Under a snuggly blanket

I love to make blankets for babies and almost everyone, it seems, loves to get a handmade gift for their newborn.  So with two new babies expected in our family this summer, I had a lovely task ahead of me.

My parents were planning a trip to visit my sister and (hopefully) her new baby in mid-August and my gift had to be on that flight with them so that was a fixed deadline!  I started early, soon after my sister sent me an image of the nursery scheme they had included in their baby list.  I love a crochet squares blanket; all those little finishes, each square, each colour, each joined seam, each border colour!  I was finishing it right up til the last minute; I had to borrow a wool needle from my mum to sew in the border ends before I could leave it with them!

I had to tweak the colours towards the end to keep the balance more on the blues than the others and I'm really pleased at how it came out.  It's loosely based on the Elmer blanket from Little Tin Bird, my go-to crochet square for babies.

We were expecting a proper surprise this time round; no clue at all from any of our scans so I decided on a rainbow blanket for our little one.  This is a crochet granny stripe, you can find loads of patterns online but I think I originally found mine at Attic24.  It's approximately 60cm by 120cm, the same size as our cot, but folded in half, it's doing very nicely for the moses basket at the moment.

As usual, for both blankets, I've used Stylecraft Special DK acrylic yarn.  It's cheap and cheerful but you wouldn't know that from the feel of the finished blanket.  It's perfect for baby blankets because you can bung it in the washing machine and it washes and dries beautifully.

This blanket was not finished before the baby arrived but I did get it done in time to use it as a backdrop for some important photos!

For the love of giving

I got my first blanket commission a couple of months ago; a friend asked me to make a blanket like Samuel's to co-ordinate with her friends' nursery.  They chose the Snoozie Safari collection from Mothercare so after a quick reccie, I selected these colours of Stylecraft Special DK;

I used the dark green in the end, it just seemed to go better when I went to Mothercare to check out the collection in real life.  I tend to make these squares in stages; all the middles first, then the second round, then the third and finally the white outside rounds.  It's easier to ensure I'm getting a mix and balance of colours in the squares.

I completed twenty-five squares and joined them into a blanket using Little Tin Bird's technique.  I'm not a fan of square blankets, they seem to be less useful to me so I added another two rows (or ten squares) to oblong it out a bit.  Joining these squares is quite a quick process and very satisfying.

After joining, I added a round of white double crochet and then three rounds in half double crochet in saffron, meadow and lipstick.  It looks lovely and feels so squishy now it's all done.  And here it is all parcelled up, ready to go to its new home.

On knitting for baby

Milo Vest in Rico Essentials Merino DK in Khaki | This was such a quick and lovely knit.  I actually cast it on just before I had Samuel and finished it in the first couple of weeks afterwards.  It's my first attempt at cable knitting and it was a lovely introduction piece.  You can choose your cable pattern and since it's such a small section with plenty of plain stocking stitch in between, it's not too taxing for the brain.

Samuel's Blanket in Rico Soft Merino Aran, Various (Natural, Fuchsia, Mandarine, Jeans, Eucalyptus, Grey, Pistachio) | I've made a blanket for each of my babies, though I still haven't finished sewing the ends on Isaac's.  This yarn was recommended by a friend and it's lovely and squishy.  I chose a neutral colour palette because we didn't find out the baby's sex before he arrived.  The granny square is from Little Tin Bird.  I finished the squares and the cream border but ran out of the eucalyptus with about 6 inches left to do.  The colour has been discontinued but I found a ball at The Homemakery, I can really recommend this store, the service is excellent.

Puerperium in Sirdar Snuggly Smiley Stripes, Bambini Blue | I finished this little cardie just before Samuel arrived but didn't manage buttons for a few weeks afterwards.  I did it in newborn size, which fit for about a month but then I do breed decent-sized babies.

Magic Coffee Hat in Rico Soft Merino Aran, various | I didn't manage to make hats for Isaac or Anna but I used the odd ends of my blanket yarn to make a simple striped hat for Samuel.  This was while I was waiting for the extra teal to edge the blanket, which is why it doesn't appear in the hat.

On a little knitty fun

I still haven't scrapped these photos and I really must!  I bought some lovely lovely yarn, which was so soft and squishy in a gorgeous colour and decided to make a cardigan for Anna.  The pattern is called Granny's Favorite and I found it on Ravelry.  It was the first time I've ever tried any lacework in a project and I ended up starting it about four times before I finally got the hang of it!

It took quite a while and I had to go back to the shop for another ball of yarn to finish the sleeves.  God bless local yarn shops who will check their shelves to see if they still have the dye lot in stock and put some aside for you!  It took me ages to get around to attaching buttons so Anna could wear it but I'm really pleased with the finished result.

And she looks so cute in it!

On knitting to infinity

After all my blanket-making last year, I found myself unexpectedly with nothing on my needles shortly after Christmas.  A crafty friend had just cast on the 'My Favourite Things' scarf (free pattern available at ravelry.com but you need to sign up for an account first) and her first two stripes got me itching to start my own.  The pattern is completely custom, no two scarves will be the same.  There are some motif ideas on the pattern page and some links to other motifs from the website.  Otherwise, it's entirely up to you.

I'm using up my leftover Stylecraft DK in about 20 assorted colours on a 4mm circular needle so I cast on 96 stitches.  I initially used double-ended pins (because I couldn't find my circular needle - it was half-way through a baby hat that I started when I was pregnant with Anna), which is something I hadn't done for a while so I was getting used to knitting in the round at the same time as I learned how to do a provisional cast-on (the video that the pattern links to is excellent).  Oh and I've never really done two stranded colourwork before.  So that was new too.

And just in case that wasn't enough technique for one project, I finally learned how to knit in the continental style (i.e. yarn in your left hand).  I'm finding it much quicker and it was fairly straightforward to adapt to two-handed kniting (i.e. one colour in each hand).

I'm having fun choosing motifs for this scarf, including hearts, sheep and elephants.  I've added a few plain stripes to separate out all the different patterns, I just like the way that looks.  And that chevron-y stripe in blue and purple?  I made that up.  Just saying.