Whew, I’m glad to be done with this blanket. It’s been an extremely frustrating project.
(but I did learn a lot!)First of all, I ordered the yarn online for the first time. I didn’t love it. Even after researching a lot of projects made with this color, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. You can tell by the pictures that it looks very different in different light settings. But I was making it for a baby due in June and I didn’t want to go through the hassle of returning and re-ordering and knitting a gift last minute… so I stuck with it. I really didn’t love knitting with this yarn either. It was splitty and I didn’t like the way it knit up. I choose the yarn based on other comments, and for washability, but I wish I’d used a blend or a washable wool.
I really wanted to make a simple stockinette blanket with cables down the sides but the curse of the stockinette curl haunted me. After several swatches I thought I’d be safe with a small garter stitch boarder that I could attach an I cord boarder to. At first it seemed to be working, but after I was a substantial way though the blanket, it became clear to me that the edges were going to curl… border or not.
I kept knitting anyway, hoping it would be fixable in the end. When I finished, I pretty much hated the blanket and told my husband to throw it out while I was at work. He asked, “Can’t you block it or something?”
(Bless his heart, he's learning knitting terms!) I decided to give it a try, but I know acrylic doesn’t really block in the traditional sense, so I used an iron on steam setting and placed a cloth between the blanket and the iron and killed the border until it stayed flat. I've never killed anything before, but I have to say, I kind of liked it.
Done. And Done.
I used some of the extra yarn to make a "Spring" Baby Headband to match...
...and still had enough yarn to make a pair for my 6 year old's Birthday. She was so excited to have a pair in time for crazy sock day at school.
