Hello @gillianpearce ! Nice to hear from you.
I actually did 4 rows of seed stitch + the 4 stitches (in seed stitch) each side. This created a 'natural frame' for the lap blanket. I considered garter stitch and nearly went for that :D
I don't know about knitting theory or 'traditionally' how things should be done. I just normally break all rules and go for fast and practical alternatives to what's in rule books. It actually often works.
I wonder what stitch the body of the blanket you were knitting was like. Perhaps it was a question of aesthetics (looks) and the designer just thought it looked better like that. Picking edge stitches seems always time consuming to me - so how did the corners work out?
Depending on the stitch it may be that it would stretch otherwise and doing the edge in a different way helped keeping the shape of the piece.
Mine was heavy to deal with; what was yours like? Do you have photos ?
Thank you @cryptocariad. I'm not around so much these days but I'll seek out my old post about the baby blanket and make another post from it later so you can see it.
The corners were fine but it took quite a bit of blocking to get them nice and square. I wouldn't normally bother but as it was a blanket for my first grandchild I made a special effort. 😁
It was pretty heavy as I made it in bamboo and add an extra pattern block at the bottom and the side to make it bigger than the pattern suggested.
I'll make a post later and tag you in it so you can see. 😁
That will be great, @gillianpearce ! I look forward to seeing it ! It actually sounds like a traditional blanket destined to become an heirloom 😁