(a blog that has nothing to do with squirrels)

Alex’s blanket

Posted by craftyangie on August 16th, 2009 in crafts, general crafts, knitting

Having finally finished the DNA scarf, I didn’t now what project to start next (I’ve found that since I joined the knitting group, I am more encouraged to finish projects!). I wasn’t interested in knitting another scarf. Luckily for me, right about that time Jess announced that she’d be having a baby. I decided I wanted to knit a baby “something” for her.

I scoured the internets for a project; something pretty, something not too girlie (Jess didn’t know the gender yet) and something not too complicated as I wanted to complete the project before the baby was born.

I also wanted to start using a recently purchased a “stitchionary”, Lace & eyelets, that I had gotten with a gift certificate Boombadeus’ mom had given me for my birthday…but I was still intimidated by the eyelets…but the eyelets and lace look so pretty! Oh, what to do?

I started looking at baby blanket patterns on Ravelry, but most had hearts, bears, and simple squares. Don’t get me wrong, I like hearts, bears and simple squares…but Jess has lots of crochet/knitting relatives…I wanted to do something that was going to be different…then I found this blanket by maggiecrafts. I was saved! Not only did it look beautiful, she mentioned that she had whipped it up in no time. Well, I was new at the eyelet/lace thing…but heck, it looked so pretty, how about I give eyelets and lace a try?

I chose Tulip Lace from my stitchionary, and off I went. I can’t remember how many stitches I cast…probably whatever they recommended in the ball of yarn (Pound of love) and I started.

At the beginning I was knitting on two needles; a few inches after I started it was getting heavy. My wrists were starting to hurt from holding all the weight with only one hand…so off I went to Rosie’s and purchased 36″ circulars. Oh, what a difference that made!! I loved it!

Less than two months later it was done! Since I tend to mostly knit on Tuesdays, at the knitting group, the timing wasn’t so bad for a first timer at lace, right? If you’d like to download the pattern, click here.

  1. 7 Responses to “Alex’s blanket”

  2. By carolyn bart on Aug 16, 2009

    I just love this blanket and I think you did a very good job. I was wondering how I could get the pattern for it. I have never been on a blog before. I am a lone knitter as I know no one that loves it like I do.So I never get to talk about it –People get bored with me–lol-Carolyn

  3. By craftyangie on Aug 16, 2009

    Thanks Carolyn,

    I didn’t write a specific pattern; the edges are Moss stitch and the middle is Tulip Lace.

    Give me a couple of hours and I’ll write it up! Been meaning to do so anyway.

  4. By craftyangie on Aug 16, 2009

    Hi Carolyn, I’ve added the pattern as a PDF file. Feel free to download it…and have fun knitting!

  5. By ruth gilbride on Aug 25, 2009

    i too love it and have been wandering around ravelry looking for something interesting to do when i came across your blanket . i will be starting it in the next couple of days…can’t wait!!

    and a note to Carolyn… don’t feel like you’re boring…there’s tons of of us around ! when people start seeing what you’ve done, they get excited too!! Knitting is such a ‘plus’ in my life!!!

  6. By craftyangie on Aug 25, 2009

    thanks Ruth! I too, will start another one (two more friends just announced their pregnancies) it is a fast knit (and i’m not very fast of a knitter!)

    Carolyn, Ruth is right, just surround yourself with like-minded people: start a knitting/crochet/crafts group!

    Ours got started when someone put a couple of posts in a Philadelphia forum and a couple of fliers at local restaurants.

    Surrounding yourself with crafters does wonders for your projects (finishing, starting, creating goals) or at least it did for me…besides i’ve met a wonderful bunch of girls in the group, so I not only look forward to my knitting projects, but to hang out with them too!

  7. By Michelle on Oct 15, 2009

    A friend (who’s in labor as I type) is having a baby boy named Alex, and I thought how cool would it be to find a pattern named Alex and voila – here I am! This is just perfect, thank you for sharing!

  8. By craftyangie on Oct 17, 2009

    Congratulations to your friend, Michelle! It’s a quickie (if you knit in the afternoons); I took a couple of weeks ’cause I would do only 1 hour or so in the afternoons…so you might be able to finish it in no time.

    I’m working on another (similar) baby blankie, we’ll see how long this one takes me. Have fun knitting it!

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