doesn’t end! We have so many babies coming!

It’s usually my commitment to get the baby blanket done by the baby shower…. I did my best this winter and spring, but there were just too many babies coming to keep up!

I started this one just after the new year and the holiday buzz was over…. while I was getting the last blanket assembled, the squares from this one became my portable project.

This is the first blanket I ever made using Sugar n’ Cream cotton…. the mama-to-be likes things that are natural and simple, so I thought something in USA-made cotton with simple, earthy colors would be just the thing. Plus, they elected to be surprised by the baby’s gender, so these colors and designs were nice and neutral, and were sure to go with all of their other baby gear.

The squares were the usual 40 stitch width that I like to use. I’m fond of the number because it’s divisible by tons of numbers (1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 20… you get the idea) so I can do plenty of fun different patterns. I did a swatch and determined that I’d need to knit 55 rows to get a perfect square. I wanted a large blanket this time, so I went with a 4 x 5 square design.IMG_2414_2

Usually, I pick five colors, and attempt to do one each of solids, stripes, intarsia, and a knit/purl or lace design that features each of the five main colors. This time, I picked only four colors, and had to mix it up a little differently. I did one in each color of a solid, intarsia, knit/purl patten, lace pattern, and a stripe/block of color. I fudged a little and did two stripey blocks in the darker brown, mainly because I wasn’t sure I’d have enough of it left to do a full block in that color, and I had a fairly decent amount of the green left to do some more stripes with.

I wanted to do some basic shapes, and circles are always hard, so I needed to create a chart. IMG_2416_2Whenever I need to make a chart, I go to this page on the Sweaterscapes site to pull up the exact size graph paper to match the gauge of my knitting for a particular project. To get the correct proportions, you need to calculate the aspect ratio of your gauge–that is, the relation of height to width of your project. By dividing 40 (stitches) by 55 (rows) I got 1.375… and lo and behold, there’s the perfect size graph paper for that! I printed it out and got out the colored pencils to make the shape I wanted.

I had a lot of fun choosing some different sorts of lace patterns to try on this blanket, too… I particularly loved this cool diamond lace pattern. IMG_2447

I am a horrible seamstress (I’m working on that, I promise), so I do my assembly the easy way–I crochet the edges together. The secret to this is very loose cast-on and cast off–makes it easier to get the crochet hook through all the layers and keep them all even. BTW, Aren’t those rosewood seaming pins so pretty? I use them every chance I get.

I spend forever arranging and re-arranging to get the right mix of patterns and colors…. I never remember how they go, and things always get mixed up, so I usually take a few photos so I can remember where I wanted everything. I took the photo in the evening, so on our black dining table, it looks like the blanket is floating in an ominous alternate universe.IMG_2443_2

Here are a few more photos of the blanket in the gallery below, both under construction and finished. I’m super happy with how it turned out, and so very happy to be welcoming little Parker Jude, a healthy little baby boy, into our family.

 

 

Building another baby blanket
Knitting

Building another baby blanket

fdigitalisLeave a comment

Babies, babies, babies! We’re expecting no fewer than three babies in our little circle of friends and family in the coming weeks—all of them are due between mid-May and mid-June. So that means that I’ve been in high production mode ever since fall, with a little break to make goodies for Christmas.

Here's the early attempt at getting all the squares assembled. And JL can't help but photobomb even the most mundane of photos.
Here’s the early attempt at getting all the squares assembled. And JL can’t help but photobomb even the most mundane of photos with some portion of his body….

This is my most recent one…. one that I’ve (somewhat) managed to create from my stash of Berocco Comfort worsted weight yarn. I have probably done about seven or eight of these types of blankets over the years, so I’ve amassed a decent-ish stash of extra bits. I bought a bit of yarn in a single dyelot for the joining and edging parts, so any variances wouldn’t look too wonky.

I usually try to organize them on the dining table as I create the last two or three squares, just to make sure that I have a good mix of colors and textures.  I always try to do one of every color in solids, stripes, intarsia/colorwork, and some textured or lace single-color squares.

Here’s the finished blanket. I was planning on joining the squares with the cream color and edging too, but I had a ton of the dark brown left over, and it looked much more masculine and pretty. Leslie and Brandon are having a boy, and his room has a lot of this lovely espresso color featured.

IMG_2346
Finished baby blanket for Leslie and Brandon’s new baby boy.

As you can see, I changed up the finished version a little bit after the initial assembly shot above, but I’m super happy with the results. I really enjoyed doing the little Fair Isle type pattern on the center square, with the sheep, rabbits, flowers, and hearts. Some of the lace-patterned squares turned out nicely.

Extra-Special Gift Wrapping

Then, because I wasn’t behind enough on the blanket for the next baby (!!), I did something extra-special for the gift wrap for the finished blanket.

I love to wrap baby shower gifts in receiving blankets—they’re cheaper than gift bags, and have so many great uses for new moms.

I saw this clever little chain stitch on Pinterest that I’ve been dying to try, and I found some awesome little muslin receiving blankets. In my stash (I know, are you so impressed?) I also had this awesome fine cotton yarn that was the perfect shade of dark blue. IMG_2341IMG_2339I also dug up one of my old vintage crochet pattern books and found a page with some classic linen edgings, and thought this one was just awesome. (Sorry, the dark leather chair doesn’t really give you much to go on.)

Here’s what it looked like folded and wrapped around the finished baby blanket, and fastened with a diaper pin.

They’re having a grown-up baby shower brunch at their newly remodeled house today, and Cody’s taking care of their two kids over at our place, so I’m going to get a morning of mimosas and yummy food, kid-free. Can’t wait to see their reaction!