wild stripes, finally

Hi.

Remember, like, a whole year ago, when I finished knitting this?

So, finally, like a whole entire year later, I have finally finished assembling it!

 

Hallelujah!

Because, oh my gosh. It. Seriously. Took. Forever.

The knitting?  Yeah, not so bad.  Lots of color changes, but mostly just your basic stitch.

But the finishing?  The piping assemblage, and the handstitching of the back to the front, and the making sure everything is straight, and the hand-quilting where one fabric is stretchy and the other is not... Ugh.  It took SO long!

It's a great pattern, and I love the way it turned out, but the PITA factor is very, very high on this one.

Whatever, though.  Jonah loves it, so it was worth it.  It has come to be fondly referred to as Jonah's Amazing Technicolor Dream Blanket.  Which fits.  It's pretty wild and crazy and colorful.  It's also good for peekaboo.

 

Here's another front view...

 

...and one from the back, too.

 

A few notes on this project, for the crafty folks out there.  The pattern is here and it's free.  Yay for free.  I really, really, really wanted to use the recommended yarn, in the exact colors recommended by the pattern.  Alas, though, KnitPicks no longer carries most of those colors, and I couldn't really figure out a colorway with the ones they had left that I wanted to use.  So, I did my best to match up the original colors with Cascade 220, which you can never really have too much of anyway.  It's probably a bit bigger than the pattern would be made up in DK, but I'm OK with that.

The back is a Michael Miller plaid that I picked up at my local quilt shop.  Let me give you one bit of advice on this pattern.  It is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY helpful to use a plaid or a gingham.  That way you can make sure everything is lined up right on an actual grid.  If you don't use a grid fabric, make sure you draw one on with a chalk pen before you do ANY finishing on this.  It will save you some swearin'.

In other non-knitting news, Jonah is busting out some teeth.  Want to see the funniest thing ever?

 

Have you ever seen a kid that got their side teeth before their middle ones?  I think it is so funny.  The other three aren't far behind, which I am really happy about because we have had some seriously ornery teething days around here lately!  I'm glad to see him returning to his happy little self.

 

But I will also be a little sad when he doesn't look like a funny little jack-o-lantern.

Comments

[Coleen]

Now that makes me want to learn to knit! Is this "easy" or for more experienced knitters?

[Jacqui]

A friend's boy had his two top canines come in first and he looked like a little vampire. It was so cute! And your blanket is lovely, makes me want to learn to knit even more now!

[Isela]

Kim, the blanket is beautiful but little Jonah steals the show! That cute smile and those little teeth! He is so cute and I just want to snuggle him.

[Erin]

Oh my goodness that blanket is AMAZING! Such a labor of love I am sure. Your time is well spent on this project. And seriously, could Jonah's eyes be any bigger? He is beautiful.

[Liz]

WoW! I had to look in on the pattern to realize the French Knots and Running Stitches weren't Bobbles and Intarsia. Fantastic results! In place of the cording, what about a knit-on I-cord instead? Simply divine results you have there -- and Mr. Jonah is too cute ;-)