Baby Blanket Blues

I have finally finished that darn *bleeping* baby blanket that I started when I started this blog. You may remember these past posts on it; Get Your Gauge On and Knitting Publicly.

Good lord.

Its supposed to be finished with just 2 balls of the Bernat Chunky but since my gauge is too tight I started to run out on the last corner. (This blanket is knit on the diagonal) So I went anywhere that might have the same colour. I live in Toronto, this shouldn't have been hard. But it was. So my lovely mother found a ball back where she bought me the first two. She mailed it to me, express post. It did not arrive express. And then Canada Post went on strike. Eventually I got it and tucked it away since I'd started on the Big Bad baby blanket for my niece!

And it sat and waited for me, patiently. I got back to it once I'd finished and gifted the Big Bad blanket. And then I forgot to post about it! Awesome. So here, for your viewing pleasure are a couple of photos of it. I will not show it in detail as its best seen from far away. All those previous mentions of "oops" are still there. But I hope that it will still be well received when gifted. Because yes, I will lovingly give it to someone having a baby boy. I actually have someone in mind. And I hope they will lovingly accept it with open arms. It will help if they are blind. However, that's not going to be the case. Big hearts people, I'm going for big hearts!

This is a good corner with no screw ups.

Big Bad Baby Blanket

Hallelujah! Its finished. The blanket is finished! And I barely got it done for the birth of my new niece. *beam* > that's for the baby. Not myself. Although I am thrilled that I made it in time, although just by the skin of my teeth!

I learned a lot from this experience.
1. Have a crochet hook on hand.
2. Have faith to Ribbit.
3. Pay Attention! (dropped stitches... he-hem)
4. 'Relax' - I think my gauge is tight.
5. Its all worth it in the end.

From ripping out the first 10 rows twice to fixing dropped stitches with a bobbi pin, due to lack of proper equipment, I did it. I know I already mentioned that... but I did! I really made my first blanket from pattern and it looks how it should! (We won't talk about the 'real' first blanket just yet. You know, the one I was working on when I was on bed rest. Because its technically still not finished. But that's another story)

Let's just get to this one and tell you how I wrapped it up.

I've always been a procrastinator. I started this baby blanket in May. I figured baby's due in September... easy! Except I didn't stay on it and it was hard to get used to... (All those high school exam excuses) And in the last 3 weeks, I felt the pressure! So every night I spent time doing a few rows. On labour day weekend I did a lot since we went to my parents place and I had to show off for my mom and pull it out and knit away. Show her my mad skillz ya know? Then I totally screwed up. After putting my knitting down halfway across a row I picked it up and knit backwards! Yeah. Huge Bummer. I figured that out 4 rows later. But my mom came to the rescue and helped me get back on track.

So the baby was born and I rushed those last rows in and then realized. Ugh. I have to bind off! How the crap do I bind off?! Thank goodness for Google videos. But for the love of... why don't they all start out by saying, "Binding off is simple. You will still be knitting they way you have been, its just what you do with the stitches after you've done a couple." I was all worried about learning yet another method of stitches. But it was easy, even in seed stitch and its done. Done done done. Actually, take back one of those 'dones'. I don't have a crochet or yarn needle to weave in the ends. But once I do it will be done!

I presented it to my sister in law anyway. She loved it. Then I promptly took it back so that I could finish it. I'm a jerk. I know. But I couldn't show up to meet her baby empty handed!

Soaking it in wool wash to soften it up.

I used our baby foam floor mats to block it.

This was gorgeously coloured wool. Liberty Wool #7896 Sunset... machine washable!

Look at that seed stitch!

My daughter modeling it for me.