Click Here for a link to the original post that has links to the pattern.

Okay – so I finally finished the blanket (about two weeks late)! The reason I got behind was that I messed up…and I mean BAD. At some point, the right side of the pattern started showing up on the wrong side and I didn’t notice, for whatever reason, for a while. I had to rip back a long way to get back to where the mistake happened. Then, it took me several days (okay, well over a week) to figure out how to get back on track! Ugh. But, I kept going and finally got it.

ANOTHER TIP: Keep very careful track of which row you are on. This is an awesome pattern and I shouldn’t have messed up like I did. I think I know when it happened – I had just finished a row when the phone rang. I answered the phone, talked for however long, and then when I went to check which row I was on, I couldn’t remember whether I had written it down or not! Yes, I used old-fashioned pen and paper to keep track 🙂 Now, I always want to be sure that I have written down the last row I did before I answer the phone or anything else. Anyway, so I chose wrong and ended up costing about 2 weeks on it. An advanced knitter would have probably corrected it much sooner, but hey, I’m challenging myself with knitting and learning at the same time.

So, then I blocked it. I soaked it for a little over half an hour in lukewarm water and some delicate wash called “Eucalan.” I had never used Eucalan before, but decided to try it. Seems to be a good product so I’ll be using it again.

Here is the blanket soaking:

I had a helper keeping watch:

“Yep, it’s looking good,” he seemed to say.

After it soaked, I pinned it to blocking mats. They are KnitPicks mats, but I ordered them from amazon here. I also bought some T-pins to pin the blanket into shape. You don’t have to use blocking mats. You could use any firm object as long as you can pin to it. I didn’t think these mats were going to be big enough, so I was going to use a fold-out futon if they weren’t, and just put a towel down between the wet blanket and the futon.

It took well over a day to completely dry, but I was very happy with the result. It actually did shape it pretty well!

There are a few “design features” (read: mistakes), but it was knit with love and I hope it keeps the little bundle of joy it is intended for warm and happy for years to come.