the blocking miracle

I knit this large blanket back in January, during the last few days of my holidays....but hadn't yet managed to find the time or motivation to set about the chore of blocking it. And, since I had left it up at my parents a month or so ago (secretly wishing that my Mum might get tired to seeing it and just do it for me), I was mostly able to ignore it. Truth be told I was a little worried that it wouldn't work out -- either the edge was going to be too tightly cast off....or the waves and buckles in the centre would be permanent.

But this weekend, everything seemed so perfect, so peaceful and yet still so productive, that I decided it was as good a time as any to haul out the blanket. My parent's weathered deck was the perfect place for this task -- we were able to line up two of the sides parallel with the boards and then eyeball the other edges, plus the texture of the wood helped to keep the wool to stay put, pretty much, and 4 little thumbtacks worked to hold the corners and get the maximum stretch along the cast-off edge. Still, it was very much a two-person job – that was a lot of wet wool to wrestle!


The warm sun dried it in short order, and I was reassured that all was well in the world of my mitered blanket. I just have about 4-5 ends to sew in, but it's absolutely perfect! :-D And now I have renewed energy to start the bed-sized version I was dreaming about back in January...so I'm looking forward to (hopefully) starting work on that in June, once the OHCG Annual is put to bed. Visions of reds, pinks, oranges and touches of turquoisey blues and greens are dancing in my head....

fininto blankito

I finished casting off last night, just after midnight.....and I love it! I will share a better picture in a week or two, once I've had a chance to block it properly (it needs it!) and sew in the last few ends. I'm going to use a needle and thread to firmly secure the little tails in place, so they don't worm their way back out (I heard about this trick from Heidi a couple of years ago, but this will be my first time trying it). I'm so glad that I decided to use bigger needles and use multiple strands of yarns to get the same general weight.

This definitely won't be my last such blanket. For the last couple of days, I've been dreaming of making another one in mostly shades of red for my bed in the summertime. My sister Sandra suggested that it would make an awesome bed covering - and I have to agree. I think I'll have to tinker with the pattern a bit to end up with a more rectangular shape, but have a few ideas already on how I might accomplish it.

In case you're curious (and so that I can find my notes when it comes time for my second one), here are the detail and notes.....

• 8mm needles
• multiple strands knit together to get the same basic, bulky? weight (up to 4 yarns at one time, mixing fingerling, lace, sock, DK, etc.)
• approx. 140 stitches per side at the end (560 in total)
• save all large balls for the outer rows -- they eat up yarn. 8 rows of pinky purple used almost all of the yarn from an former, very long scarf (originally a kit for Lu).
• very heavy - much time is taken just moving the stiches along on the needle in the later rows
  
• hot to work under - perfect for cool winter nights, but not really suitable for summertime knitting
• every row takes longer than the previous one...and in the end, it took more than an hour just to do the knitted cast off.
  
• generally increase 1 stitch on either side of corner (8 in total), every other row....but in last row before casting off, increase 2 stitches on either side of corners (16 in total) - to give a bit more ease around the corners
• the pattern calls for starting with 9 stitches. I think next time I would start with 5 -- just to get a tighter centre.
  
• next time, I'd knit a wider garter stitch border.....and make 'hidden' increases in the border (instead of yarnovers) and maybe throughout the whole blanket?
  

blanket - day 4

With any luck, the knitting will be completed on this baby today -- for a total of five days of knitting and not a lot else getting done (easily over 500 stitches now and still counting....and did I mention it's over 3lbs?). It's been blissful, really. Luckily I still have a whole weekend of respite ahead of me -- I'm still hoping to tackle a few more (smaller!) projects. Have a great weekend everyone....and thanks again for reading along....

blanket - day 3

All day yesterday I was obsessing about the bright pink strip I had hooked in the wee hours of the night before - I had rejected the ball earlier in the day, but in a moment of weakness my eyes tricked me into thinking it was more purple than pink. More than once I've considered ripping back (one area where rug hooking is very forgiving - you can evict any portion, at any time, without having to rip out anything else to get to it), but late in the day yesterday I decided to stop considering elimination as a option and instead to treat it as a challenge and do my best to 'make it work'.

I am liking it a bit more, and I'm hoping that the square I'm working on now will go a long way in tying it all together. It's a similar colour, but a different yarn. I'm taking a few risks with this project - it is my self-imposed 'play week', after all - but as I knit, I can't help but imagine what a safer combination of colours might have yielded. Lucky for me, I doubt this will be my first and final such blanket.....so I'm lining up all sorts of possible plans for future throws.

The knitting has been quite therapeutic this week, not only giving me a great excuse to sit still, watch old shows (currently on season 2 of Lie to Me....and loving it), and relax with my thoughts.....but it's also been a source of reflection of past knitting projects, travels, and friendships. Those little balls of yarn carry more than just colour and texture, you know....they've been acquired and collected over the past 15 or so years. That's a lot of memories.... ;-)

blanket - day 2

I was a little sad when I added on some needle extensions so I could the blanket spread out a bit better -- for all of my knitting yesterday and so far today, I really haven't made much progress. Well, not as much as I would have thought, at least. This prompted me to count the stitches and I realized there are more than 350 at this point -- and still growing at a rate of 8 stitches every 2 rows....so I will be over 400 in no time. And, it will be a few days before I am ready to cast off.

My curiosity of seeing what each new round of colour will bring and how it changes the look of everything that was knit beforehand is keeping me motivated, while the large, heavy mound of knitting in my lap is keeping me warm! ;-)

Hope you're having fun making things and staying warm....it's another snowy day outside.

the start of a blanket

....and not just another blanketing of snow! (Mother Nature has been busy and making up for lost time since Christmas, with new snow arriving almost daily).

When I was at Heather's last Fall, I fell in love with her gorgeous knitted throws -- in addition to many other things. And in spite of the pattern practically burning a hole in my pocket, I delayed starting one. No longer.

After a few false starts on other things yesterday, I decided that what I really felt like doing was curling up on the couch, watching Netflix (seasons of TV shows without commercials is like a movie that never ends) and knitting. I initially thought that I just wanted to work on a 'small' project, and so I started knitting a bracelet to be felted in the wash (yet another inspired by Heather project). My test piece is knitted and sewn and just waiting for later in the week when I do laundry for the final finishing. I can't really knit more until I know if my dimensions are going to work, so I was soon needing another project.

After rejecting several ideas -- and acknowledging that I really don't need another sweater or vest at the moment, with those I recently completed over the holidays -- I finally settled on the blanket. In spite of it's size (and many hours needed to finish), it will be totally practical AND it will use up bits and balls from my yarn bins. The only downside so far is that the rows are getting longer (now about 2 feet on each side), and taking more time to knit.....so by the time I finish one colour, I've planned many different 'next' colours and can't remember which to choose. It's a pretty good day when that is your biggest problem! :-D

P.S. I've just finished catching up on all of my e-mails....so if you are still waiting to hear back from me, I don't think it ever arrived (it's come to my attention recently that not all e-mails make it to their final destination -- where they end up, I'm not quite sure....but I just know they didn't get there.)