Blanket Donation (...the making of...)

Remember the post about my frustration with working in ends?  Well, the frustration is over...and the blanket is complete!  This undeniably pink baby blanket will be donated to the annual Breast Cancer Fundraiser Luncheon on November 10 in Drayton.

Now, here's the play-by-play of how a blanket like this gets put together:

1. I followed the Double Diamond Blanket pattern on the Bernat website.  I used Patons' Bamboo Baby yarn and a size H hook. Each square is worked individually...

2. It takes 25 squares to make the blanket: 13 in the main colour, 8 in a second colour, and 4 in another colour.  What I should have done was work those ugly tails in at this point so I didn't have to do them all later.

3.  The squares are then sewn together using a darning needle and a whip stitch.

4.  After I added a border of two rows of white sc (AND worked in all the ends!), I soaked the blanket in a bowl of water (with a very small amount of detergent) for a few hours.

5.  I forgot to take a picture of the blanket before it went in the water, but you can see from this photo that even the wet blanket needed more than just a flat spot to dry.  (The problem with patchwork is  that it's bound to be lumpy.  But there is a solution...)

 6.  ....pins!  I  started at the centre and pinned the corners of each square into a foam mat to help give it some shape.  (Looks like tiny hydro poles in magical pink farmland, doesn't it?)

7.  About 3 days later, the blanket was finally dry.  I removed the pins and was pleased to see it was looking much more square...with no ripples in sight.

I'm very pleased with the finished product and honoured to have it featured in the Breast Cancer fundraiser.  (Who knows?  Maybe someone I know will win it...)