Comfort knitting

Since I’ve started knitting, the act of creating something out of a piece of string has been a great comfort to me. Whether I’m stressed out, somewhat sad, or even just having a single bad day, knitting brings me back to a mostly even keel.

And boy, did I need something to bring me back this week. Between an increase in activity at work and a dog that I’m pet-sitting who got so stressed out that his parents went on vacation that he made himself sick, I really needed something to bring me back to center. Or at least somewhat close.

The outcome of knitting can also be very comforting, as was this baby blanket that I can finally share with you because it arrived at my friends’ house last week.

It’s Jared Flood’s Tweed Baby Blanket (ravelry link), and it’s a dream to knit up.

This was a comfort knit at it’s best. All those rows upon rows of garter stitch were great mindless knitting, and all the while, I kept thinking about the wonderful little man that will soon be joining the world, and his fabulous parents.

Picking up the stitches was slightly less comforting, as it’s not a 1:1 ratio of stitches picked up to stitches on the edge. When I make this blanket again, I may do a single crochet around the edge to get the right number of stitches, and then knit into the crocheted edge. Slightly more complicated, yes, but I think it will not make me want to pull my hair out as trying to pick up these stitches did.

The i-cord bind off was new to me, but Jared’s instructions are crystal clear and fairly intuitive once you get into it, and I loved the neat, finished edge that the i-cord binding gave to the blanket. A soak in the sink and some aggressive blocking later, and the lacy edging popped out and grabbed my attention. The yarn, Rowan Felted Tweed, wasn’t terribly itchy to start with but really softened up after the washing and blocking. And it came out to the perfect size to be a comfy lap blanket.

Okay, I’ll admit it, I really didn’t want to send it off at the end, but as I had no back-up knitting plan for this baby, I kind of had to.

Little baby M, I hope you this blanket brings you some comfort.

Details
Pattern: Jared Flood’s Tweed Baby Blanket
Needles: Size 8 (5.00 mm)
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed in Camel (three balls) and Carbon (one ball and roughly a third of a second)
Modifications: none, although next time I may go with the aforementioned single crochet pick-up stitches plan.
Finished size: 42″ square