Pattern: Fly Away by tincanknits.
Yarn: Mostly Yellow Label DK weight and Green Label Aran weight with a few other bases thrown in for good measure. Colourways used: Rose Grey, Sweetheart, Pink Grapefruit, Trinity, Lilac, Light Periwinkle, Frost, Tidal, Lotus, Seabreeze, Spearmint, Mallard/Lemongrass held together, Orange Blossom, Buttercup, Gold, ooak (can't remember what I called this one).
Ravelry project page here.
My friend Sara is expecting her first baby this spring and Micah and I made a trip to Halifax this past weekend to visit with friends and to attend Sara's baby shower. Traveling alone with Micah was an adventure and though I'm in no rush to do it again I'm happy to say that we survived! He was amazing on the plane rides but his nights left me a little bleary eyed. We're home now and are catching up on sleep and I'm happy to report that the blanket I knit for Sara was a big hit! Her and her husband loved it, it coordinates beautifully with the nursery and I'm confident that it will see a lot of love. I now patiently have to wait a few more weeks to see some action shots of the blanket in use with her sure to be perfect newborn. Exciting!
This is my second time knitting the Fly Away blanket pattern by Tin Can Knits and I'm definitely not tired of it. Remember the blanket I knit for Micah? Same pattern, COMPLETELY different look. Both of my versions of this pattern have been slightly modified from the original. Basically the pattern spells out how to knit 16 biased garter stitch squares, sew them together and knit the border. In both of my versions so far I've stuck to the pattern but played around with colour. I've also knit a slightly chunkier border on my blankets because I love a wide frame. For this version each square was knit using 2 colourways (if you're familiar with quilting I've basically made half square triangles) and then I've assembled them in this lovely star pattern.
Before I cast on I toyed with trying to figure out a way to knit this blanket by picking up stitches along the sides of my completed squares in order to avoid the seaming, but I'm glad that I didn't do that because A) knitting 16 small squares makes for very portable and satisfying knitting and B) playing around with the layout when all the squares are complete is half the fun! and finally C) seaming garter stitch squares is super easy and quick. Sure, there are lots of ends to weave in, but if you weave in as you go (the pattern specifies how to do this) it's really not that bad at all.
Knitted blankets are awesome and though they make amazing baby gifts they aren't just for babies. Spoiler alert :: I'm planning a big Blanket KAL this summer and am working on getting the shop stocked with loads of palettes so we can all join in. There is a very good chance that I'll be knitting another Fly Away, maybe a slightly larger one for myself this time!