Friday, November 18, 2016

woven baby blanket

Hi It's me! Sorry for the blogging break. Just over 2 weeks ago I got a new knee and now I am walking without a limp and in very little pain! Amazing. I'll spare you the pictures of my most attractive scar.... let's just say my surgeon could use a few lessons in hand sewing. Seriously though, he did a wonderful job and I am most happy. And ready to get back to my crafty life...

Just before my surgery I finished up my very first handwoven baby blanket for a baby due next week. Silly baby, I guess no one told him the schedule. He actually arrived four weeks early. I finally got his blanket mailed off to him this week and I hope he enjoys it!

Since my loom is only 25 inches wide, I wove twice the length I needed for the blanket, cut the woven fabric in half and joined the two halves with hand stitching to make the size I needed (about 40"x45"). The yarn is a variegated acrylic baby yarn. It wove up beautifully, just a plain weave. The only problem I had was that the yarn would pick up a lot of static after several passes through the shed. I finally came up with a solution! I kept an unused dryer sheet handy and would swipe it down the length of the weft yarn every now & then. Worked like a charm!


I bound the two unfinished edges using a strip of quilting cotton, just like I do with my towels. It added such a nice finish to the blanket.

I learned a lot making this blanket. It's not perfect, but I do think it came out quite nice!