One of the things I spoke about in writing group this summer is that I'm bad at
finishing. Whether it's knitting or writing or whatever, I like the beginning and developmental stages, but not so much the finishing stage. This, I suppose, is because the finishing is often tedious, and it precedes submitting my work to others with the implicit (if not explicit) message, "This is the best I could do."
And then, alas, I can be judged.
Nevertheless, I finished something this summer, and I gave it to my godson, who, when I saw him in June and gave him his blanket, was eight months old.* And, if I do say so myself, I think it's fantastic:
*I think maybe finishing this wasn't so scary because I keep telling myself, "He's just a baby! He won't care about mistakes!"
11 comments:
Gorgeous!! I love the colors!!
Wow! That's beautiful!
I'm impressed! I have so many unfinished projects, writing, craft and domestic, so I appreciate what a great achievement this is!
Squee! What a lovely baby blanket :) It's happiness in yarn. I'm impressed with how evenly the different blocks came together (gauge is always so different depending on what you do). Terrific work.
That's fabulous!
Unicorn loves the patterns
Thanks for the compliments, everybody! And CT, the squares were NOT the same size. Despite the fact that I cast on the same number of stitches for each square and used the same kind of yarn, the different stitches made for quite different sizes. I made a seed stitch square that was too big to use. The eyelet pattern was a lot bigger than the checkboard pattern. Nevertheless, I did a lazy version of blocking, and I got the best results when I joined them when they were still slightly damp. Still, the eyelet sections pucker a bit. But since it's all cotton, it's stretchy enough not to matter. Plus it's for a baby! :)
Cute blanket! I can totally relate to your problems with getting things finished. When we moved house last year, I found a bag of knitting projects in various stages of sad abandonment.
I am SO lazy about blocking, as in, I have yet to block a single thing I've knitted! Good for you, going through with it. Clearly, it made all the difference -- I can't tell that anything was puckery from the photo.
I have a lacy cowl I made a few months ago that really should be blocked so the lace pattern will bloom, as they say. You're convincing me I should just go do it ...
I only sort of blocked. I put a towel in the washer and put it through rinse and spin. Then, I took it out, laid it flat, andl laid the squares on it (after shaping them just a bit). Then I rolled the towel up with the squares it in (like a deli roll--I learned this first part from my mother-in-law). The next morning, I took them out, tried to shape them a bit, and then stacked them in an 8x8 baking pan so I could take them in the car without them getting folded and rumpled (we started our summer road trip that day). Then, in the car, I stitched them together, and on the first day in the car, they were still slightly damp so it was easy to get them to fit. The second day (when I finished them) it was a bit harder b/c they were dry, but they were still sort of blocked from being stacked in the baking pan.
Voila! Fake blocking.
Love, love!
I too, fall victim to the unfinished project, particularly my writing projects. I find writing to be very...soul exposing. As such I find it hard to get it to a complete enough state to share.
I love the blanket. Keep in mind, no one will see the mistakes like you, the creator, will, but they will feel the love that went into it.
Leah Mac
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