FO - Baby James's Pram Blanket

I finally got around to sewing together the Pram Blanket that I'd knit for my friend's new baby.

I'm so chuffed with the end result.  It's turned out so well, I love all the different colour changes in the wools.

If you remember I used a pattern called Honeycomb Waves Blanket designed by Tahira Probst, which I discovered on Ravelry.

My blanket is worked in Patons UK Colour Works Aran, which is an acrylic (65%), New Wool (25%) and Polyamide (10%) mix.  The colours I chose were Sunset (shade 00081), Art Deco (shade 00085), and Blue Mix (shade 00087).  It would have been nice to have used the Noro Taiyo yarn, which Tahira used, but the price was just a tad on the expensive side.

I attached my panels together by picking up stitches down each side and knitting them together.  This created a very neat and secure edge.  It also meant that the 'half honeycombs' down the sides of each panel matched up exactly. 

The final blanket measures 38 inches x 27 inches.

I'll be off to the Post Office later today to mail it off - fingers crossed both baby James and his mum like it.

Whilst I'm on the subject of knitting, I'd like to say a big thank you for all your lovely comments regarding my Babette cardie.  Alas, I've decided to frog the lot and knit it again in a smaller size.  A big  pain in the bum, but I think necessary.  I don't think I'd wear it otherwise and that would just be a waste of money, time and effort on my part.  I definitely don't need yet another item of clothing in my wardrobe, which either isn't loved or worn.

Luckily my stress levels seem to be subsiding and I'm trying very hard to not let things get me down.  As I'm sure you can imagine, househunting is still one of the biggest pains in my life at present, and we've recently missed out on another couple of houses.  I'm also expecting a letter from the Schools Department this week advising me of Violet's nursery place. 

 Don't think it's all doom and gloom here though - Violet is still as comical as ever.  This weekend she's been strutting her funky stuff to Katy Perry's new song, Firework, which has been very entertaining.

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Emerald

To take my mind off all the stresses, which appear to be consuming my life at present, I've been knitting away  like a demon.  

The pram blanket panels are now all complete and are just waiting to be sewn together. Though I have a little dilemma. I've arranged to meet up with the recipient in a few weeks time.  Do I send the blanket in the post beforehand, so that she can open it without me there, just in case it's not her cup of tea.  Or, do I give it to her to open in my presence?  It's a tricky one, but I think I'm gonna wimp out and post it.

A couple of weeks ago I found myself rummaging through the sale bins in House of Fraser's haberdashery department (they always seem to have loads of lovely yarn in their sales, and for amazing prices too) and ended up bringing home 10 balls of Rowan Cocoon, in Emerald.  I paid just £40 for it when it should have cost over £80. It's such a beautiful colour and I was desperate to start knitting with it straight away.  I found the perfect pattern in Rowan's The Cocoon Collection book, called Babette (designed by Sarah Hatton). And, guess what?  The picture shows it knit up in emerald.  It was obviously meant to be.

Now, the only other item of clothing that I've ever knit for myself, and in an adult size, is my Embrace sweater, which I thought turned out pretty well. However, I don't think I've got to grips properly with the whole sizing issue when it comes down to knitting, because I knit my Babette in a medium and it has turned out much larger than I anticipated.  Next time I'll definitely be knitting the smaller size when using Cocoon wool.

Here's what it should have looked like.  

 

and, here's me wearing my, slightly oversized, one.

I know, I know, it's an awful photo - I just can't get the hang of taking pictures of myself.

Violet chose a beautiful enamel/ceramic button for it.

I was very happy with her choice - she must have a designers eye.

Babette was supposed to take 8 balls of wool, but I only used 7. Seeing as I had 3 balls left I thought I'd use one of the balls to knit the Blanche Beret (designed by Sarah Hatton), which can also be found in The Cocoon Collection pattern book.  This was such an easy knit and it's a lovely pattern.  It came in one size, but it must have been designed for someone with a large head, or for someone with very frizzy hair, because it's enormous.  

Here's what it looks like in the book (see the model with frizzy hair???)

and, here's Violet modelling the one I knit.

Hee hee..

And, talking of Violet, here's another photo of her.

Pretending this empty storage box is a bath. 

I'm not sure about a bath, it looks like she's just about to drop to sleep to me, clutching her dear 'mummy' and sucking her thumb.