Harvest Wedding Blanket

This was my September (and into October) project. I bought the yarn back in January for a friend's
October wedding. I started it in February on too-small needles, so ripped it back and put it away for a little while. A little while ended up being almost seven months. I re-started it on September 1st, figuring if I did one square per day for September, the center strips would be done and I would just have the seaming and borders to do in the first couple weeks of October.

I mostly finished on time, and then got pretty sick for a week and a half and didn't touch it. So of course, I was binding off the last edge and weaving in the ends between the ceremony and the reception. Which means I only have one (not too bad) cell phone picture of it unblocked and hanging over the car door:

Pattern: Harvest Colours Blanket #4379 (Ravelry mine)

Yarn: Red Heart With Love in Tan, Mango, Eggshell, Lettuce, Chocolate, Bluebell, and Merlot

Needles: US9/5.5mm, US13/9.0mm for the bindoff

Timeframe: September 1 - October 18, 2014

Mods: Knit the first row of each square to make the color changes clean.

Problems: None, aside from getting sick and then finishing it at the last minute.

The wedding was excellent and I truly hope they enjoy the blanket!

Scrappy Mitered Blanket

I was almost able to get through this entire blanket using scraps. I had to buy another skein of red at the end, but since I was planning to use it in another project, that isn't a bad thing. I could have sworn I got more pictures than just this one, but oh well. That's black on the edging and blue with the white.

Pattern: Cousins' Miter Square Baby Blanket (mine)

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in 5 colors

Needles: US7/4.5mm

Timeframe: September 27 - October 11, 2013

Mods: Used a different pattern for the colors

Problems: None!

I love this blanket so much! I will probably knit another one for myself when I have kids. Seriously. It's so squishy and quick to knit because it's all garter stitch, and you add the squares together as you're knitting so no real seaming necessary! Soft, squishy, cozy, and just plain wonderful; it's by far my favorite baby blanket and I hope the recipient enjoys it! It may be my go-to blanket for future babies.

Chasing Stripes Blanket

There were some more baby blankets made for the explosion of babies this year. One was a "Chasing Rainbows" blanket that I made with stripes instead of rainbow colors, so call it a "Chasing Stripes" blanket. I never got great pictures of it, but I did get at least one okay picture of the finished product:

Pattern: Chasing Rainbows (Ravelry mine)

Yarn: Caron One Pound in Leaf Green and Ocean

Needles: US8/5.0mm, US10/6.0mm for the bindoff

Timeframe: September 2 - 25, 2013

Mods: Every 9th row was knit with the blue, every 10th row purled and rows 1 - 8 knit using green. The bindoff is a 3 stitch reverse (purled) I-cord and I think it works very well with the stripes!

Problems: I should have used a larger needle to get a looser gauge and less-scrunched blanket, but I don't think the baby will care!

This was, like the first two, made from stash yarn. One great thing about all of these babies is that I'm using up a lot of stash that isn't already earmarked for a specific project - not as much as I'd've liked this year, but a lot! I may make this blanket again using these mods and thinner yarn or bigger needles. I like how it turned out, but I'm not sure I love the final shape. It's interesting. That may be a good thing or a bad thing and I haven't decided which yet.

Frilly Baby Blankets

I crocheted a baby blanket and didn't really like the final look. The gauge was too tight.

So I made another one with the same yarn and a different hook. I even used the same style ribbon:

 They really are different. The gauge is much nicer on the second one. The first one is a bit stiff and tight.

The second one is larger than the first too.

Pattern: Tiramisu Baby Blanket (Ravelry 1 2)
Yarn: National Yarn Crafts Natura Sayelle (old stash of my mom's)

Hook: 5.5mm/USI for one, 6.5mm/USK for the second

 Timeframe: August 6 - November 26 and August 14 - October 6, 2013 (they sat around waiting for ribbons for a LONG time)
Mods: Worked 'til square rather than a set number of rows or inches
Problems: Gauge

 I gifted the second, nicer one. Now I have a perfect car seat blanket sitting in my gift pile and no one to gift it to at the moment.

Love the bows!

Lap Blanket

This one's been in the sidebar for awhile (and the post has been a draft for nearly as long at this point!). It's a test knit I did a couple of months ago, and is pretty cool. I used the nest o'yarn I showed off before as a bit of a spoiler. Regarding that nest of yarn - do NOT recycle a thrift store sweater and then try to wind it all around the niddy noddy. Not cool. Not easy to deal with later. It looked like Big Bird had been hanging out at our place, and left his nest by our bed.

This is an awesome blanket based on naturally occurring spirals. It's great for babies or for your lap. I keep the blanket at work for when it's cold. Here in Japan, all the women have blankets at their desks. They also always wear skirts, but it's amusing to me that it's totally acceptable for women to have blankets at their desks.

I love the clean edges next to the YOs. The decreases look marvelous, and the way the knitting swirls around - I'm looking at the blanket more than my work!  If you want an interesting lap blanket for the geek in your life (could be yourself even) or for the spawn of a geek in your life, I highly recommend this one.  Awesome, simple design, something you can get into the rhythm of and just go.  Fairly quick knit as well.  I didn't do the best job of blocking it into a circle.

Pattern: Helix (Ravelry)
Yarn: Recycled 100% wool sweater from GoodWill, nearly half.

Needles: US9/5.5 mm
Timeframe: January 1 - 31, 2009, one of the first projects of the new year.
Mods: None.  Test knit, so pattern had to be followed to a T.
Problems: Only user error in skipping a YO or K2tog in a couple places.  Fairly mindless pattern, but you still have to pay a little attention!  Stitch markers, they are useful here.