Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Two Blankies

Joshua arrived earlier this month and we finally got to meet him on Saturday and deliver his recently completed blankie, which, I now realize, is photographically undocumented ... except for pictures of the sleeping boy snuggled up, cozy and warm, which, after all, are the best kind of pictures.  The pattern is BabyDROPS 18-16 and while I don't care for their naming conventions, I sure like the free patterns at the DROPS Design site.

The second blankie for the March baby, who I am currently calling Macy because her parents refuse to reveal the chosen name, is also finished, and two whole months before the due date.  
Also a BabyDROPS pattern, I was intrigued with the asymmetrical design.  My first step prior to starting any project is a Ravelry search for the pattern; I like seeing all of the finished projects and reading the reviews and helpful tips.  I was a bit surprised by the number of knitters who changed this pattern to make it symmetrical. I personally find asymmetry refreshing. The original pattern is a chart--not my favorite--and one lovely Raveler provided a written translation, which I immediately printed out and substituted for the chart.  One section of the pattern is fairly complicated, and by complicated I mean it has lots and lots of yarn overs and of course one of those yarn overs is going to get missed and mess up the whole section.  Which happened more than once, both times while at the beach, a venue not conducive to recovering from a knitting crisis.  The first time the project was stuffed into the bag and abandoned until I returned home; the second time my gracious hostess and fellow crafter Mary produced a much needed crochet hook, the crisis was solved and progress continued.
While a significant number of Ravelers chose to change this pattern, I followed the instructions exactly and am pleased with the results, although I would now make one small change.  There are 14 knit and purl rows (k,p,p,k) between each section; however, after the last section, the bind off is completed after only two knitted rows.  While I don't mind (again) the asymmetry, the edge has a tendency to roll even after blocking.  I think this problem would be solved with a few more knit and purl rows prior to binding off.