I haven’t blogged about this in a while, but my little nephew is scheduled to make his appearance in mid-July. I have to admit, the whole thing still seems surreal to me. My baby brother is going to be a daddy. Don’t get me wrong, he’ll be fabulous. But he’ll always be my baby brother.
I will definitely be making this baby some clothing, but since he’s arriving in the middle of the summer I thought I’d start out with a blanket. I figure you can’t have too many blankies.
They’ve decided not to go too heavy on a theme for the room. They’re using a couple pieces from this collection, but mostly it will be solids, stripes and prints rather than lots and lots of animals.
So, I decided to use several solid shades to coordinate with the look.
Next up was the pattern. Barbara has been blogging about her tesselating fish afghan for a while now. The pattern caught my eye immediately. I think I remember a pattern like this from my childhood, but quilted instead of knitted. Anyway, I love the fishies but after seeing the jungle-themed animals that will be in the room I decided to wait for another baby to make the fishies.
After pouring through lots of other blanket books I went with the Entrelac Throw from Baby Blankets Two. There were several that I liked in the book, but I went with this one because I love the construction style. I wanted blocks of color, and the entrelac method will let me avoid lots of block-sewing (which you know I’d be doing late at night right before the shower).
I’ve just started but I’m really happy with it so far.
Even though you have a lot less sewing to do you still have TONS of ends to weave in. I’ve made a promise to myself to weave in all the ends each time I finish a round (the ends at the tips will be done next round because I think it’s easier to weave them in when there’s another diamond connected). Diana mentioned a while back that she tries to do this on her projects and it really stuck. There’s nothing worse than finishing a project and sitting down for a several-hour yarn weaving session.
Lining — The back doesn’t look too bad but I’m leaning toward doing a lining right now. I’ll wait and see how it feels when I’m done. All those pointy edges will make for lots of effort if I do choose to line it.
Oh, the yarn — it’s Cashsoft DK and Cashsoft Baby DK. I’m using five colors:
- creamy white baby DK #801
- light blue DK #503
- tan baby DK #804
- greenish-blue baby DK #805
- olive DK #516
The blanket in the book is made of CottonEase so the gauge is pretty different. If I make as many squares as what is in the book, I think the blanket will be just over 30 inches square. That seems a little small to me, but since it’s Entrelac I’ll just knit another row if it is.
Great choice! I know that yarn well – it’s perfect for a baby blanket. I think it’s such a cool blanket – very different than the typical.
I love the colors! I’m waiting for the last color of my Cotton Fleece to come in so I can make a three-color Big Bad Baby Blanket for my baby brother’s first baby.
It DOES seem weird to me, too.
very cute! the colors are great. i’ve been meaning to email you… we should get together sometime for some knitting/chatting!
I’m happy to see that you went with the Entrelac blanket. I personally know two knitters who very recently made that fishie blanket, and found seaming the fish to be a total nightmare – let me know if you want more info/picture/blog links.
That is such a beatiful blanket! What a wonderful keepsake. I’m excited to see it all complete.
Good call on the Cashsoft. That stuff is heaven.
Don’t line it! Part of the charm of entrelac is being able to admire the construction from both sides.
Really great pattern. I haven’t done entrelec but I am intrigued. I really like the colours, very soothing.
Stunning blanket Jody! Love the colors…so much more classy than the usual mint green and yellow TLC feather and fan (or ripple!) that shows up at every shower! Congrats Auntie Jody!