Cast Off – Vanilla Mint Chip Baby Blanket

I finished my second ever knitting project this weekend. The baby blanket, which I have nicknamed Vanilla Mint Chip Baby Buggy Blanket, took about 18 hours from start to finish over the course of three weeks. I am now undertaking a second buggy blanket in shades of blue for a friend who is about to welcome her second son into the world. The reference to a buggy blanket as opposed to a regular baby blanket helps define the size and intended purpose. Many baby blankets are too big to cover the legs and torso of an infant or toddler in a buggy (aka a stroller) without a bit of dragging on the ground or they are tucked in around the child so much the bunches of fabric get in the way. The buggy blanket is just enough to cover a bit without excess blanket in the way. At least, that’s my hope – not having a child to test it on leaves me in the theoretical knitting arena on this project.

This was the first time I actually knitted a swatch to test gauge. The final gauge was 16 stitches by 26 rows = 4”x4” on 6.5mm needles. The main section of the blanket is two yarns knitted together – Distrifil Azurite (211) and James C. Brett Magi-knit Baby DK (Y105). The edges are five rows of moss stitch (or at least an attempt at moss stitch) just in the Azurite on 4mm DPNs. I cast on 100 stitches and knitted/purled until I would reach the green part of the patterned yarn then once there was a row of entirely green loops (paired with the cream Azurite) on the needles, I would do the opposite to create a texture enhancing the look of the color change. For instance, if I would have normally purled a row, I would knit it instead, leaving the little loop bumps on the other side of the blanket. It is such a simple ‘pattern’, but the result draws many comments about how amazing it is that the pattern’s ridges coincide with the yarn’s color shift. Not even coordinated since I don’t count the rows between texture ‘stripes’.

For the Blue Skies Baby Buggy Blanket (yes, another nickname that just rolls off the tongue), I will approach it slightly differently since the edging was annoying the way I did it. Not sure yet what I’ll do, but I’ll decide today and post about it ASAP. Here’s a photo of the finished Vanilla Mint Chip blanket.