Knitted Storybook Blanket

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in a garden where a magical flower tree grew~~~



Every time a new flower bloomed it would play a little melody, filling the air with songs and beautiful music.




Even the little birds joined in so that the little girl could listen to a beautiful chorus.


The woodland creatures all came to listen and the little bunnies sat so very, very still beneath the tree - they were listening to the beautiful songs.




Whenever the little girl would leave the garden, she carried with her a little song in her heart. This always made her very happy and she knew that she was loved. The End.

Finally, I am able to show you the little Storybook Blanket that I made for "Little Baby No Name." I knitted on this blanket for 3 months - it seemed to take forever to finish knitting this project. The knitting was not hard, but the entire blanket was knitted in rib stitch (K1P1) and that takes twice as long to knit as regular stockinette! I seemed to be going nowhere - fast!

The blanket is comprised of 5 panels, sewn together after they are knitted. Each panel consists of 6 blocks that are knitted into the panel. (This is a big blanket!) The yarns that I used were a combination of several variegated cotton sock yarns (Yes - sock yarns!) mixed with a solid color cotton yarn. There were 5 solid colors that were mixed and matched. I also used an acrylic carrier thread that I mixed with the sock yarns and cotton yarns - so that actually I used 3 strands at one time all through the blanket. I mixed and matched the variety of combinations constantly to give this blanket a marled effect.

After the blanket was sewn together, I began to create the story. Honestly, I did not have a definite plan - it just began to evolve as I was working on this~~~

The little flowers are made from vintage fabric yo-yos that I purchased at the flea market. Using these little creations, that some little lady had painstakingly made by hand, (such tiny little stitches!) was such a joy for me. On top of each yo-yo flower, I attached a pink ribbon rose.

The leaves are crochet from two different colors of green cotton. (I purchased the leaves and little animal adornments for the blanket.) The butterflies, the dragonfly, and the little turtle (gotta have a turtle!) are also crochet.

The bunnies and birds are little felt appliques. When I sewed everything to the blanket, I gently padded each and every leaf, bird, animal, and flower with a tiny bit of scrap yarn - just enough to give it a little extra definition.

The vine is made of a variegated ribbon yarn. When I started unrolling the ribbon yarn so that I could lay it on the blanket, within minutes it seemed to get into a HUGE wad! That took me about 2 hours to untangle! (How does this happen!!!)

The yo-yos were also already attached somewhat together, and I had to gently (very gently!) take them apart from their blocks so that I could use them. (Oh yea, this was time consuming also!)

Maddy girl, LOVED the blanket! She made the cutest little oohs and ahhs when I showed it to her. She had to touch all the little flowers and birds - it was priceless.

The vine was created at random, just however the yarn wanted to lay. After I sewed the vine on, I also tied little tiny strips of the ribbon yarn to the vine at intervals - so that it would look like it had more leaves. I just left these little bits to dangle however they fell.

This was not a lap project! I had to lay it all out on a table in the Sacred Yarn Room and stand the entire time that I sewed everything on the blanket.

The little doll was knitted also (!!!) and I made her little pouch from a baby sweater that I found at the flea market (for a quarter!). I felted the sweater and then cut the side of the sweater to use as the pouch. I love that I left the little buttons, and the neck edging on the sweater when I attached it to the blanket. There are some little lambs on the bottom of the sweater edge - my favorite part!

Total sewing on time - about 18 hours! Three very long nights!

(and lots of Motrin---). My fingers had little permanent indentions in them from all the sewing. I hate thimbles - but maybe I should have rethought that one!

The little story just came into my mind as I was sewing the decorations on the blanket. I wrote the story on a little note and pinned it to the blanket when it was displayed at the baby shower.

"Little Baby No Name" will hear lots of stories from her gb - but I am hoping that this will be her favorite.

Vicki