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Needing knitting project help.

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It is nearly time to start making this baby a blanket and I’m struggling for inspiration. Fran had one made from a pattern and the other girls used it too; after her I never managed to make ones for the others, so my Nana stepped into the breach. Freddie’s I made as a sampler while I taught myself to knit properly; it was a bit unscientific and a learning process and the colours I happened to have in the house defined his colour as blue. I love it dearly, even the unfinished underside but I’m not sure I want to do another the same.

Freddie's Blanket

When we were away on holiday, I bought the yarn for this rainbow baby blanket. Long before I knew (I hope!) the sex of the bump, I knew that to use blue or pink would hurt – and even when I was pregnant with Freddie I had a yearning to go back to bright, unisex colours.

I bought these Lang Merino 120 Superwash balls of yarn in the shop where I bought the wool to finish the last blanket, which seemed appropriate.

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I’m lacking in inspiration a bit though – and I’m not sure why. I wasn’t entirely happy with how I crocheted together the rectangles on Freddie’s one, though I like the thicker bands on the big blanket better and I can’t decide whether to go for random stitches and colours again (it was a very planned random) or something more structured.

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This is my favourite square on my blanket, but I hate knitting with multiple balls at a time, so it will need stitching if I go for the non bordered look and plain stitch rolls, so won’t work well at the edges anyway.

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This is the one that inspired me to go rainbow this time. I could do a striped blanket, but I quite like just carrying small bits of knitting around and watching them stack up as the weeks go by.

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I had a go at really random, using some odd balls and crochet for speed, but I’m not happy with it. It is TOO random, not helped by my lack of skill, so I’m not going to go further with that idea I don’t think.

I’ve been making an inspiration board on Pinterest as I see things I like, but nothing has grabbed me yet.

I’m really up for some help and ideas… what should I do?

Comments

  2. I’m not a knitter.

    I do crochet however and I’ve made a few blankets.
    Have you thought of a babette blanket? Its random, using different sized squares/rectangles etc, you can use different stitches etc. Have a look on ravelry, I’m assuming you’re on there?

    • I keep half starting one of those but i think I need to knit this. I can’t crochet without looking or thinking yet – so knitting would be better really.

  4. I’ve just taught myself how to crochet and have started this blanket but with brighter, rainbow colours:

    http://belladia.typepad.com/bella_dia/2006/11/vintage_vertica.html

    Ripples look really complicated to me!

    Going to be doing an Erika Knight knitted blanket for Sarah’s babies next, but it’s just plain with a “B” in the middle using cashmerino silk. So no help at all really!

    What about doing knitted squares in just one of the rainbow colours, rather than stripes in each square. Or is that too boring? A lovely patchwork blanket and you would get to carry small bits of knitting with you then. You could crochet them together with white yarn then, would be very bright and sunny.

  5. Hi Merry

    There’s a knitted picnic blanket in the current issue of Women’s Weekly Knitting and Crochet magazine (available in Co-op, where I bought it, but also in Tesco etc too, I think). You could adapt that – it seems to knit long strips but as squares of different colours and textures using a variety of stitches. It is quite big in the picture, but I think you could make it suit your purpose. I am knitting a scarf out of the magazine at the moment, gradually trying to do more complicated things – this one is different from the average scarf!
    Good luck with it all,
    Sarah x

  11. I’m sort of starting to quite like the idea of a combination of this
    http://pinterest.com/pin/297719664/
    and this
    http://pinterest.com/pin/294284938/

    I like the outlining from the first and the occasional patterned square possibly (but might alter that for different stitches and think outlined in white would be nice)

    and I like the way the colours are arranged in the second.

    I’m trying to get my head around how the outlines work. If you knit in rows of ‘fake’ squared and add bars of white in say ‘knit one purl one’ seed stitch, you could pick up the stitches on the long sides afterwards and then knit sidewards and stitch them together but I can’t entirely cope with the sideways stitches that would give. But If I do it with white borders on each side I have to juggle lots of bobbins of yarn. I could crochet it up afterwards I suppose but I’m never quite pleased with how the edges of the knitted squares look with crocheted making up.

  12. I assume that you’re on ravelry? If you’re not – you really really ought to be! There are so many people there that would be willing to help you!

    check out everything here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#query=rainbow%20blanket&page=1&view=captioned_thumbs&sort=best

    and here:
    http://www.ravelry.com/projects/search#query=rainbow%20blanket&pp=1&view=captioned_thumbs&psort=best

    It is likely that a lot of things are way easier than you think they are – like the fish blanket! You can find the pattern here:
    http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#query=fish%20blanket&pp=1&view=thumbs&psort=best

    You just gotta give it a try!

    • I am on ravelry, as merrilyme; I’ve got reasonably good at hunting for things but I must admit I have so far failed to make use of it as a community. Lots of my pin board came from there though. Such clever people!

      I like that knitty blanket. I keep failing to make a bag from there!

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