Things I never thought I’d make.

On the list of things I never thought I would make, a Christening blanket is pretty high up there. First of all I’m not  Christian and secondly, I didn’t think I could or would knit anything more complicated than a scarf. However, here I am finding myself being asked by a friend to make her a special blanket for her cute little son’s big day. I feel incredibly honored to be asked to make something that will be very special to my friend’s family and might be doing the rounds of family christenings for some time to come, or at the very least will be on show to the world for one day

After agreeing straight away, I started to give it some thought and then of course it dawned on me that most Christening blankets are very intricate and often lacy. I love knitting, but until recently I didn’t think I would ever knit anything more complex than a scarf. So I was a little scared. Then the other day I was at Jessica’s house looking at all her fab knitting books, when I saw lots of lace blocks in The Encyclopedia of Knitting. Jessica told me that it wasn’t as difficult to knit lace as it seemed and she showed me a great scarf that she had knitted using one of the patterns. So I borrowed the book and practiced my yarn over, cast on a few stitches, and in no time I was knitting a basic faggot lace stitch. Lace knitting is so much simpler than I thought it would be, and I urge you to try it if you haven’t yet. The faggot stitch that I was practicing was yarn over, knit 2 tog, repeated along every row, over 24 stitches.

My current idea for the blanket is to have a simple repetitive lace center square, with a wide more intricate lace edging. I brought a book on Friday called Knitted Edgings & Trims, by the same author as the Knitting Encyclopedia. It’s a very good book and there are a few lace trims that I am considering.

The knitted summer top I have been working on is nearly finished. I have crocheted the two triangles onto the large rectangle and I have crocheted tie straps. All I have to do now is plan the crochet for the lace up back and then get to work. I am planning on posting a tutorial once I have finished it, but here’s a sneak peek for now.

There are several new items in the shop, and more to be added in the week. I made two purses from the large flat pieces of wet felt, and I am very proud of both of them. Part of me wants to keep them for myself, but I am resisting.

I think that’s about it for the Monday update I hope you had a good Easter and ate lots of yummy chocolate.

Have a good week