The baby blanket

When I found out I was going to be an aunt again I was ecstatic.  I love being an aunt.  It's probably my favorite role in life right now, so another niece or nephew was thrilling!  I also wanted the new one to know right off the bat that they were loved just as much as the first one.  So there would be knitting.  I queued up a bunch of blanket patterns in ravelry and patiently waited to find out the gender.  I found out that another nephew was arriving just days before I stumbled upon a score of Queensland Bamboo Cotton in Tuesday Morning for a song.  I couldn't resist.  The stash doesn't have many baby friendly yarns in it and those it does have are mostly pink.  Immediately I had a plan and 5 balls each of powder blue and light mint were on there way home with me. 

I decided to use my Vogue Stitchionary Volume 3 to make several squares or panels and then sew them together to make a whole blanket. The process and the blanket just sort of grew out of that.

Here's some pictures of the final result:




 

I apologize for the picture quality, I haven't quite figured out the lighting my new digs yet.

From left to right the stitch patterns are "scooter pie", "switching yard", and "masonry.  I joined the panels with a little triangle edging that reminds me of a dragon back.


I joined the panels by picking up stitches up one side of panel one and then down one side of the next panel on a large circular needle and folded it in half.  Then I worked an edging like you would on a shawl knitting together one stitch from each side at the end of each mini-row.

The edging in worked separately along each edge and it's just a simple ruffle pattern, which takes forever but has a nice effect. 

Overall I'm really happy with it.  Next time I'd use smaller needles to account for the drape of the bamboo, but since it's a blanket that doesn't matter so much. 

All in all it took 3 balls of each color, which means I have some leftover.  I don't have any plans for it right now, so it will return to the stash.

The one downside to this project, however, was that it took me a really long time to do it.  I just couldn't seem to find the time to finish it during my busy summer schedule.  I also wouldn't knit on it when my sister was around because I wanted it to be a surprise.  So, I didn't actually finish it until last month.  Parts of this blanket were knit in probably 7 different states and near the end, that edging really became a labor of love. 

Then I stupidly sent it in a package with a gift of crayons and a coloring book for my other nephew, From the south. In the summer.  I'm an idiot. My sister claims that there was only one small spot of red wax on the blanket and that she was able to get it off...but really my heart can't handle what I suspect to be the truth.  Sometimes I am my own worst enemy.