Adventures in Knitting a Baby Blanket

Deciding to knit a baby blanket was the easy part.  Search through Ravelry for the perfect blanket design and then buy the suggested materials? Noooo, not Haze. That would have been far too easy. I had a vision.  Fuzzy, like watching an old tv signal from an antenna that didn't quite pick it up .. but still a vision that I knew I had to follow.

I knew it had to be crib (cot) size. Not too big, not too small.  About this wide (what you can't see me stretch my arms?) okay, about a yard/metre wide, give or take 6 inches.  And roughly 50'ish inches long. Yes this was very mathematically calculated and precisely measured, why do you ask?

I knew it had to be edged with satin blanket binding. This was a no-brainer for me.  Because what baby doesn't love the feel of satin between their fingers as they suck their fingers or thumb?

I knew it had to be varying shades of  mauve, yellow and blue. This was part of the vision. You don't mess with the vision!  I found the most colourful satin edging at....wait for it... Walmart.  Yes, I bought satin edging that had all the required colours in it!  When knitting a blanket, who doesn't go and buy the satin edging first?
 
Next I  started the search for the yarn.  This little grandbaby is going to be born and will live in Australia.  Australia = Hot. Wool = Out. Acrylic=Out. Cotton = In. Bamboo=In.   So with binding in hand to match/contrast colours,  off I go to Ram Wools Yarn Co-op.  After a brief discussion with the very helpful gal that was working that day, we chose Estelle Cotton Cloud. Soft, lightweight and hopefully durable (we'll find out). I purchased multiple skeins in yellow, mauve and a shade of blue that I always call pencil crayon peacock blue, and that didn't clash too badly with the binding! 


I knew it had to be backed with blanket fleece.  This would make it warm enough on those cold Australian winter nights (yes, it does actually get cold at night there... it's all relative) And it would also be a nice thick pad for baby for tummy time on the floor. And hopefully to be snuggled up with as baby grows into a toddler and beyond.

With Sating binding and a braid of the three yarn colours in hand, I trek over to the fabric store.  I had a vision of (yes again with the visions) a deep blue that would compliment the peacock blue and contrast vividly with the yellow and mauve.  Fail.  I had 4 choices,  Goldenrod (puke yellow), Hot Pink (my daughter had been very explicit in her command to limit the amount of  pink...oh, did I not mention that at this point we knew our grandbaby was going to be a little girl!), Brown..really an ugly, pooh brown.  Or White.  White.  Who doesn't think White is a great choice for a baby blanket that will be dragged around and used on the floor?  Yes, I bought the White.  I only have to make it, I don't have to wash it!

I knew I was knitting quilt squares and I wanted them all different textures.  This is where Ravelry came in handy!!  I found various knitted afghans that had been knit in squares.  I knit the ones that moved me at that moment (again, this was all very specifically planned and thought out! Not!)

Now, quickly, glance up at the name of this blog.  Creative Procrastinator.  I know myself well enough to know that if I knit a bunch of squares that had to be sewn together I was going to have yet another bag with a partially finished project stuffed into a corner in my craft room.   I decided to knit the squares together as I knit them.

I started knitting in June.  Aylen Patricia Joan Robenn was born on July 20.  I knew I was going to see her in November.   I finished the blanket!!

I posted more information on the squares and more pictures of the blanket in progress and finished on my Ravelry Project page.