Baby blanket, finished and blocked! First FO of 2007! And, I finally got these photos to depict the yarn color accurately.
I added a crocheted mini-picot edge of my own devising to the ends, and the selvedges are "double-slipped garter" from the Knitter's Handbook. The blocked blanket is about 40 inches square in size.
Pattern: "Print Blanket" from the 2004 Filatura Di Crosa Baby booklet. Knit using the recommended yarn, Filatura Di Crosa Zarella (color #409) on 5 mm needles.

This was a quick 'n' dirty knit, only took a couple of weeks! To me, the pattern as written comes out different than what is pictured in the booklet, but I'm OK with how it turned out.

The yarn was so-so. It's quite soft now after a hand-wash, but I don't find anything particularly outstanding about the yarn. Since I rarely use acrylic blends I don't have a lot to compare it to though. The colors it comes in are quite pretty, and it's a decent yarn, but I'm not sure it's worth the retail price (at least I got it on a WEBS discounted order). Also, I used eight balls of yarn for this project and there was like five or six knots to deal with...grrr! It's a machine-wash yarn but I notice that you are supposed to flat dry. I feel a bit bad about that as it's kind of a pain for a baby item.

Now, I'm making a little something extra to give with the blanket. Anyone have any guesses as to what this mystery project is?

I'm sure you're all dying to know what my latest project is, right? ;) Well, take a peek:My best-est friend is due to have a baby (it's a boy!) in early April, and as her only knitterly friend I just had to make a baby blanket. The pattern is supposedly the one pictured in this Filatura Di Crosa baby booklet:However, the design that is coming off my needles looks significantly different. The one in the photo has parallel zig-zags, and mine is sort of basket-weave looking. I presume it's a screw up on their part because I'm pretty sure I'm following it correctly. I wasn't really sure how I liked this "imposter" pattern, but it's grown on me.

Here is a bit better photo of the pattern:I'm using the specified yarn, Zarella, which is a half wool/half acrylic blend. It definitely feels rougher to me than 100% wool yarn, in a sense, with that acrylic-y texture that I can't quite describe. I'm not in love with it yet but if it softens up with washing I'll be happy. The color is #409, and is a bit more vivid in real life.

I actually started this around Christmas but had to rip it out because it was way too wide. I only re-started it a week or so ago, and I'm already half done! I was worried about getting this done in time for her shower, but I guess I have nothing to worry about. I even got some yarn to make a little something to go with it (more on that in a future post).

I decided to sign up for Project Spectrum...we'll see how much I follow along with it but I thought it would be fun to get creative with color this year.

Hooray for getting halfway through the work week!