The Blankie is Here! (But Still No Little Girl to Wrap in it…)

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a blankie!

The “yet to be named” baby blanket!

Stats:

~38in X 41in

Knit from 5 balls Pattons Classic Wool, which I hand dyed in my “Fuzzy Navel” colorway , and knit on size 7 circulars

I LOVE how this knit up!  It wound up being bigger than I’d expected, which is great, and used up all but a few yards of the yarn I’d dyed.  I’m not one for self patterning, or predictable yarn, so this was perfect for me!  Just happy splashes of color thrown around 😀

The hearts border the whole blanket, surrounded by garter stitch.  The body is simple stockinette stitch.  Look!  I’ve even got a pattern (such as it is) for you!

*This is my first pattern written for the public, and I’m the only one who’s tested it.  Please let me know if anything is unclear or needs to be fixed.  Thanks!*  (click to make big!)

Heart pattern

The key was sadly lost in translation, but if you use your imagination a little bit I think this will work for now…

Odd number rows = Right Side, Even number rows = Wrong Side

Blank = Knit

O = Yarn Over

\ = Knit Knit Stitch

/ = Knit 2 Together

— = Purl

Cast on 162 stitches

Knit the heart repeat 6 times across what will be the bottom of your blanket.  

When you have a completed row of hearts along the bottom, start the next repeat, but only with one heart on each end of the blanket.  Stockinette stitch (knit right side, purl wrong side) should be between the hearts to create the large solid body of the blanket.

On the 7’th vertical repeat of the heart, do just like you did with the first repeat and create hearts all along the top of the blanket.

Bind off loosely.

I think this would be lovely in a solid color yarn as well…  I’ll worry about trying that maybe after holiday knitting (need to start that NOW!).

For the time being, I’m going to work on a few little things for the little one we’re very anxiously waiting for around here.  Maybe some headbands, Ooo! or a cute little pumpkin hat for Halloween 😀

In the mean time, I guess the blankie will just have to wait for its recipient to show up in her own sweet time.  After all, she’s not late yet.  She’s still got 5 more days before she becomes her mother and is perpetually late 😉

The Blankie is Nearly Complete!

I have finally bound off on the baby blanket!  It’s hanging out in the sink getting a good wash before I lay it out and
(once it’s dry) weave in all the ends.

Baby blanket taking a swim!

Other than that it’s been pretty quiet around here lately.  I caught a cold somewhere and decided to bring it home and share it with my lovely husband (oops!).  Now I’m just hoping that we can kick this thing in the butt before I go into labor.  To that effect, we’ve all been getting as much rest as possible the last few days.

Linus swears this is comfy

Ivy thinks the new rocking chair is just for her

Hank has a cushy retirement

Leah was a little miffed that I disturbed her nap

The hubby + beagle combo, always irresistible

Pictures of an actually finished blanket, and hopefully a free pattern for it should be up in the next day or two… you know… if baby doesn’t decided to interrupt things 😉

Still Plugging Along…

It’s been a busy week.  Preparing for a baby and a major move takes a lot of time and effort.  Thankfully I have an amazing husband who’s doing most of the packing and heavy lifting for me 😉

In and amongst all the packing and finishing up of the baby registry, we have found a little time to spend doing fun stuff.  We’ve been trying to go out on date nights, and spend evenings with friends while our schedule is still our own.  We also managed one last trip over to Disneyland with my grandparents 😀

Grandma, Grandpa, Josh, and I with the “Storytellers” statue at DCA.

It was a perfect day, despite the heat.  Maybe not so much the heat as the humidity :P.  I have never sweat so much in my life (cute hu?)!  Most likely more a side effect of being super pregnant, and less about the actual weather, but there you go.  And can I just say, my grandparents can hang!  They’re still going on the likes of the Matterhorn and Radiator Springs Racers.  I can only hope to be like them when we are their age.  I myself sat out of those rides as obviously I am going to pop at any given moment.

Speaking of popping, just today I finally broke down and got my wedding ring CUT off, because my fingers have gotten too fat to take it off any reasonable way.  It broke my heart a little, but obviously, it was necessary.

Ouch!

Yes, I do always have short stubby fingers… it’s just gotten worse lately.  Pregnancy during summer = take your rings off early!

The stubby fingers may also be another reason I’m such a slow knitter.  I do however have progress on the blanket to show!

Can’t decide which picture is better (worse?).  The first picture has the more true color, but the second one is just a better set up, and it includes my awesome wrist brace.  Obviously I am still figuring out my new camera and all its fancyness.

I’m hoping to make the blanket 6X7 heart repeats.  So far I’m at 6X5.  That’s some really fast knitting for me, especially since I did have to dye up two more hanks of the yarn after underestimating myself the first time around.  Being off of work for now has provided me with a good chunk of time each day to work on it though, which I’m thankful for, and very much enjoying.  Hopefully the little girl will hold off at least a few more days while I finish up.

All Caught Up! (For Now…)

Well, I’m plugging along on the baby blanket.  I am not a fast knitter by any means, and my dumb wrist (although getting better, yay!) isn’t helping me be any faster.  I haven’t decided yet just how long I want to make the blanket, but I’m about half way in either case.

Baby Blanket and Duffy 🙂

Here it is posed with a gift from a co-worker of mine, Duffy, in the bassinet we are going to use until we move to a larger apartment after the baby comes.

I’m loving how the yarn is knitting up!  Now might be a good time to confess that I can’t stand self striping or self patterning yarn.  Too predictable in my opinion.  I love how randomly this is knitting up, and yet it’s somehow evenly balanced throughout the blanket.  It looks like I’m going to have to dye up another two skeins before all is said and done.  I’m 37 weeks today, and little girl sheep could show up at any time really, so I’m trying to spend all my free time knitting on the blanket.

Fortunately, free time I now have!  Saturday was my last day working for the Mouse for now.  I’m going to miss it, especially my co-workers, but in all honesty I’m hoping to stay home with my little girl (dying yarn???) if at all possible.  It was a fun job while it lasted, and I’d love to work for them again, but family is first, and I’m having a hard time imagining handing over my little girl to a stranger for part of her days just so I can go sit at a desk.  I guess only time will tell how that one will play out.

***

Another big milestone… I finally finished off, AND gifted my friends their wedding blanket!

The Happy Couple ❤

Arn’t they sweet!  I was lucky enough to have both of them at my baby shower in San Diego last week.

Here’s a close up of the heart detail…

Since I was late in getting the blanket to them in the first place (their wedding was on Aug 12, my shower, the 26th.  Oops!), and since I was IN the wedding, I used a ribbon from my bridesmaid bouquet to thread through the heart.  I think it was just the touch the blanket needed.  It turned out super cuddly and squishy, and I’m so happy they liked it 🙂

***

Well, that’s me getting caught up.  I keep thinking about knitting myself a nice slouchy sweater for Fall, after the blanket is done, and probably after my little girl decides to show up.  What are you all working on, or daydreaming about working on as the case may be?