I’m a little obsessed with plaid. I wanted to make a sweet baby blanket in a plaid pattern for one of my colleagues. I started by knitting some block stripes in garter stitch. It knit up pretty quickly and I finished the blanket as a whole in 6 days. I started it in February!
A little over halfway finished Vicky likes to hold down my work for photos and blocking
Next, I began to weave on the bias through the purl loops. This was a tedious process, but the effect of weaving made my heart pitter-patter. I used an embroidery needle to do it.
Amid my weaving, I sliced my poor pinky finger and needed some stitches. The stitches kept getting caught on the fiber, so I knew it was time to take a break. I had to wait for my injury to heal before I continued.
One month and one week passed, and I FINALLY finished weaving the plaid on March 25th.
Next, I had a little bit of a hitch. Weaving the blanket on the bias stretched the fabric into a weird diamond shape. I assumed blocking it would resolve my issues. Alas, I wasn’t correct. I wanted it blocked and a pretty rectangle before I wove in my ends and knit the border. It took months of pulling the project out and trying again and again to fix the problem.
The baby had been born, and It seemed too late to give a new baby gift. So, I held onto the blanket embarrassed by my little catastrophe. One evening, a couple of weeks ago, we were having a team cocktail hour at a local brewery, and one of my colleague’s wives and I were chatting and she mentioned how much she loves knitting. I told her my silly story about this blanket that I just couldn’t get to turn into a rectangle. We had a laugh about it, but she was also about 7 months pregnant. I knew immediately, this blanket was meant for her and her little girl. 🥰 As a knitter, I knew she would find beauty in the imperfection, and I wouldn’t be ashamed of the beautiful gift. I knew the knit and woven plaid would be in a home that understood the knitting and crafting process.
