I made it!!!
It got a bit boring now and then but once you've started, it's so easy that you can do it without needing to count or measure. I soon learned to recognise whether I was on an increase row or a follow-up by the shape of the stitch at the increase places. I made a few mistakes which show to the experienced eye but I hope they do not detract too much. Anyway I only discovered them when it was too late to turn back.
I bougt a 100cm addi turbo circular from Kangaroo, thinking it would do the job but, I ended up spending so much time squeezing the knitting around the needle that I trawled the net for a longer one. I ended up with a 200cm addi turbo from www.kcgtrading.com ( Knitting and Crochet Guild).
I have spent decades knitting without addi turbos. Why did I take so long to discover them? What am I going to do with all the shoddier needles that I own?


The pattern for the blanket was illustrated with a load of tiny pompoms sewn around the edge but I couldn't face making the necessary hundreds so I cast off using a "frilled cast off" method from Montse Stanley's book. I find "The Knitters Handbook "is a worthwhile investment. I learned to knit before I went to school and once I could read I taught myself to follow patterns but I never learned all those little tricks and finishes. This book has all of them.
I surfed the net for that illusive equation that allows you to leave just enough yarn to cast off with. Eventually I came to the conclusion that 4x the last row is good enough so I doubled it for the frilled cast off and then added a bit more. I ended up with a tail of less than three metres which wasn't bad seeing as I started with a ball of 200gm of 4ply baby wool which could have been well over half a mile in length.


I've done a close up of the finish here. It blocked out really well and drapes beautifully. The baby is due in August in Australia so I shall have plenty of time to pack it up in tissue and send it off.
I'm waiting for an insurance assessor to come next Thursday and check out the broken spinning wheel and the packaging it came in. Once they have been I can see whether I can do anything to fix it at all. I'm not too good with tools but I'll have a go. One of the things I have to do is remove the hub pin so that I can get the wheel off to see if it can be re-glued in any way.
Any advice would be most welcome.

Cheers to all Gillian