Around the Block baby blanket

The pattern for this project is available for purchase for $4.99US. This is an easy-to-intermediate project - it requires chart reading and cables. Grafting instructions are included.

Recipient: Raymond Hutner Rosen
Designer: Moi
Pattern: Around the Block
Completed: February 13, 2008
Colours: Royal Purple #330, dyelot 976
Yarn: Patons Astra, 100% acrylic, sportweight
Completed status: Still have to tag and give
Pictures:

regular view


wide perspective view

2008-Feb-20

So today I devoted myself entirely to the pursuit of finishing the writing-up of this pattern. This included grafting a (much) smaller version of the blanket and taking loads of photos of the grafting process so that I could include them in the pattern instructions.

Result: A finished and published pattern!

I'm really, really proud of this one. I've been looking, and I haven't been able to find anybody else who's thought of making a blanket like this, so as far as I know, it's original. The blanket is knitted all in one piece on normal-length straights (or a circular, whatever works best for you), using short rows to create the mitres, and using lace to turn the holes made by the short rows into a design feature. I love it.

It's available for purchase - just be warned, it's huge (3MB). I tried my best to knock the file size down, but there's only so much you can do with a 10-page pattern filled with tons of photos to illustrate grafting specifics.

Now I just have to gift tag the blanket itself, and get it over to my friend for her new boy.

2008-Feb-16

It took a few false starts with the grafting before I figured out exactly how I should've been starting it so that everything lined up properly. I will spare you the frustrating details of exactly what I did wrong. Suffice it to say that I was not a happy camper for a while there. It really sucks: a) grafting, b) undoing grafting, c) undoing grafting when the tail is really long (enough to do 99 stitches), d) having to do items a) through c) multiple times.

At last, however, I grafted successfully, and then washed and blocked it to try and stop the braid border from curling so much (it worked). As of Wednesday, I had a completed blanket.

It will, however, still be some time before I can make the pattern available. I have completed the (considerably) smaller sample piece that I will be using as the model to take photographs of the grafting process, and I have also taken shots of the actual blanket. But I still have to document the grafting and finish writing up the pattern, so stay tuned.

Here's a sneak preview, though:

2008-Feb-11

THE KNITTING IS DONE. Ahhhhh. What a fantastic sense of relief.

Alas, following shortly on the heels of that relief was a sense of utter fury. I started to graft the end stitches to the beginning stitches, and had done about 85 of them before I realised that I hadn't lined them up right - the end stitches were shifted 'off' of the beginning stitches by one lousy stitch. A thousand curses. Now I am faced with the unenviable task of undoing all my lovely grafting.

There are no words.

2008-Feb-8

I'm on the last eighth! The end is nigh!

2008-Feb-1

Some years ago, a certain baby boutique sold the crib I'd ordered out from under me, forcing me to crawl around on the shop floor dismantling a store model at 37 weeks gestation in order to actually have something my baby could sleep in. (I won't even try to pretend I'm not bitter. It's been almost 5 years and I still despise the owner - who totally did it on purpose because he wanted to sell it for more than my agreed-upon price - with the red-hot fury of a thousand suns.)

Now, my beloved LYS is a completely different story. It is staffed by lovely people, and the chances that the yarn they set aside for me would be accidentally sold to someone else are astronomically low. Nevertheless, my past trauma has made me totally paranoid about this sort of thing no matter who the retailer is, so I went back to the LYS as soon as I could, and picked up my two additional balls in the same dyelot just so I would have them for when I need them.

And I'm now pretty close to needing them. I'm working on the seventh eighth of the blanket, which means I'm over three-quarters done. It is a behemoth-like sea of purple, and I really like it. I can't wait to finish it, photograph it, and put the pattern up for sale!

2008-Jan-23

This is coming along very nicely indeed, although I am using up far more yarn than I anticipated. (Fortunately, the LYS has set aside extra in the correct dyelot and will reserve it for me as needed. Phew!) I'm now working on the second half of the blanket, and it's looking great.

2008-Jan-11

Being distracted by irresistible inspirations for other patterns has fortunately not hindered momentum on this project. It's going very well, and I'm actually ahead of Schedule with it - I finished this week's quota last night, five days ahead of when I had to.

I'm very eager to get this thing finished, photographed, and available for purchase. The construction of the blanket is so nifty that I can't wait to share.

2008-Jan-1

The other thing I was hunting for on my yarn store trip was more yarn for this blanket, since the 10 balls I originally bought will not be enough. It took us a while (and great patience and diligence on June's part, thank you so much June), but we found more in THE SAME DYELOT, hoorayhoorayhooray. I bought three balls just to be safe. Next step: write up pattern, then follow it.

2007-Dec-16

This past week, one of my best friends called up with the staggeringly joyous news that they have a little boy in their home now that they are fostering-to-adopt. I am delighted for her and her family. Naturally, I must knit the child something as a welcome gift, but it has to be perfect. I suppose I could whip up some lovely sweaters, or something, but I thought a cosy blanket would be much more personal. Blankets also have more potential to be cherished objects that make children feel safe, which I figured would be very important for this little tyke. Plus, I really want to knit my mitred corners blanket pattern again to work out the kinks in the instructions, because I think I'm going to submit it to Knitty. (I know that they don't ordinarily bother publishing blanket patterns, but this one has a very nifty and unique construction, which might be enough of a 'hook' to motivate Amy to publish it. We shall see.)

So! I shall be doing my mitred blanket pattern for this little boy. I want to use the 10 balls of royal purple Patons Astra that I picked up from the LYS at their sale this summer. Unfortunately, I've calculated the yardage I would need, and the 10 balls will not be enough. So I have to see if the LYS has two more balls in the same dyelot. Please cross your fingers for me.

Labels: hutnerrosen2