Let’s keep this organized. I know I want to keep track of certain details on each of my projects. I’ll list them at the top and then answer item in order.
- Situation context for project
- Yarn (brand, quality/personal review)
- Tools Used
- Pattern (description, resources, personal review)
Context
First time knitting a baby blanket! It’s a big project with more yarn and time involvement than I’m used to but I am excited for the challenge!
My fiancé has friends who were married in 2019 and had a healthy baby girl in August 2020. At their wedding, they had the bridesmaids in green and the groomsmen in gray. I wanted to try to find similar shades to their wedding colors! It’s very hard to find baby yarn in adult colors. Mostly it’s pastels and most greens are not pretty greens. They also had a knot tying ceremony at their wedding so I wanted to include at least one cable.
Yarn
I searched high and low for the PERFECT yarn for my first baby blanket. I wanted something guaranteed to be soft enough for baby skin. I wanted something pretty. I wanted something with really good reviews. I wanted something MACHINE WASHABLE. I settled on this yarn from New Arezzo that I purchased through Hobbii. I purchased 2 skeins of green for a border and 4 skeins of gray for the main blanket. I’ll weigh all remaining yarn at the end but I’m planning to knit until I run out of either color and then decide I’m done. I’m confident at this point I’ll run out of gray first.
This yarn is woven a little looser than other yarn I’m used to. I had to be careful with the strands at the beginning but I got the hang of it quickly. I was worried that it didn’t feel quite as soft as I was hoping/expecting. However, now I have a good chunk knitted, I’m relieved to find it feels nice rubbed against my cheek. It’s not particularly soft per se but there are no snags and feels smooth and comforting. I’m hoping it still ends up being soft enough for baby skin and I’m reassured by other reviews of the yarn by people who HAVE used this brand for baby blankets/clothes.
My experience with yarn has primarily been sock yarn as of late which is fingering weight and although this yarn is listed as sport weight, it feels much more like fingering weight. I’m perfectly okay with that and honestly it would make lovely socks.
Tools Used
- Circular Knitting Needles (size 9 needles length 29 inches tip to tip)
- Knitting/Crochet Marker
- Scissors
- Tape Ruler
I inherited an interchangeable circular knitting needle set from my grandmother. This is my first project using them so I’m still getting used to them but I love the flexibility! If I want to, I can attach more length between my needles so I could really feel how wide the blanket is. However, I like to have as little length as I can get away with (personal preference).
I also use whatever I can get my hands on for keeping my cables neat. I’ve been using safety pins mostly but lately I’ve gotten some little crocheting markers which are honestly like little tiny safety pins. Since this pattern only requires 2 stitches on the cable needle, I can be flexible. I’ve even just used a handy crochet hook to hold those 2 stitches temporarily.
Scissors and Tape ruler seem pretty self explanatory. I’m estimating this blanket will end up being approximately 30 inches square (based on a halfway measurement) but I’ll have to do an update once I finish.
Pattern
I used the Summer Waves Baby Blanket Pattern by Alla Postelnik. It’s a free pattern on Ravelry. The directions are very concise and easy to follow–I recommend it! Instead of a standard Stockinette Stitch for the border however, I used a Seed Stitch just for a little fun contrast. I think it made the bottom a little wider than I intended but I still like the effect. I also added 24 stitches (the indicated pattern repeat amount) and have 160 stitches. I measured and needed a little extra width. This is usually the case with me since I tend to be a tight knitter.
I also used a different color yarn for the border than the main blanket. I used the technique indicated by knittingtipsbyjudy on YouTube. She had very clear instruction and it’s an easy video to follow along with. The technique was easy to learn and looks pretty with the contrasting colors. In this pattern with a distinct “front” and “back” I need to be conscious of looping the yarn in the “back” or wrong side of the blanket. I didn’t start that way and I can see a slight difference where the colors meet but it’s not disruptive unless you’re looking.
Final Comments
This is a progress report since I’m very excited about this first project and wanted to keep track of the details before I forgot anything. Will have to post a Completed version when that happens. Hopefully soon! I’ve been very determined so it’s been going pretty fast.
