Loved knitting this! Very pleased with the final product. Rowan Wool Cotton is delightful to knit with and makes a perfect baby blanket because it is machine washable. I would make this again.

12/9/13 I sewed the fabric backing to the blanket with a simple overstitch with quilting thread. Finished by knotting yarn at 12 spots to keep fabric backing from shifting. Now, a final wash in the washing machine, and then this one is off to the baby who inspired it.

11/12/13 After test washing a swatch in the washing machine on warm (label says cold) and drying in the dryer on gentle (label says lay flat to dry), I was pleased to see that there was no bleeding of colors and the stitches were beautiful. I washed the blanket in the washer on cold, dried it in the dryer on gentle for 10 minutes, and then blocked it gently. Thrilled with how beautifully the fabric relaxes. Now to add the fabric backing.

11/9/13 Knitting and embellishing is done. Now I want to add the fabric backing and a bias tape. Found some great instructions for making bias tape from a fat quarter. I’m going on faith here because I’ve never done this before, but how hard can it be? Sometimes having no idea how difficult something is is a better place to be than understanding what lies ahead.

Inspired by the backing fabric, I’m going to replace the baby items on the blanket with oak leaves and ferns instead. I’ve never backed a blanket with fabric before, but there are good tutorials online, and my knitting group has some interesting ideas about using a bias tape edging.