here's the second baby blanket. this one is for my cousin Rebekah in England. the main pattern is by Laura Aylor. she made an afgan using Koreyon yarn which i saw displayed on the Knitty.com site. i used Patons Astra to knit this blanket. the edging is a pattern called Shingles from Nicky Epstein's 'Knitted Embellishments'. the afgan is made up of squares which are then sewn together. i'm most excited by 'interesting' designs and stitches so i loved working the short rows in the squares. i thought the Shingles design would hilight the colors best but once i got started i soon realised what a lot of work lay ahead. however the construction of each small shingle: the combining together and adding a second row with 3 needle bind off and attaching the finished 'shingles' to the main part with 3 needle bind off was truly a stimulating experience. when i wasn't working on this piece i was knitting my first circular shawl - see previous post. this 'mindless' knitting was a happy change of pace. this blanket is also on its way to England.

this is Ethan's sweater. Ethan is the son of my cousins Lee and Gaby and he lives in Wales. he will have a baby brother very soon and in my last post i showed pics of his brother' s shawl. i knitted the sweater with Patons Astra. the pattern is from Patons Kids Knits which i have had for a l o n g time. many years ago i knitted the same pattern for a grandson and i also knitted other patterns from this book for my grandchildren. it has been well used.

knitter at work!
here i am stretching out the baby shawl. this is the first circular shawl i've made. i followed EZ's instructions from her book Knitters Almanac. i used Emily Ockers cast on and away i went. i knitted round and round and added some blue stripes because the unborn child is a boy. when i came to the edging i took EZ's advice again and knitted the edging onto the shawl. i chose Saw-Tooth Points from Nicky Epsteins' Knitted Embellishments. EZ says that it seems to take forever to knit the edging on and she is right! however, once done there's no sewing on so well worth the effort. my first attempt at pinning out didn't satisfy me as i couldn't get an even stretch. after much measuring with a tape measure and repinning i had it just about passable. this experience had me thinking about improvements for my next shawl. i have decided to buy gingham material. draw the required circle onto the fabric and then pin. i'm sure i have "unvented" something. :-))
this shawl is now heading to Wales where my cousin Gaby awaits the birth of her second son.