I can’t believe a whole week has passed already since I posted last. I haven’t felt that busy, but I guess I have been.
I finished up my beach blanket this week and love it! It was super easy to do on my serger and only took me a few hours to complete. I love my serger so much. It was an investment I will never regret.
I decided to add loops at each of the corners so we can use our stakes to keep the blanket from blowing away. We have a few beach towels with this feature and they have been so useful on windy days at the beach when everything just wants to blow away.
I also figured out a way to use my fabulous snap press for something other than diapers. For easy carrying and storage, I added straps that have a snap on the end so they can snap closed on themselves. It works perfectly to keep the blanket rolled up and even Kage could carry the blanket around by himself.
It was pretty icky outside the day I finished this up, so Kage and I spread it out in the living room and invited a few of our stuffed friends over for a test drive.
It looks like the blanket is also a great place to do yoga!
I ended up not adding any binding to the edges of the fabric, I just serged it. One of the ladies at my local sewing store suggested it. I was surprised that I hadn’t though of that. I guess I was just trying to make things more complicated than they needed to be and completely overlooked the simple solution. That sounds like something I would do. I used bright red and orange thread to serge the edges to give it some more color.
I used seven towels to make this, but I still have a good bit of terry left over. I was happy I didn’t use it all because I want to make some washcloth puppets for Kage. We had a frog washcloth that Kage really enjoyed playing with in the bath. Froggy had holes all over and was falling apart so he has crossed over the rainbow bridge.
Since I didn’t get a photo up last week of Ember’s first pair of longies, here it is. I am so happy with how they turned out and can’t wait for her to wear them.
Once these were done, I jumped right into the next pair using the Poison Apple colorway from Dashing Dachs. I had to fight a bit with this yarn to keep it from pooling in a not so pleasing way. They still pooled a bit at the top, but I like the look of it. They are just about done and since I have enough yarn I am going to make this matching ear flap hat. The hat can either be tied under the chin or up at the top of the head as shown in the book. Last year I bought this book, Knitting For Baby, specifically for this pattern, but I never got around to making a hat for Kage using it. The pattern only goes up to 12 months, but I bet once I knit one for Ember I will be able to resize it to make one for Kage as well.
These are just beautiful! I love the idea of the towel/blanket, and your knitting skills are just divine. Wonderful job!
Excellent work on the blanket, Michelle. I need to look more closely to see how you did the piecing.
Your WIP posts are just fantastic – and inspiring. As I work to get my life a little more easy-flowing, this is something I’d like to fit into my own routine.
The blanket turned out so well! I like the loops and straps you added too.
[...] Recycled Patchwork Beach Blanket As unoriginal as it may sound, my biggest source of inspiration truly has been my children. Crafting has taken on a new meaning since they were born. Being able to give them items that I have made by hand and filled with love brings me so much joy. Now that my son is talking, I can hear first hand his excitement when I give him something I made. That certainly fuels my desire to make crafting a daily part of our lives and to share my love of art with them. For me, creating art and crafting has been something I have enjoyed my entire life. Even in elementary school, art was my favorite class. I fondly remember walking through the isles of the storage room in my art class looking at all the supplies and being excited by the endless possibilities of what they could become. One Year Birthday Ensemble I learned to hand sew as a Girl Scout Brownie and learned to use a sewing machine in middle school Home Economics class. To my amazement, I remembered the skills I learned as a girl when I returned to sewing many years later in college. Knitted Baby Skirt I don’t really recall what prompted my urge to learn knitting five years ago, but once I figured it out I was addicted. Knitting is so meditative and very calming for my mind which always seems to be going in too many directions at once. Knitting is my therapy. 5 Fun Facts About Michelle: [...]