(pre-blocking)
I wanted to have the blanket finished by August and as of 10pm last night it was blocking on a towel on the spare bedroom floor. This blanket did take slightly longer than the first - partly becuase I wasn't knitting so intently (16 days is a bit crazy) and partly because it was the second blanket and I knew what it was going to look like.
Incidentally the fact that I knew what it was going to look like and what modifications I was going to make (the modifications that saw me rip out an entire side of the border last time) did not preclude me from making a mess of the triangle edge on the top border and having to pull it out and re-do it - knitterly overconfidence take your bow!!
(blocked)
I'm told (admittedly by encouraging female relations) that you forget the pain of childbirth because you have the baby to look at and if that is true (and I have my suspicions) then it is analagous to the production of this blanket. I still do enjoy knitting this pattern but doing two so close together has brought on a touch of the second sock syndrome and I had had enough of the border triangles by the time I finished the 132nd (bearing in mind the 28 I had to rip out). However, the finished product is beautiful if I say so myself and once it has popped through the washing machine and is all blocked out I realise why I am making this. It is perhaps strange that I never spend any time with the finished blankets - the last one came off the blocking towels and was in the recipient's hands within 2 hours, this one will go out in tomorrow's post. One of these days there will be an alphabet blanket that stays with me but not for a little while (hopefully enough time for me to summon up the urge to knit another one).
The thing is that seeing the finished blanket I want to make one for Baby 3 (due in October) becuase it is the nicest gift that I can think to make to give to him/her, not through lack of inspiration (thanks Ravelry) but because it ticks every box, it's machine washable, interesting to knit, big enough to snuggle under and goes with just about every decor .... I'd better go order some more Baby Cashmerino!!
The almost is Peggy's sheep which Mary correctly identified from my last post oh so long ago.
This is the anatomy of a sheep:
to whit - one back, one tummy, one head, four feet, four ears (front and back x 2) and a little tail. I made valiant efforts to sew up Peggy the sheep last night while the blanket was washing but I only got this far:
I have sewn up the ears and the tail on the way to work this morning and I hope to finish tonight after I get home from knitting and then there can be two parcels in the post tomorrow - economy of post office effort.
All this finishing means that an old friend who has been sat in the corner of the sofa watching me is coming back into play - roll on colour!
eek! the headless sheep disturbs me greatly.
ReplyDeleteThere is no known cure for the female relations' encouraging comments about childbearing. My ex-MIL was an extreme example with "having a baby will be the making of you!" when I was 18. That said, my own mother's input thus far has been more along the lines of "if you get pregnant, don't expect me to be a built-in babysitter".
I have the utmost admiration for your knitting two of these. I know I'd knit like the wind until I was nearly through the first, then I'd tire of it and have to grit my teeth to finish it. To then knit a second must be like running two marathons back to back.
ReplyDelete