My biggest project yet, coming in November!

I work in an office with 35 woman (all wonderful people that I love working with) and, as you know, are at the stage in their lives when they are having babies. I make a blanket for each of the babies that come and sometimes I fall a little behind (I love doing it, by my free time and energy do not always match up with the number of babies coming at work and church at any given time). I currently have 4 blankets to work on and a 5th friend who is expecting (I may do a sweater, hat and booties for her this time to mix things up a bit).

Anyway, the blue crocheted blanket I was talking about in my last post was really hanging me up a bit, because I had gotten a late start on it (I started after Christmas, but the baby was born in November.) I was making decent progress and suddenly found myself with zero energy or desire to work on it when I did have free time. And then, I started hating coffee, which was both perplexing to me and a sad loss to my knitting ritual. It all added up to this--I'm finally having my own baby. My husband and I are so excited; we'd almost given up. As I write this, I'm a bit over 14 weeks along. I'm starting to get some energy back and am trying hard to decide which blanket to do for our child.

We are hoping to find out the baby's gender in another 5 or 6 weeks, by which time I'm hoping that some of my other projects will be nearly finished so that I can make a few things before the baby comes.

2 Crocheted Blankes

I had so many projects going for a while that I thought I might try crocheting to help me get done a bit faster (each crocheted row is about 3/4 of an inch, whereas I have to knit about 12 rows for every two crocheted rows). I forgot to factor in that I am not a good crocheter and that I don't enjoy it as much. I am left handed, but I knit and crochet like a right handed person because I've never been able to reverse all of the instructions. I think crocheting it just too much work for my right hand. The blanket on top is for a good friend who just had her third baby. I loved both the colors and the stitch pattern, which again, I took from the Japanese Moyo book at the bottom of my blog (the tan book). Although I didn't love the crocheting, the blanket is really pretty and something I might make again. The second pattern is for someone at work who was about to have a little boy (I say about to, but by the time I got this one finished, the baby was 6 months old-I'm so ashamed!). I did it in a dark country blue, using one of the patterns from the blue Japanese pattern book (I do use other books, but I love these two books and always go there first). I was a pretty stitch, which I found kind of difficult to do consistently and probably wouldn't do it again.
We were having camera issues the day I gave away the blue blanket, so I didn't get a great picture. Hopefully this photo shows at least some of the texture.

Braided cable

I did this blanket in Caron's heather rose. It was kind of a mauve color with a nice sheen. The cable is a braided cable pattern taken directly from the Cables untangled book. There is a scarf and hat pattern in there using this braid that I used to plan out my blanket. The picture appears small, but if you click on it, you can see the detail. It makes almost a heart-shaped braid.

Finally, a red one!!

I had a friend who was having a baby boy this summer; she requested a red baby blanket. I was very happy to oblige, since I usually don't work in red (I've done lots of baby blankets lately).
This was a pattern out of one of the Debbie Macomber books. It was very easy, but very pretty. My mother said it was her favorite one so far. The color was by Caron (of course!). It was about 110 stitches across, but since I used two strands, it knit up very fast and made a good sized blanket.

Trinity Stitch Blanket

This is a blanket I designed for a good friend whose baby was born in April. I'm kind of ashamed how long it took me to finish this one. For some reason, it just didn't go quickly. I love the pattern though. It is made with caron heather yarn in green.

Here is the pattern:
Cast on 144 stitches, using a 7 inch circular needed.
Border:Rows 1-4 (work in seed stich) k1, p1 to end, each row and Last 4 rows.

Blanket Pattern: (odd rows are back of pattern)
Row 1: k1, p1, k1, p1, then section 1, p1 and place marker, section 2, p1 and place marker, section 1, p1 and place marker, section 2, p1 and place marker, section 1, p1, k1, p1, k1 (Section 1 (Jacob's ladder): k2, p4, k2, p12, k2, p4, k2 - Section 2 (Trinity stitch): (p3 tog, then k1, p1, k1 into the next stitch) repeat sequence 6 times for a total of 24 stitches in the trinity stitch )
Row 2: k1, p1, k1, p1, then section 1, k1 and slide marker, section 2, k1 and slide marker, section 1, k1 and slide marker, section 2, k1 and slid marker, section 1, p1, k1, p1, k1 Section 1 (Jacob's ladder): p2, work 4 stitch cable, holding first 2 stitches in back, p2, k1, p10, k1, p2, worker 4 stitch cable, holding first two stitches in front, p2 Section 2 (Trinity stitch): p24

Row 3: k1, p1, k1, p1, then section 1, p1 and slide marker, section 2, p1 and slide marker, section 1, p1 and slide marker, section 2, p1 and slide marker, section 1, p1, k1, p1, k1 Section 1 (Jacob's ladder): k2, p4, k2, p1, k10, p1, k2, p4, k2 Section 2 (Trinity stitch): (k1, p1, k1 into first stitch, then p3 tog) repeat sequence 6 times for a total of 24 stiches in the trinity stitch

Row 4: k1, p1, k1, p1, then section 1, k1 and slide marker, section 2, k1 and slide marker, section 1, k1 and slide marker, section 2, k1 and slid marker, section 1, p1, k1, p1, k1
(Section 1 (Jacob's ladder): p2, k4, p2, k12, p2, k4, p2 - Section 2 (Trinity stitch): p24 )

Row 5: k1, p1, k1, p1, then section 1, p1 and slide marker, section 2, p1 and slide marker, section 1, p1 and slide marker, section 2, p1 and slide marker, section 1, p1, k1, p1, k1
(Section 1 (Jacob's ladder): k2, p4, k2, p12, k2, p4, k2 - Section 2 (Trinity stitch): (p3 tog, then k1, p1, k1 into the next stitch, repeat sequence 6 times for a total of 24 stitches in the trinity stitch)

Row 6: k1, p1, k1, p1, then section 1, k1 and slide marker, section 2, k1 and slide marker, section 1, k1 and slide marker, section 2, k1 and slid marker, section 1, p1, k1, p1, k1
(Section 1 (Jacob's ladder): p2, k4, p2, k1, p10, k1, p2, k4, p2 - Section 2 (Trinity stitch): p24)

Row 7: k1, p1, k1, p1, then section 1, p1 and slide marker, section 2, p1 and slide marker, section 1, p1 and slide marker, section 2, p1 and slide marker, section 1, p1, k1, p1, k1
(Section 1 (Jacob's ladder): k2, p4, k2, p1, k10, p1, k2, p4, k2 - Section 2 (Trinity stitch): (k1, p1, k1 into first stitch, then p3 tog) repeat sequence 6 times for a total of 24 stiches in the trinity stitch0

Row 8: k1, p1, k1, p1, then section 1, k1 and slide marker, section 2, k1 and slide marker, section 1, k1 and slide marker, section 2, k1 and slid marker, section 1, p1, k1, p1, k1
(Section 1 (Jacob's ladder): p2, work 4 stitch cable, holding first 2 stitches in back, p2, k12, p2, worker 4 stitch cable, holding first two stitches in front, p2 - Section 2 (Trinity stitch): p24 )

Row 9: k1, p1, k1, p1, then section 1, p1 and slide marker, section 2, p1 and slide marker, section 1, p1 and slide marker, section 2, p1 and slide marker, section 1, p1, k1, p1, k1
(Section 1 (Jacob's ladder): k2, p4, k2, p12, k2, p4, k2 - Section 2 (Trinity stitch): (p3 tog, then k1, p1, k1 into the next stitch) repeat sequence 6 times for a total of 24 stitches in the trinity stitch )

Row 10: k1, p1, k1, p1, then section 1, k1 and slide marker, section 2, k1 and slide marker, section 1, k1 and slide marker, section 2, k1 and slid marker, section 1, p1, k1, p1, k1 (Section 1 (Jacob's ladder): p2, k4, p2, k1, p10, k1, p2, k4, p2 - Section 2 (Trinity stitch): p24)

Row 11: k1, p1, k1, p1, then section 1, p1 and slide marker, section 2, p1 and slide marker, section 1, p1 and slide marker, section 2, p1 and slide marker, section 1, p1, k1, p1, k1 (Section 1 (Jacob's ladder): k2, p4, k2, p1, k10, p1, k2, p4, k2 - Section 2 (Trinity stitch): (k1, p1, k1 into first stitch, then p3 tog) repeat sequence 6 times for a total of 24 stiches in the trinity stitch)

Row 12: k1, p1, k1, p1, then section 1, k1 and slide marker, section 2, k1 and slide marker, section 1, k1 and slide marker, section 2, k1 and slid marker, section 1, p1, k1, p1, k1 (Section 1 (Jacob's ladder): p2, k4, p2, k12, p2, k4, p2 -Section 2 (Trinity stitch): p24 )

Repeat rows 1-12 until the blanket measures approximately 33". Then knit 4 row border in seed stitch.

Cable Blanket

This is a cable blanket I made for another person I knew who was having a baby. Six stitch cables alternate with three stitch cables accross the blanket. I used Baby Bee Pompador Yarn in Cream and a size 8 circular needle. It came out to about 25 by 30 inches in size.

Reverse Cable Blanket

I used the reversible scarf pattern from the Book Cables Untangled to create this baby blanket. Using Baby Bee Sweet Delight Twist in Pastel (approximately 2.5 skiens) and a size 10 circular needle, I case on 126 stitches. I knit the first and last 6 stitches of each row and used the reversible pattern in the middle (the middle 114 stitches make the pattern) The finished size was about 25" x 30". The cables each have six stitches. I would recommend adding about 12 more stitches to the 126 cast-on in order to make a wider blanket. This one turned out a bit more narrow than I would have liked.