Giddy Up

Jeeze, could it take any longer? What you ask...putting together a baby blanket. I mean it's only 16 eight inch wide squares for goodness sake. My plan's have changed more times than I care to count. I originally finished the 16 squares way back in February while on our jaunt across the country. The project was perfect for car travel. At least while on interstates...not so much when it came time to hit the back roads. Knitting actually took a rare back seat as we drove through some of the most beautiful scenery in the country.

My plan was so simple...pick a stitch pattern, cast on enough stitches to create a 8" square and ta-da a square is done in a couple of hours of knitting. I figured that in a few days time I would have enough to make a nice square baby blanket for my husband's new nephew, Benjamin. Of course I originally had planned to have the darn thing done by the time we arrived in San Antonio for our visit...did not happen. Yet another example of underestimating how much time a project would take.

Working on the squares while driving the Interstates worked to perfection...the last square was completed while we were in Taos, NM. The problems starting creeping in after that last square was done. While traveling it became obvious that I would need to hold off putting the blanket together until we were back home. I really needed more space to spread out everything and the brain power to do it. I must admit that the combination of traveling and physical activity drained the energy right out of the brain by the end of our day of adventure.

We arrived back home and after a couple of weeks it was pointed out that babies grow...really? and I should "get busy" before he was driving & needed a bigger blanket. So this past weekend I got back to it and spread out the squares, picked up the needles to add borders to the squares & realized that Plan A was NOT going to work. Of course I realized this after I had picked up stitches on each block, put the squares into rows of 4 squares each, & added another border on the long edge of 2 sets & then trouble...could not line up the edges of these borders no matter how many attempts were made.

What next? First we went out to dinner...my husband knows exactly what's called for in a knitting emergency. Next I frogged all the borders and by the end of it had 16 blocks all alone once again...along with one heck of a pile of tiny groups of yarn. Once done I put Plan B into operation...mattress stitching. Well after a little side trip by way of the whip stitch...didn't work...I moved right to mattress stitch. I worked on each block attaching one to another until I had 4 rows of 4 blocks each. Was it tedious? Yes. Do I like the look? Yes. Is there a border? Yes, one single 2 inch border around the entire group of blocks. The whole thing was completed with the attached i-cord coordinating color'.
The last finishing touch was attaching the most cool flannel fabric that is a perfect match for my theme...think Texas. After attaching the backing using the "overcast stitch" I also added some yarn ties spread around the corners of the squares to keep things a bit more even. Thankfully all is done and ready to mail to it's young owner & he's still under 6 months. Whoohoo!




Details:
Patterns: Texas, Lonestar, Eyelet Mock Cable, The remaining blocks: Diamond Brocade, Garter Ridge Rib, Simple Basketweave, Moss Stitch, Feather Lace & Herringbone Rib came from the Vogue Knitting Stitchionary

Yarn: Red Heart Soft Yarn (Worsted Weight, 100% Acrylic, 256 yards/ 5 oz), colors: off white, chocolate, seafoam. I used one skein each of the seafoam & chocolate for the squares and the off white for the borders. The attached i-cord was done using seafoam.

Needle: Addi Turbo, 40" circular, size 8

Gauge: didn't matter on this one

Size: 35" by 38"