Fanfare and drumroll: the entrelac blanket is finished...

Here is the finished entrelac blanket.  I took my time adding the border and blocking it.  Final touches make all the difference to a finished project and I quite enjoy making something look as beautiful as possible.  I always remember a school teacher who often said "If something's worth doing, it's worth doing well."  With that in mind, the first part of the border I added had to be ripped back.  I decided I had knitted it too tightly.  I love the variegated yarn but it has a lot less "give" than the rest of the blanket.  Even after I knitted it loosely, it dictated how much blocking I could do.

I can still vividly remember the way my daughter used to treat her blankets.  Her inquisitive fingers would have found lots of threads to pull on the back of this one.  So I went with my original plan to line it with some lovely soft flannelette.  I washed the material twice to stop future shrinkage problems and I anchored the backing to the knitted front with several little stitches.

Here's what the finished blanket looks like.

I'm really pleased with it.  Admittedly, finishing it off during a heatwave was hard work. But on a cold night it will be lovely and warm. 

I looked up the actual translation of "entrelac" and found out that it is a Catalan word meaning "interlacing".  I think that next time, and there will be a next time, I might just use 2 colours.  That will bring out the woven effect even more.  The total weight before adding the border is just under 300g.  The final size is approximately 28" by 33".  So 2 large balls of dk yarn will be enough to make another spectacular blanket.  Colour A would slant to the right and colour B would slant to the left throughout the whole blanket.  

I'm already trying to decide which 2 colours would be good together.  The possibilities are endless.  Lilac and white would be great for a baby.  Bottle green and gold would look very Celtic.  Then there are sports team colours etc etc.  Maybe I will wait until I have a particular baby in mind and let the parents decide.

This is the pattern I followed.  It is well written and comes with loads of photos.  Thanks to Julie of Mack and Mabel for writing the pattern and letting me win it on her giveaway.  I could have chosen any of her patterns.  But I chose this as I was in the right frame of mind for a challenge.  I'm so glad I did.  I have put it away carefully to wait for the next baby girl in the family.