Blanket the World

During the eight hours we spent on the road this past weekend, I managed to finish the blanket* I have been working on all month. For some reason, this one took longer to complete than normal. I usually knit on planes as I travel around, but lately I have taken to just staring off into space or sleeping. Gotta snap outta that habit.


I have knit this particular blanket many times. It is a modified version of the "Building Blocks" baby blanket from the Yarn Girls' Guide to Kids Knits. I used Mystical Creations' hand-dyed chenille yarn, double stranded, knit on long size 11 circular needles. I really like this pattern for baby gifts. It is super quick (usually) because the yarn is so big and bulky, and the yarn is quite elegant - for chenille anyway. I often combine a variegated color with a solid, like in this version, for a really cool mottled effect. Also, the MC yarn is much cheaper than the Crystal Palace called for in the pattern. Bonus.


Has anyone else noticed that the Yarn Girls' pattern for this blanket is suspiciously similar to the "Basketweave Blanket" pattern in Falick and Nicholas' Knitting for Baby, which was published two years earlier? Seems weird to me that the second book did not even reference the first, which is pretty well known and hard to ignore. Creative license, maybe, but what about some respect? To be fair, I have knit the Basketweave Blanket too - on size 4 needles - and Holy Moley did it take a long time! I went right back to fat yarn and big needles for baby blanket gifts after that experience.

This time, I didn't start this blanket with a recipient in mind. I wasn't quite sure who needed this one or why, but I just assumed I would figure it out. Then last week, I was listening (and knitting) to the Cast-on podcast on a plane back from Shanghai. I heard Ms. Dayne mention the Casting on for Kenya project. Some nice people are collecting hand-knit blankets to take to children living with HIV/AIDS in Africa. Well, I thought to the blanket, that is who you are for. Thanks for letting me know.


*What's that you say? Who cares about the stoopid knitting? Tell us about your roadtrip to the World Heritage sites? Ahhh, yes. Patience, grasshopper. Patience.