When I found out that one of my close friends was pregnant, my mind instantly wondered off to all of the adorable baby knitting I would be able to enjoy in the next few months. Tiny booties. Cute hats. Little sweaters. And of course, the baby blanket. This would be the biggest project of all my baby knitting plans, so it was first on my list to start.
Look at all of the cozy, squish-able layers!
Swish Worsted in Twilight, Parrot, & Dove Heather (3 balls each)
Bare Swish Worsted (2 skeins)
US 8 needles, 30″ wide & 40″ long
When I found out that my friend would be having a little boy and that the room was being decorated in a dinosaur theme, I knew exactly what colors I wanted for my blanket. I also wanted to keep the design really simple since I was looking to use a few different colors together. I knew that this blanket should be easy to take care of (for the sake of my friend, a new mom) and it had to be something soft and gentle enough for a newborn. So I ended up going with Swish Worsted to keep my knitting moving along quickly.
Also, I have to say – this blanket really reminded me of how much I love garter stitch. It’s fast, it’s squishy, and it is perfect for tv watching as well as movie nights. This meant I could work on it pretty much whenever I wanted while I was hanging out at home over the long holiday weekend, all without any fear of losing my place or skipping to the wrong row of a chart. I ended up working simple stripes for the body of the blanket and carrying each yarn up along the way, then picking up stitches on the long part of the blanket, and finally picking up stitches along the width of the blanket to complete the border.
I do have to say, I overshot my stitch count by a lot on the first try. After working a good 4″ or so, I measured the width of the blanket, which ended up being around 36″ wide. Way to wide for what I wanted, so I ripped it out, adjusted my number of stitches by about 10″ worth, cast on again and was back on track. I kept knitting the length of the blanket until I ran out of the blue and green colors. I used Bare Swish Worsted for the off white, so I knew I would have yarn leftover due to the extra yardage.
Finally, I finished off the border with Swish Worsted in Dove Heather. I wanted a nice neutral to outline the blanket, since I thought the blue or green would close it in too much. And again, I just have to say that this was all possible due to the awesomeness of garter stitch – this blanket was started and finished in just 10 days! And the best part about working on a blanket during the colder winter months? It keeps you warm as you work on it! All in all, I think it turned out nicely and it is so super soft and squishy, perfect for my friend and her baby-to-be. She lives all the way in New York, so I will be planning on bringing this along when I visit the east coast for the holidays. Next on my list of tiny things to adorn her baby? A hat with a pompom, of course.
What are some of your favorite baby gifts?
