How I learned to love making blankets

Life Pro Tip: It is so much easier to WEAVE a blanket than it is to KNIT a blanket. Huh. Who would have known? My kids could have come home from the hospital in hand made blankets had I realized this, instead of some store bought bamboo muslin. That's not to say that the muslin swaddlers aren't nice, but I digress.

After the failed place mats, I set my sights on a bigger objective. I REALLY wanted to make a blanket for my baby. I had a hand knit blanket for my daughter (as well as many hand knit articles of clothing, toys, etc) but I barely had anything for my baby boy. With a newly gifted copy of "Handwoven Baby Blankets" by Tom Knisely, I sat down and planned the next project.

Utilizing both Excel and a Weaving Calculator, I estimated how many yards I would need of each desired color. I placed an order of Maurice Brassard 8/2 Cotton, received the order, and placed a second order because the colors weren't quite what I had anticipated.  At least I knew to buy actual weaving yarn this time!

On the left, the green that I wanted.  On the right, the green that I had ordered the first time.

I spent a long time measuring out the warp for this one (620 ends!). I had to order additional heddles for the loom.  I spent some time color coding the heddles so I could easily identify the shaft while threading.  With paint markers in hand, I colored all the shaft 4 heddles pink, shaft 3 green, shaft 2 purple, and shaft 1 blue.

The project was very slow going.  I decided to move the loom into the living room (sorry, family!) which allowed me to gain some speed.  The loom was dressed in no time, and I spent a week weaving on and off again after work.

Since the loom wasn't wide enough for a blanket, I decided to cut the cloth to create two panels for a blanket and a smaller piece for a pillow case.  The draft that I followed called for a special hem to be woven -- which I only did at the very beginning and very end of the project.  In hindsight, I should woven the two blanket panels with the hem section at the beginning and end of each.  

Hemming section at the beginning

While taking pictures of the cloth before washing, I noticed a large hole!  I panicked and begged for advice on Facebook from The 4 Shaft Weaving group.  Fearing I was going to have to do some extensive repairs, the wonderful community assured me that it would wash out.  They were right!