savannahchik.com » baby p

FO: Little Man’s Blankie

jody — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 09:06:24 +0000

I’m ending 2006 with a bang.
Details
Pattern Entrelac Throw from Vogue Knitting Baby Blankets Two. This is a great little book. I’m surprised I haven’t seen more baby blankets knit up from this book. At $11 it’s a great buy too.
Yarn RYC Cashsoft DK and Cashsoft Baby DK in creamy white baby DK #801, light blue DK #503, tan baby DK #804, greenish-blue baby DK #805, and olive DK #516. I used just over 1 ball each (yes, *lots* of leftovers).
Needles Addi Turbos 4 mm / US #6
Measurements About 29″ square.
Modifications Very minimal — I substituted Lion Brand Cotton Ease (at 16 sts per 4″) with Cashsoft DK (at 22 sts per 4″). I didn’t do any extra squares so I got a much smaller blanket. Since I had a smaller gauge I did 3 sts in garter on the outer edges instead of the 2. I also mixed up the color combos because I didn’t want the center to start out as a mirror image of itself.
More thoughts and photos behind the cut…

The color layout in the pattern is perfectly fine, except that I wanted the center of the blanket to have all 5 colors in it. If I were to do this again I would chart out the colors from the beginning. There were a few places where I have 2 squares stacked on top of each other in the same color. It’s not terrible, but it was by necessity and not design.

There are 84 squares in the blanket, and since each square is made up of 2 colors, that’s 336 ends. Partway through knitting the blanket I began knitting in the starter end with the following row. This halved the number of ends I had to weave in.

these ends are just from yesterday
Given how soft the yarn is I was concerned that the ends would work their way out. They weren’t staying in very strongly even when I knitted them in. The yarn just does not stick to itself at all. But, after I finished I put the blanket in the washer on gentle (plus an extra spin to get it as dry as possible) and the ends fluffed up on the backside. I don’t think there’s going to be a big problem with the ends.

The edges and the lines were the things that attracted me to this pattern, and they’re still my favorite part. Depending on how you look at it you see different shapes — diamonds and squares or shapes within shapes.

Final Thoughts I love the blanket, but I didn’t love knitting it. It’s just not the right kind of project for me. It’s so repetitive. Having said that though, once I met this little guy, there was no way I couldn’t finish it for him. There’s just so much to love about him — between his big toothless, open-mouthed grins, his crazy love for sweet potatoes (don’t get between Alex and his sweet potatoes) or his hatred for all food that is green (he blows big raspberries so the person feeding him can get a taste of just how bad it is) — I just couldn’t *not* finish it.
I hope you love it little man.

The Math Never Lies, Part 5

jody — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 08:23:47 +0000

baby p, 96% done
blankie, 38% done

Here we are, 11 days from delivery, and the blankie has grown to 38% complete (32 of the 84 diamonds).
On a more important note, I heeded all your great advice and weaved in all my ends. I now have a few more again, but still, those were a lot of ends!
I’m also knitting in the end that starts the color change. So, I’ve halved the total number of ends. Again, because you all pushed me and made me realize that I should! I don’t often (ever?) do much with multiple colors of yarn so it just didn’t dawn on me to do this.
I am, yet again, losing steam on this project. But, I’m staying on task and I haven’t picked up the needles to knit anything else.
4
The baby is due in 11 days. If I knit 4 diamonds a day I will make the deadline. And — almost as important — I will not have my 4-day July 4th vacation consumed with baby blanket knitting.

The Math Never Lies, Part 4

jody — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 18:54:35 +0000

OK, dear readers, you were right again. Several of you implored me to weave them in as I go.
I really didn’t want to do that though. As we all know, if the knitting is done, we can claim an FO.
well, not really, but doesn’t it FEEL like an FO?
Then I did a little math.
always, always, trust the math
84 diamonds * 4 ends per diamond = TMFE*
So, I’ve started knitting in the ends that get created when I start a new diamond. That halves the total number of ends.
And then, I’ve been occasionally weaving in some ends just for fun.
not really for fun, but certainly for good my sanity
Here’s the latest shot. It’s a little over 25% done — which means it’s officially growing at a speed several times faster than baby p.

too many fucking ends…336 to be precise

The Math Never Lies, Part 3

jody — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 06:19:17 +0000

Thank you all so much for your suggestions and general good vibes that you sent my way! I haven’t had a chance to reply to them because all free time has become blankie-time. So, here’s a big public thank you to you all!
I had a lot of great ideas to consider. In the end I’ve decided to

Knit exclusively on the blankie. Any other knitting right now wouldn’t have the same meaning. I have 2 cute sweaters sketched out for the baby but they’re not being done in a day (one is a gansey and one is an aran).
Look at the store to see if any of the coordinating items for the baby’s room are available. There are a few really cute ones that I could wrap up and be very happy with giving as a gift.
Put together a gift for Kelly — bubble bath, candles, etc. She’s had to live with my brother’s baby inside her for almost 9 months. She can use a little pampering.
I may also make a few bibs or burping cloths from MSD after finishing the blankie. I really like them a lot. I chose not to go this route for the shower only because it feels like cheating to hit the Saturday deadline.

Two things that several of you said that made me decide this path were the fact that a) the baby isn’t born yet. Kelly is scheduled for a c-section on July 7th, and b) they’re my brother and SIL and will DEFINITELY understand.
I will probably NOT bring the blankie with me to the shower. I want it to be a surprise in its completed form. Kelly used to read the blog but I had asked her to stop (and she’s so cool that I am positive that she did!) so I want the completed blankie to be the first time she sees it.
She already knows I won’t be finished. My brother told her last night and she called me and told me it wasn’t a big deal.
See, I told you…she’s very cool.
Now if you got this far you deserve a pic of the blankie. Here it is, all 17 squares of it.

The texture that has come out in the past day pleases me to no end. I’ve decided not to line it, which means every end has to be woven in as well as they can be (no hiding them inside the lining!).
Those of you who know me well know that I take it as a good sign that I fell asleep last night knitting the 17th square*. And I’m using that to tell myself that weaving in the ends won’t be so bad either.
I know, but let me live this lie for a little longer.
* it’s a prime number!

The Math Never Lies, Part 2

jody — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 05:45:11 +0000

My brother IMs me at work yesterday and we start talking about the crib that he’s making.
this is of interest for 2 reasons, the obvious one, and the fact that it’s supposed to be the main attraction at the shower and he wanted to drape the blanket on it so it’s not just a big piece of wood sitting in the middle of the yard
He tells me that he’s sweating it out because it needs a few more coats of shellac and the garage door broke the other night and so he really has to work on that first.
So I suggest, finish the crib on Saturday, then do the door on Sunday while we’re all at the shower. Simple, and both will be done by the end of the weekend.
here’s where the problem arises
Small issue with that…the shower is on SATURDAY.
I have no idea how I fabricated that it was on Sunday, but after a panicked call to my mom I confirmed that the father-to-be of my blanket-to-be was right.
So, dear friends, thank you for all the encouraging words. But, unless the encouragement comes with a flight to Philadelphia and an all-night knitting party on Friday night, it’s not going to happen.
It is mathematically impossible.
So, I have 3 choices:

Finish whatever I possibly can, and giftwrap it with a little “in-progress” note. Shudder when she opens it up in front of everyone
Make a small complimentary pillow, stuff it, wrap that with a little “blankie-to-come” note.
Knit up a quick baby sweater. I keep reading on other people’s blogs that they got a garter stitch baby jacket done in a night. Is that crazy? I’ve never knit a baby sweater but that seems optimistic

None of these options are exciting me, but I have 55 hours from the moment I’m writing this, 24 of those spent at work or commuting to/from work. Throw in some sleep and a few showers, and it’s not happening.
What would you do?

The Math Never Lies

jody — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 08:34:37 +0000

Blankie 9.5% done Baby P 92.5% done
Pangs of guilt hit me on Sunday and I pulled out the blanket to work on for a bit. I only got 1.5 squares done.
Then last night, after dinner, something clicked. This blanket is for my brother’s baby. The baby for whom he’s spent the past 6 months building a crib. My little nephew. The guy who will carry on the family name.
That’s when I realized: he cannot enter this world without a blankie from me.
We were sitting outside and it was already pretty dark, but I just had to knit a little. I knit a couple squares before I couldn’t see a thing.

I love the design more than ever. The little garter stitch edges give it a great tactile feel, and the RYC Cashsoft is so soft.
The shower is Sunday. Let’s just hope my motivation kicked in soon enough.

Blankie

jody — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 06:35:30 +0000

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.