And Then There Came A Finished Blanket
Log Cabin Baby Blanket Specs
Yarn: Blue Moon Socks that Rock Heavyweight, Tanzanite, Stonewash and Jade
Needles: US Size 5 (3.75 mm) Denise Interchangables
Finished Size: 36" x 36"
It's always nice for me when I can finish up a project when there's still some sunshine to take pictures with. And it was almost a picture perfect, spring is coming sort of weekend here in Chicago. The blankie and I got to stretch out in 60F weather. I'm hoping that this weather is not just a cruel trick and is really the start of spring here in the Great Lakes region.
Unfortunately, even though the weather was nice enough for Chicagoans in my neighborhood to be sitting in outdoor cafes drinking beer it was still a bit wet and muddy to take the Blankie anywhere but onto the balcony off our master bedroom.
Here is the Blankie showing how compact it can be.
In the end, I opted for the reverse crochet or crab stitch for the edging. It provided a solid and durable structural edge without being too frilly or girly. I thought the dark purple was the best choice for the edge. As nice as it would have been to have worked with a 4th contrasting color for the border, this yarn is just a little bit too expensive to justify buying an extra skein of just for 5-10 yards to seam and edge the blanket with -- and I didn't want to edge it with a different yarn, because I expect this blanket to be washed and I wanted all the yarn to behave the same way when it underwent that process.. And I thought the purple really helped to pop the squares it touched.
Four Corners Meet In the Blankie
Very pretty and very even on the front, I think. I'll just say that I was very pleased with the intersections of the squares.
Assembling these squares turned out to be something that was helped along greatly by my first quilting class. First, I made sure that all the squares were oriented the same way, then I connected the edges of the squares in each of the three rows across and then seamed the rows together -- exactly how I put Serenity together.
When it came to seaming, I decided to use a crochet joining method. I picked it for two reasons. 1) It's durable and I was worried that my whip-stitching might not hold up to long term use and machine laundering. 2) If my friend, an excellent knitter, should ever want to deconstruct the blanket into it's component squares, the crochet edging and chain seaming will be trivial to pull out. I know it sounds strange to anticipate this, but I figure there's always the possibility that pieces of the blanket will wear out and not be worth keeping, while other pieces might still be worth preserving and using to create a pillow or some all small memory -- or even just replacing a region. I have plenty of yarn left and could probably create three more squares from what I have left. So, making it easy to take apart seemed like a reasonable idea.
This last is just a picture of what I think is the natural habitat of the blankie -- the rocking chair. It is also an excuse to squeeze another picture in of my favorite piece of furniture ever, and to provide a sense of scale for the size of the blanket. And since I spent a good deal of time seaming in this chair, I couldn't help but notice how handsome the blanket looked against the chair. But, I'm biased. I think everything goes well with walnut.
Soon soon soon this blankie will make its way to its new home in Madison, Wisconsin. Love ya, Judy*! John and I just can't wait to meet your son. May he grow strong and be healthy and be a constant source of light in your life.
* This may seem like I am spoiling a big surprise... but I suspect that Judy lurks here every now and again, and I think I've dropped enough hints to make it clear where this blanket was destined for. When you like to make things (and Judy does -- she painted a lovely picture for my husband and I when we got married and she's knit no shortage of lovely sweaters) I like to think that it makes a project even more interesting when you get to watch it come together. Besides, I'm pretty lousy at the whole keeping secrets thing.
Oh, it turned out so lovely! The first picture in the post is so striking because of the shadows. I've loved reading about how this blanket came together and I've found it very inspiring.
I adore this baby blanket. How neat that your quilting has helped you to finish such a special project. I can see that this blanket will have a long life. I like the way you anticipated ways its life can be extended, perhaps through change into pillows.
Omigosh - not only is it beautiful, it's coming to live in my hometown!
Is it bad that my first instinct was to start combing through all my local mom/knitter contacts to find an expectant knitterly mama named Judy?
Don't worry, I am in control of my impulses (overall) and would never /actually/ stalk your friend. I promise. :)
But still - what a gorgeous blanket!
Absolutely beautiful blanket & I agree - everything goes well with your walnut rocking chair!
It's a wonderful blankie. What a lucky baby!
Your finishing is perfection. I just love how evenly the squares all matched up at the corners. It's a beautiful blanket. Congratulations!
Great blankie! I really like this color combination. I'm considering a similar palette for a blanket for myself! Thanks for sharing the whole process with us.
I love the blanket and have really enjoyed watching it come together! Congratulations on the finished product, that's one lucky baby!
Makes you want to have a baby to wrap with that beautiful blanket -- almost! Your friends are blessed to have a friend like you. Beautiful.
it looks great! Love it. :) Congrats to Judy as well. :)
oooh - very beautiful! Very!!
Beautiful! I love the colors and all the finishing touches that made it perfect.
Just gorgeous! Lucky baby.
augh! that is soooo purdy!
and on the rocking chair?!!!
almost too good to bear!
sooooo drool-worthy! :o)
way to go!
Very nice - I really like those colors together, and how beautifully square the whole thing came out. Beautiful job!
Judy is one lucky lady. And I'm always happy for you to use excuses to show us the rocking chair. It gets more beautiful with each viewing.
What a pretty blanket! Thanks for showing it with the rocking chair because it didn't look very big to me in the first picture. I'm curious what kind of crochet join method you used. The back looks great! I've got a bunch of psychedelic squares that I have to sew together but I haven't found a good method that I like. Did you do a slip stitch or something else?
It's absolutely beautiful. Congratulations on the exceedingly even stitching.
It looks wonderful! Nice size, and I'm impressed with the finishing (my finishing is something I need to work on) I think it's interesting to consider making it easy to deconstruct - something I never would have thought about, but very practical.
It's beautiful, what a wonderful gift!
A very beautiful and lovely gift!!
I just love the way it turned out. Even though it wouldn't suit my climate, I really would like to make one of my own.
What a cool idea - to use quilt patterns. Let us know when you figure out how to do stars. The blanket is gorgeous.
its lovely! and the shot is great- it gave it a bit of drama.
:-)
Quite simply, it is stunning!
Theresa, that blanket is gorgeous!
Lovely! I think it was a good choice to chhose purple for the edges. The finishing is very neat.
It looks wonderful!! Congratulations! I'm sorry I didn't get back to you about putting it together. I now Mason Dixon Kay always crochets her blankets together. I thought I had read that whipstitch was very stable, but I can't remember where now so maybe that's not true. I'm sure Judy will be thrilled with it!
It's beautiful. Lovely job!
The Log Cabin Blankie is just gorgeous. Beautiful colour combination.
Wow, the blanket is beautiful! I mean, the component squares were beautiful on their own, but put together they are fantastic! Nice choice of seaming methods too! You have inspired me to make a similar blanket of my own, just as soon as I have the time...
What a wonderful blanket! Judy isn't the only one that lurks on your site. ;)
I can't wait to have you and John up after the baby is here.
Friends Always,
Husband of She who Taught Theresa How to Knit ;)