Thursday, October 13, 2016

Another Baby Shawl

Way back earlier this year I was surprised with a comment that I was going to be Great Auntie again. What great news! I did ask what the Mum-to-be would like for this new baby and was told that everything was needed, everything had been given away.

That was when I decided to make her a baby banklet. So I dug through and found my shawl book. Would I do another circular one? Nah..... I would do something a little easier..... or so I thought.  A square one with a pretty lace edge.

This time I ordered through Bendigo Woollen Mills. Everyone always raved over their yarn, and I was informed it was much cheaper. In the end it was about half the price and only a few days to arrive.

The center of the shawl was an easy pattern, and finished in only a few weeks. It was the lace edge that got me. I very rarely give up on anything, but I gave up on this edge. After unpicking numerous times, and making mistakes in different places each time, I decided I was running out of time and needed to do something else. The hunt for another edge pattern was on.

I hunted both on-line, and in my local library. Surprising enough, the library had nothing, and I ended up using an edge pattern that I found for free on-line that dated back to the 1800's.

This edge pattern was patterned on every row, not just the knit rows like I am used to. The previous lace pattern that I gave up on was also patterned on each row, and I thought this was the reason I kept making mistakes. The second pattern though had a more distinct pattern through it than the first, so this made it easier to do.

Like anything found for free on-line, there is always a problem. The problem with this pattern was there were no corners , so I had to make one up. I would have liked to have continued the pattern, but to do that I would have had to miter it, and this would take some thinking, and time to experiment which I was running out of fast. So I experimented with short rows and keeping the outer edge going. It was simple, but worked.

I loved the final effect, and I believe the new owner does too. It is a one of a kind baby blanket that hopefully will be loved for many years to come.


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