Hey all, Farmer’s daughter bean here with another “make” post.
Believe it or not, I’ve been knitting this blanket since February! So, you can imagine how happy I was to finally finish it a couple weeks back and get it mailed off to Oregon…yeah! Even though I haven’t even seen a picture of him yet (get on the ball, folks!) I made this blanket for my new nephew Colton, who was born on April 9th. Ironically enough, Colton was born on the same day as his father, my younger brother, Mike.
The pattern was altered a bit from a larger one found in the book Debbie Bliss Home where it is simply called the “Seaside Throw.” I used Lion Brand Cotton-Ease, which helped to keep the cost of it from sky-rocketing as the pattern calls for a lot of yarn. Five skeins to be exact.
It’s also the first time I’ve knit a guernsey pattern — which is based on a traditional English pattern used to make sweaters for fishermen — which wasn’t exactly hard to make, but boy was it ever time consuming. I did get to learn how to cable and make a bobble as well, which was actually quite fun.
But again, it did take a LONG TIME to make this blanket. So long in fact that the girls in my Stitch ‘n Bitch group started giving me a hard time about finishing before he outgrew it…ha! But, now that I am done, I think it was well worth the journey…however long it took!
I haven’t heard what the family thinks of it yet, but since I’m still waiting for the birth announcement, I’m not going to hold my breath!
For now, I can just hope they can get some use out of the blanket before it gets too warm up there and then I’ll take my own pictures of Colton with his new “blanky” when I visit them in July.
make. see. eat. do. 
Very nice blanket! I am so impressed. Your nephew is a lucky little boy!
Perfection! It’s friggin’ amazing. I love that you used the Cotton Ease.
It’s beautiful. Love the color. It almost makes me want to reproduce so that you can make one for Little James! 🙂
Thanks for all of your compliments!
Danielle – I loved the Cotton Ease. It was nice to work with and cheap too! There aren’t any $300’s worth of yarn baby blankets in my future!
James – Why don’t you just adopt? I’d make a blanket for that! 🙂
OUTSTANDING! Glad to see it is finally done. And to think I wasn’t there for the finishing… Is Nic done yet? The blanket is an heirloom, fer sure.
It’s fabulous. Since I am completely incapable of creating anything at all, I am doubly impressed! Great job. And, I agree the color is yummy!
I just found this “Seaside Throw” pattern and am going to give it a try. Yours came out beautiful and I think I will make a small one first to get the hang of it.
Question: How did you keep track of the different patterns since they have different row repetitions?
Thanks!
Carol
Thanks for checking out our blog, Carol.
I used stitch markers when the pattern changed. It actually was very easy once I got going. After you’ve done a few repeats of the patterns, you’ll have them memorized! The blanket I made is smaller than the original pattern. I gave it as a baby blanket, so I didn’t do as many pattern repeats as it called for.
Good luck with yours!
Beautiful job. I’ve been looking at this pattern to make for my grandchild to be born in November. It looks pretty time consuming. What size did you end up making it and how did you alter the pattern. I have the pattern already and am still thinking about what kind of yarn to use. How does the Cotton Ease wash up? I’ve used Sublime to make the Ziggy blanket for my other soon to be born grandson. It’s amazing squishy and soft but so expensive! What an exciting time this is. Two babies in one year and my first grandchildren 🙂
Thank you Sue! I’ll have to check my notes and see how I altered the pattern. The blanket was actually very quick to knit up. I really love the Cotton Ease. Since I made the blanket as a gift, I don’t know how many times they washed it and what it looks like now. I did use Cotton Ease for a sweater for my daughter which I wash all of the time. It still looks great and she has been wearing it for almost a year! Congratulations on your grandchildren! I promise to get back to you about my changes when I find my notes, hopefully this weekend!
Hi, Thanks for the reply. That would be great and I’m glad to hear it works up quickly. It looked a little complicated, but’s it’s so gorgeous that I’m sure it will be an heirloom. If the baby wears it out, that’s terrific too 🙂 I do have to go back to the library. I was going to buy the book and then I found it in the library. I brought it home to scan it and I just checked last night and found out something happened to all but one page of the scans. I have about 10 percent left to do on the Ziggy Blanket with Sublime Merino Cashmere Silk dk for the first grandbaby and then I’ll start the second blanket. I’ll be on the watch for your notes. The knitting community is so kind, I love the spirit of helpfulness! Thank you again and have a great weekend!
Sue- I can’t seem to find my notes. I know that I borrowed this book from a friend to get the pattern, but I had a copy of it with notes on it. I guess I’ll need to do some cleaning to find it. 🙂 I do remember cutting out some of the repeats. Since I was making it for a baby, I didn’t want it to be as big as the original pattern. I’ll keep looking and cleaning to see if I come across any adjustments I made. Good luck with it!