Thursday, March 1, 2012

FO: Spiral Star Baby Blanket

Months ago, I knit my friend a Spiral Star Baby Blanket from last summer's KnitCircus. It was a simple pattern,  easy to work on in front of the TV, and I finished with plenty of time to spare. I got my ends woven in, put it in the washer on the gentle cycle ( it is a baby blanket, so it must withstand the washing machine) , pulled it out to block it, and almost stroked out on the spot.

One of the ends close to the yarnovers had pulled out, and left a big gap. I tried to tighten it up and weave it back in, but it looked awful.  I asked around, but nobody had any good suggestions. So it just sat there.

Meanwhile,  my friend has a beautiful baby boy, and insists she wants this blanket regardless of the ugly spot. I fixed it as well as I could, but it does still look a bit nasty.  So, I still needed to block this thing, so I handwash it this time,  just spin the thing out in the washer, and as I'm pinning it out, discover that ALL my ends are loosening up. I'm totally disgusted.

This problem made it glaringly obvious that I need to work on my finishing techniques.  I've gotten lax by knitting things that will never see the inside of a washer. The thing that really kills me is that I knew it would go in a washer and put extra effort into my weaving in, and it still fell apart.


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