gelukkig in de jaren zestig

hi there!

those who follow me on instagram might have noticed i've recently become an auntie for the very first time! my brother and his girlfriend had a beautiful baby girl called Olivia two weeks ago! we were all so excited since the day we knew they were expecting! so, ofcourse, i had to make some stuff for the baby! :)

the first thing i want to share is the one i'm most excited about: i made a soft, light baby blanket in 100% merino wool.  

 

why a blanket? i personally think (though i never had a baby) they are very useful: they can be used for keeping warm, in the car or in the crib, maybe even as a play mat or for lying on. or maybe just as home decor if you don't use it in any other way. ;) it seems like a sensible, useful gift that lasts long and that they don't outgrow too fast. 

 

i knew i wanted something in 2 colours (although i also love multi-coloured crochet blankets) and i decided on blue and yellow. the yarn is Woolly by DMC creative, which is 100% merino wool. (and, if we can believe the website, "sourced from Australia and 100% natural and renewable) i thought it was important to choose a yarn that was made of wool because wool gives a lot of warmth and tends to be better for sensitive baby skin. this yarn was also really really soft and gives a very nice drape when knit up. definitely a winner for baby stuff!

 for the pattern i was heavily inspired by this blanket by Lisa Kinoo. i made some swatches and decided on double moss stitch. i made some calculations and cast on a huge number of stitches and just started knitting away! after i knit a big rectangle (i aimed for a size of 140x80cm but it turned out somewhat smaller), i finished with some single crochet rows and finally a scalloped edge. (pattern found in some old thrifted crochet book.)

 i also finally learned how to hold my yarn "the right way". i knit english style and i used to "throw" my yarn, but without holding it over my index finger. knitting this amount of purl and knit stitches was very hard on my wrist, so i went to my mom for advice. she showed me how to hold my yarn this way, which is much better for my wrists!

and finally, some details:

- i started knitting in september and finished in january.

it was my on-the-train-knit until it started getting too big to carry along everyday.

- i used 9 balls of yarn (8 yellow, 1 blue. i loved working with this yarn!)

-  and some things i learned in the process:
1. i will never EVER again start a new ball of yarn in the middle of a row.

2. i should keep better notes about the amount of stitches i cast on.

3. blocking really made this blankie look 4572x times better than when it just came off the needles. :)