Knitted Heart and Baby Blanket

Yesterday I promised to show you a finished project that I have been working on for some time, however firstly here is a little knitted heart that I completed last night and which I absolutely adore.

The pattern comes from a little book I picked up at the Works called Vintage Hearts & Flowers by Kate Haxell. There are so many projects in the book that I just have to make and I'm sure you'll feel the same way.

I knitted this in a beautiful wool by James C Brett called Aria, and as you can see it has the tiniest gold sequins threaded into the strand.  This is the first time I have used it and I think it's just perfect for this. I have been stocking JCB for about a year now and find all the yarns to be lovely and the colours are always up to the minute.

I added a tiny mother of pearl star button from my stash and a taupe ribbon which was actually what I cut out of a cardigan. You know, the ribbons they stitch in to the shoulders to help the garment stay on the hanger. I always cut them out and recycle them.
Next up is the baby blanket I was commissioned to make last year.  It has taken a lot of patience to complete, I can tell you!

I have never tackled anything like this before and probably won't again, although in the end I was thrilled with the result.

Each picture was created by using separate strands of wool. No weaving allowed. This meant that when the blanket was finished I then had about a hundred ends to weave it on the wrong side.










I only agreed to do the blanket because I thought, looking at the instructions that I would be embroidering the detail on afterwards.
There was some embroidery involved such as the black bits and on the bottle and safety pin. 

The pattern came from a Debbie Bliss baby book which has a picture of this on the front. Unfortunately I can't tell you anymore as I gave the book back when I handed over the blanket.

How cute is this little face?
There will never be another blanket like this in the whole world. Not made by me anyway!