Miles (Almost) of Ruffles

I've tried lots of techniques for making pretty knitted ruffles, and I'm usually disappointed.  For this project, I wanted a curved ruffle that would be full on the outer edge, but not very full on the edge by the blanket, and one that would not roll or kink on the outer edge.

Here's what I have, just a section of the blanket that I've sewed together.  I still have quite a long ways to sew, having only sewed ruffle to two of the ten pie-shaped sections..

John has been teasing me about my incredibly impractical baby blanket project.  The actual blanket knits up quickly, but he's pointed out that I knitted this long, long piece of ruffle (thousands of rows, short-rowed, and using the ribber on one edge, moving an edge weight regularly), and who will want to knit all those rows?  Not to worry, you can edge the blanket lots of ways, and I'll put more than one in the book, but I wanted to play with my ruffle idea!  Next, I shocked him when I explained that I was going to iron the ruffle.  Yep, kill it with a steam iron.  It lies rather well without the steaming, but I wanted a flowing, drape-y look.  Yup, it's a lot of time to spend on a baby blanket, but nothing compared to the time a hand knitter would spend. 

The ironing job went quite quickly, and look how nice the ruffle is, even before a final steaming of the assembled blanket!

This technique makes an excellent ruffle, and it'll be a fun lesson for the book and video.  I am determined, as usual, to make each project in my book and video a fun learning opportunity.  Consider the possibilities:  a ruffled poet's blouse; a ruffle around a tablecloth, or how about a shawl?