I ended up needing to cut Amy's baby blanket a few rounds
short because I just plain ran out of time working with it. I wanted to give it a wash and lay it flat before giving it to her -- and ended up staying up until 4:30 Saturday morning just to do so. Yes, 4:30 am. This made Saturday suck rocks because I still got up at 7:30 to take Sylvain to his bus for his last ski trip of the season and to attend my 8:30 fitness class. After class, I stopped at the office to check on some samples I had starting running on Friday morning and to do just an hours' worth of e-mail and messages. Afterwards, I went on the hunt for the perfect box for the blanket. Originally, I had wanted to use a cute hat box that I had seen at Meijer previously. Of course, I found that they were no longer available, so I took a quick trip over to Hobby Lobby and found an even cuter box.As for the blanket itself: even though this is the fourth
or fifth time I worked this pattern, I made sure to correct something that had been nagging me on the previous blankets. For the attached I-cord trim, I cut the working yarn, used a crochet cast on (chained 7 or so stitches using a waste yarn, casted on 3 stitches into three of the center chains, allowing extra chain stitches to hang on either side) to being the I-cord. This provided me a very neat corner that I was able to Kitchener shut. Of course, I didn't think to take pictures of this. Maybe taking good photos will be the part I'll change for the next blanket, so somebody, hurry up and have a baby already. [Acutally.....maybe I'll have one come your way, Carrie, if I knew your due date....] The finished dimensions on this blanket ended up being 32" x 32". As for the yarn, it was a good one -- no issues with splitting or odd breaks in the skein. Overall, it was a pretty solid superwash wool. My only complaint is that the color changes were very short (1" to 1.5" long), giving the blanket a look that reminds me of those microwave cakes from the late-80s (you know, those cakes that came with their own little microwavable trays -- the "confetti" version). [If anyone remembers this particular food atrocity, please let me know -- it's killing me to recall the company and brand name of this product and my on-line searches are coming up empty.]One thing that Amy and Andy did ask was what made the wool washable. I was at a complete and total loss as to really what to say and just replied that it was all in the way that the yarn was processed, forgetting that they are a very conscientious couple when it comes to chemical and environmental issues. Amazingly, it's never really occurred to me before to wonder what was really involved in making a wool washable, so I'm going to make it a point to find out and at least let them know. I'd hate to think that anything within the wool used to make this blanket would expose their baby to anything harmful. Usually when selecting a superwash wool for a gifted item, I'm concerned with making sure that the end product is as maintenance-free for the recipient as possible. Unless the recipient has a true appreciation for wool, they're not willing or understanding enough to care for the item in a way so that it doesn't shrink or felt (or both). Any suggestions from bloggerville on where to start in my fact-finding mission?
As for the Ravelympics Petals Wrap: my biggest complaint is th
at I'm not too sure about the crochet border. It looks even and the numbers worked out with what the pattern suggested as for stitch spacing, but on the mat, it just looks a little pulled in certain sections. If I'm really not happy with it, I just might end up ripping out the border and fixing it (really, it wasn't hard to do -- just a SC and CH1 with a bead inserted every 5th chain or so). I have a nice sized hank of the yarn left and a ton of beads. In fact, I have so many beads left over that I wondered if I did the edging incorrectly, but after re-reading the directions, found that I was right and there's just a lot of extra. If I were selling this kit, I would decrease the number of beads by 3/4, but that's just me. Maybe folks are using the beads within the pattern, which would be really neat, but involve more forward planning than I allowed myself for this project....
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