Most used baby knits of the past months!

The wool baby items I knitted get a lot of use during the winter months and the cool spring days. For our daily walks I use my nice and warm baby blankets in the stroller.

currently we use on a daily basis:

• 'Vasarely cubes' baby blanket click here
• daschund baby cardi click here

(both: picture above)

during our walks in the winter months:

• easy baby hat click here
• 'simple blocks' baby blanket click here

(both: picture below, you can just see the edge of the blanket!)

Vasarely inspired 'building blocks' baby blanket finished

This was truly a labor of love! It took 'forever' to knit this blanket on size 3 needles! Then again, it took forever to was and block it but now it is ready to use! I'm not complaining, started to knit merely 3 weeks before our little guy was born, so that's why it really took so long to finish.
I used drops Karisma yarn, just like for the other blanket I've made. It is a superwash treated yarn. After blocking the blanket grew slightly in size, but this is just because of flattening the 3d pattern. You can see below how 'wobbly' it is before blocking, due to the knit/purl stitches next to each other:


pattern: 
Again, it is a pattern consisting my favorite combination: only knit and purl stitches and it is surprisingly easy to memorize though it looks quite intricate with the 3-d blocks which remind me of the work of Victor Vasarely:


The pattern is available through Ravelry (click here) though I must say I figured it out myself, just by looking at pictures and counting stitches. After drawing a pattern chart I decided that it wouldn't be easy to keep track on it while knitting. I wrote the stitches down and then knitted a sample. While knitting made the necessary corrections and now have the pattern to work with!


material & sizing:


The yarn I used is the drops 'Karisma'. It is a 4-strands, sport weight, superwash-treated, 100% wool yarn. It comes in a lot of different colors. I choose a dark, greyish-blue hue: nr.65 'denim blue' which is not so baby-ish anymore.

I used 10 skeins of 50g (strangely my blanket weighs 525 g)

I always use smaller needles than recommended to prevent stretching after blocking and have no issues with 'growing' items after washing.

Using metric size 3.5 needles my gauge is 21 sts per 10 cm.

Size after washing/blocking approx. 90x100 cm

I haven't waisted more than a meter of the yarn. What I did was marking the beginning of a skein and the end of a skein with a piece of contrasting color wool at one side. This helped me to estimate where to start knitting the finishing edge pattern.

diy: Koeka 'Antwerp' baby blanket knock-off

Here is my newest creation of this very new year: a knock-off of Koeka's 'Antwerp' baby blanket! It is a lined blanket: waffle cotton lined with soft flannel. You can use it for the baby bed, but also to keep the baby warm when holding her.
My version is slightly smaller than the original size and though it looks simple it was probably the most challenging of my Koeka knock-off projects! It involved a lot of pressing, steaming and pinning to have the size right, because cotton flannel has a really annoying stretch to it.
On the bright side it is nice, fluffy and comfortably warm for the winter. Lovely!


material & sizing:
approx. 75x80 cm

It is important to use 100% cotton materials for all your baby stuff to prevent overheating!

- ready-made cotton flannel baby blanket (I bought one on sale for 10 euro's)
- cotton waffle fabric
- embroidery yarn


step-by-step:
1. prewash and press both fabrics - it is important to let them shrink before sewing the two layers together!

2. Optional: I removed the original machine-embroidered edging and reused the thread again. This step took a lot of time but was worth it! (While ripping out the embroidery I've cut the thread in approx. 1 m length pieces so they were ready to use for the embroidery as a finishing touch)


3. Cut the ready-made blanket to size.
Mine had rounded edges which I removed by shortening the fabric. Finish the edges of the ready-made blanket with a zigzag stitch. Before doing that use stay-stitch to prevent the fabric from stretching. If your fabric still stretches like mine you can correct it by steaming and pressing the edges throughly.

4. Cut the waffle fabric slightly larger than the flannel blanket and pin the layers together:


5. Start at one side by folding the seam allowance of the waffle fabric under. Keep the flannel and waffle fabrics in one line. Carefully press the layers before sewing!
Topstitch close to the edge, but not too small, so that you catch both layers:


6. Carefully pin the layers again, lining up the sides using the squares of the waffle fabric as a guide. Attach the layers like above, one side at a time.
Pay attention to the corners! If they don't line up perfectly, correct by cutting a piece off. (don't forget to finish the raw edges!):



7. Embroider the edges with blanket stitch:


8. Finished!

Simple blocks baby blanket finished + pattern!

Here it is! Finally finished this knitted blanket. Though it took me 2 weeks I am very pleased with the results.

material & sizing:
The yarn I used is the drops 'Karisma'. It is a 4-strands, sport weight, superwash-treated, 100% wool yarn. It comes in a lot of different colors. I choose a light blue-grey hue (nr.70)
I used just a little short of 9 skeins of 50g (approx. 440 g)
Using metric size 4 needles my gauge is 21 sts per 10 cm.


simple blocks baby blanket pattern:


material: about 9 skeins of 'drops Karisma'
gauge: 21 sts to 10 cm (approx. 22 sts to 4 inches)
abbrevations:
K=knit    P=purl

Cast on a multiple of 8, + 4 stitches
(I started out with 156 stitches, this makes approx. 75 cm in width)

Border: Knit for 11 rows
Next row: continue in square pattern, from here on this is going to be the right side of the work. (This way the border has a nice ridge at the bottom)
You have now 6 'ridges'.

Main part:
The main part of the blanket alters the square pattern with garter stitch rows.

• Block pattern:

Every uneven row (=right side): Knit
Every other row (=wrong side): K8, P8 * K4, P8 * K8
Repeat these two rows 5 times (you count now 5 ridges along the squares on the right side)

• Garter stitch rows:

Knit for 6 rows (this will form 3 ridges on the right side)

Border at top:
Continue to the desired length and finish with the garter stitch rows.
Continue in garter stitch for 6 more rows, ending on wrong side.
(You have now 6 ridges on the right side)

Cast off loosely in the next, right side row.
To prevent a tight cast-off I used this method which I learned from my grandma many years ago:
Knit two together through back loops and place the stitch back onto the left needle.

Baby blanket progress

It seems like this is the slowest progressing project ever! Although I'm a fast knitter, it seems like it takes forever to finish this blanket. Probably because I'm used to knit smaller pieces. Even a 40's jumper for myself seems to go faster...
On the positive side I'm already at 2/3rd in the length, so definitely getting closer to the finish!


With 10 more weeks left of the pregnancy the next project is going to be a sewing one: dressing up the family cradle bassinet! I finally made a choice for a cute fabric, which I'm going to use in combination with plain white cotton batiste for the liner at the sides and the canopy!

new knitting project in progress: a baby blanket

Here it is, my latest knitting project: a woolen baby blanket. After a few quick baby garments with more than 150 stitches in width the progress is rather slow, although I'm already around 1/3rd now I think. This time I use another, for me new drops yarn, the 'Karisma'. It comes in a lot of different colors, I choose a pretty light blue-grey hue (nr.70) It is a 4-strands, sport weight, superwash-treated, 100% wool yarn, which could go into the washing machine.
This yarn doesn't have the softness of the baby merino but it is certainly not as 'itchy' as a regular woolen yarn would be. I'm planning to make a soft cotton back for the blanket anyway.


According to the reviews on ravelry garments knitted with this yarn tend to 'grow' after washing. I know this occurs often when a garment is knitted loosely and never experienced it with my garments knitted with drops baby merino yarn. (note: I never wash my knitted garments in the washing machine)
I use metric size 4 needles as suggested on the packaging and I'm happy with the texture right now, although it is not as tight as I really, really prefer. Next time I'm going to use metric size 3.5 needles.
I'm still planning to knit a small test-square to see how this blanket behaves when washed in the washing machine before deciding on the final length. Just in case any lengthwise stretching occurs. (I keep you posted on that)
Otherwise I'm aiming at a size of 70x100 cm (approx. 27 1/2 x 39 1/2 in) which I can use for the stroller in the spring.


The pattern is free-hand, inspired by pictures I came across on the internet. First I wanted a blanket with a more intricate pattern, but then decided that the graphic squares in stotcking-stitch with the garter-stitch rasters would look much cleaner and would also be easier to knit, since every other row is plain knitting. Plus, it has a bit of a retro-feel to it, which I prefer.