Knitting Pattern of the Month

Now that both baby showers have come and gone, I can finally post about the baby blankets that I have been knitting lately. I've made three of these in the last 6 months and, logically, they have gotten easier each time. This is the last one I made for Lindsey with lots of fun colors! It's not too girlie right? I forgot to take a picture of the one I made for Zita, but she said she would send me one. It's mostly different shades of blue with some grey and tan mixed in.

The pattern I used is called Entrelac, and can be found here. It is a little confusing at first, but once you get your mind wrapped around it, technically, it's not hard at all. It does involve a lot of turning the project, which can get a little annoying at times, but it's worth it.

I added a hood to one of the corners, because hoods are just fun and cute, and the kid can play with it once they get older. You know, to extend the use of it a little. It's not part of the pattern on the link, I just half-assed it by folding down one of the corners about an inch or two and picked up 20 stitches from the folded edge to start. Then I worked in stockinette stitch, picking up more stitches as the hood expands down on each side. The bottom 2 inches or so is 2x2 rib. I went until it looked about baby/toddler head size and bound off. I also made fun ears by picking up 8 stiches where the ears would look ok and worked about 4 lines in stockinette before decreasing by ktog and ptog on either side until 2 stitches were left and then bound off.

The key to making the hood is to initially fold a bit of the corner down so you don't end up with a point at the top of the hood. The last thing you need is for your kid to look like part of the baby kkk. Not funny.

Now you might ask: "where did you get that awesome yarn?" Well, my friend, it is actually recycled yarn from sweaters I buy at Goodwill! Yep, I go to the local thrift store, (usually the Goodwill down the street,) and peruse their awesome sweater collections and find sweaters with colors I like. I then take 'em home, unravel them and BAM! I have tons of cotton yarn for less than 5 bucks. Awesome. I have a sweater here that is awaiting its demise, so I will take pictures of the de-knitting process and show ya'll how it's done. Until then, happy homesteading!