Starting a Baby Blanket

I have started the Cunningham blanket, a free pattern by the Berroco Design Team. It is for my friend's granddaughter who will be born in September but the mother will be visiting locally in July.

I am using Sandnes Garn Smart - a DK superwash wool with 4mm needles. I previously used that yarn for a Lehe lapblanket and really liked the feel of it. It's not a baby yarn but I'll rinse it in hair conditioner before I wet block it and it will be very nice.

It is knit from the centre outwards. I started with a pinhole cast-on - something new to me. It involves using a crochet hook to cast on the first 8 stitches. They can then be transferred to the knitting needles for knitting in the round (dpns or magic loop). The yarn tail is then snugged up, pulling all the stitches to the centre, thus closing the hole.

I haven't knit lace in a while and it took me a while to get my mojo back. It's always tricky to get the pattern established. I put a stitch marker at each 'corner'. The chart is very easy to read and the instructions are very clear. I just kept making mistakes due to inattentiveness. I keep adding cable lengths as the project gets bigger. Right now I have 2 - 24" joined cables but can swap out one or both of them for longer cables as needed.

Once I have knit as far as I want to go for the centre - approx. 28" or  70cm, I'll start the garter stitch mitred border. I bought more than enough yarn for this project.