Category: Afghans/Blankets

Although I stated that I was going to knit the POP blanket by Tin Can Knits next, I’ve decided to knit the log cabin blanket instead. The reason is simple, I didn’t have all the colors that I want for the POP blanket and… I’m actually thinking of spinning/dyeing the yarn to create that blanket. That will make it extra special.

The above picture shows a sample log cabin block that I knit. I’ve knit two more sample squares (in different colors) since knitting this first block and… I’ve finally chosen the color scheme that I like, so… in total, I’ve knit four (completed) log cabin blocks. I’ll have to take pictures of what I’ve finally decided to knit. The latest shape that’s been added to my block, was a color that I dyed myself. 🙂 The above picture was the first log cabin block that I knit and since that time, I’ve made a few modifications in how I pick up stitches and what I like most there are no ridges on the wrong side of the work.

An added bonus to the log cabin blanket that I’m knitting now is that some of the shapes will feature yarn that I’ve dyed myself.  As with the last two blankets that I’ve knit, this one is being knit with all natural fibers. Another similarity to the last two blankets that I knit is that the only stitch used to make this blanket is the knit stitch. So yes… another garter stitch blanket, but a bit fancier, since you’re essentially making squares/rectangles, binding off to the last stitch and picking up stitches which is the foundation for another rectangle.

 

Guess what? I decided to make this blanket extra long and so… It took me a bit longer than a month to knit this blanket. To be honest, this almost finished knitted blanket has been sitting in a storage container for almost a month. Why? I haven’t gotten around to adding the knitted border.

I had every intention of adding that border shortly after the blanket part was complete, but… here I am almost a month later and it’s a project that needs to be finished.  Why am I knitting a border? Since this blanket is so plain (I love the simplicity of the garter stitch) I’ve decided to add a border.

While knitting this blanket, I was still trying to decide on the type of border that I wanted to use. I thought about a crocheted scalloped border but immediately nixed that idea immediately. I like crocheted borders, but it’s how I finished my first knitted blanket and I decided I wanted something different and… I wanted this border to be knitted. When thinking about knitted borders, I thought about adding a lace border and so I searched and searched and searched for the appropriate knit border for my hand-knit blanket. I stumbled upon many lovely lace borders, but I didn’t find the one that clicked for this project (at least for me) and so I kept looking. I decided that I wasn’t going to knit a lace border, instead, I started searching for knitted cable borders. I discovered a lot of fancy cables that I’ve bookmarked, but I’ve ultimately decided to choose the knitted cable border that’s shown below.

Do you want to know something interesting? In my search for knit borders, the border I chose is one of the first borders that popped on my search page. It’s Rachel Rabbit’s Continuous Cable Border pattern. It takes advantage of short rows, which means my final bind-off will only be a few stitches. Not that a long bind-off bothers me at all, it doesn’t.

I purchased it on Etsy for $6.00. She also has a tutorial, for the knitted cable border, on her website. This will be the first time that I’ve picked up stitches on a knit blanket, then again… this is only the second hand-knit blanket that I’ve made. I’m sure there will be plenty of firsts as I knit more blankets. Of course, this means this will add more time to this blanket project before it’s finished and I’m fine with that. With crafting, I enjoy the process, the time spent to create an item isn’t important. This hand knit garter stitch blanket doesn’t really need a border, I could bind it off and call it a wrap. However, I do want to add “something extra” to this knitted garter stitch blanket.

Once completed, this will make the second blanket I’ve knit this year. My 2018 goal, is to knit three blankets before the year ends. It looks like I’ll be able to easily reach that goal. I really do enjoy knitting a large project and so I would not be surprised if after completing my third blanket for 2018, I’ll be creating another blanket.

 

One of the many things I enjoy about knitting this blanket is that I really don’t have to think about what I’m doing since it’s just the knit stitch for miles, and I’m enjoying that immensely.

I can knit with large needles, the above are a size 11.

I still cannot knit with anything small, it causes me too much pain and lifting with my left arm/wrist is still a “nope, not going to happen!” However, a moving my wrist slightly with large needles isn’t an issue.

I’m unsure when this handknit blanket will be complete. Judging by the last handknit afghan that I knit (on the bottom of the pile in the above picture) a little over two weeks ago, I should be finished knitting this afghan sometime this week or next. It all depends on how long I want this blanket to be. I could stop now if I wanted too. It’s already longer than the afghan on the bottom. I’m currently on my fourth yarn cake, which means I have four more skeins left. Edited to add: Actually, I have five left. I discovered another yarn cake in the same colorway. Initially, I was going to purchase two more skeins of this yarn. I had purchased a little over 2160 yards of this yarn, but seeing where I’m at now in this knitting journey, I don’t think I’ll purchase any more yarn for this project.

Once this afghan is complete, I’ll only need to knit one more afghan to complete the personal goal I set for myself of knitting three afghans this year. My daughter was the one that took the photos and she kept exclaiming how squishy the afghan felt. It is. I’m looking forward to seeing this afghan finished, but I’m thoroughly enjoying my knitting experience.

What will I knit next? It’ll be something a bit more challenging than a garter stitch afghan.

 

Initially, I was going to make the log cabin afghan and I still will at some point,

but the POP blanket by TinCanKnits has received my attention. The pattern is $5. I’d purchased the pattern a few years ago, but haven’t gotten around to making it yet, perhaps I’ll start knitting this next.

My trigger for the lovely POP blanket by Tin Can Knits is the above delightful scarf which is created by Sophie Digard. Do you see the similarities?

I stumbled upon Sophie’s work in the movie Bright Star. I saw Fanny wearing the top and immediately fell  in love with it. I had something similar during my college years, but the crocheted flowers were larger and in one color, ivory. Seeing that scarf reminded me that I’d seen that design before (in blanket form) on Ravelry and the POP blanket immediately came to mind, although (at the time) I could not remember what it was called. Since I knew I’d saved it in Ravelry, the only thing I needed to do was scroll through my favorites and there it was! It was a nice surprise to see I’d already purchased the blanket pattern a few years before.

Shortly after I stumbled upon I saw the Sophie Digard scarf  (again) I started knitting one of the squares needed to create the PoP blanket. It’s easy to create the circles, once you get used to the method. You start with a pinhole cast on. You also need to know how to do wraps and turns to create the short rows.

I’ve seen a few videos showing this method, but the one I’ve included above is the one I liked the most.

 

 

Resources

1. POP blanket knit by WoolyMountain.
2. POP blanket pattern – designed by TinCanKnits

This morning, I purchased four skeins of Fishermen’s Wool in Brown Heather from my local AC Moore stores. I say “stores” because I hit two different locations. I normally don’t purchase wool from big box stores so this is a first for me, however, I’ve heard about Lions Brand Fishermen’s wool. It’s been classified as a ‘sturdy’ wool. Since I wanted my second afghan to be durable, I thought… why not give Fisherman’ s wool a try? Towards the end of last year, I purchased two skeins of the yarn. 

But back to AC Moore… I printed out four 50% off coupons and paid a little under 6$ for each skein. Yes, you can only use one coupon per person, which is why I brought my daughter along. The stores were about 15 minutes away from each other and I had errands to do near each location, so I didn’t go out of my way to take advantage of the coupons.

I used my Boye electric winder to rewind my yarn. The good news is, there weren’t any tangles or knots! I did have to wind the last few yards by hand since the winder was unable to hold these jumbo yarn hanks. I now have eight center pull yarn cakes.

Each of the skeins of Fishermen’s wool holds 465 yards, which means I have 1860 yards of yarn. I’d already knit about 300 yards before I purchased this yarn. With today’s purchase, I should have more than enough to finish my garter stitch afghan, but I do believe I’ll purchase two more skeins later this week just to be on the safe side. I’m positive there won’t be any complaints about having an extra long afghan to curl up under during cooler months.

Since the yarn has been rewound, I’ve placed all of them in the storage container that I’m using for my knit in progress afghans. This container smells heavenly since I placed bits of raw wool fiber that I scented with lavender and lemongrass essential oil.

I’m really enjoying knitting my afghan in progress with Fishermen’s wool.

The color of this yarn is brown heather. This yarn is affordable. On Amazon, this particular brand/color costs $9.76 for 465 yards. However, I’m able to purchase it for about $6 locally. I take advantage of the 50% and 55% coupons and snap them up at A.C. Moore. Quite a few of my purchased wool skeins cost much more and for less yardage! Fishermen’s Wool by Lion Brand Yarns is a new to me yarn. Yes, I’ve seen it for several years, however, I never purchased it until the end of last year. I haven’t completed anything with it yet… it’s currently being utilized in two projects.

Besides its affordability, I would also classify it as one of the ‘sturdier wools.’ I have found bits of hay within the yarn, which adds to it’s ‘rustic’ appearance, but I just fish out those pieces and continuing to knit with the yarn. Finding the occasional bits of hay reminds me of the random pieces of straw that I occasionally encounter when spinning my raw fiber into hand-spun yarn.

This wool is also 100 virgin wool and so some of the lanolin remains within the yarn. I like that since I can feel the lanolin on my hands as I knit.

How am I using this yarn? Well, this knit in progress is destined to be another garter stitch afghan. It’s the simplest stitch to make and since I’m using my Hiya Hiya circular needles (size 11) it’s just knit stitch until I stop.

Well… I do slip the first stitch so I can create these neat rows, but other than that it’s just miles and miles of knitting. 😉

But before I rack up the miles, I’ll need to stock up on the yarn. Why? I’m down to my last skein of yarn, see? Which means that I’ll have to purchase more tomorrow. AC Moore has this in stock and so I’ll be stopping by there to purchase a few skeins. When I have some downtime, I’ll rewind each skein. That’s the perfect way to discover potential knots and then place them in their storage container that has scraps of raw wool fiber scented with lavender essential oil and lemongrass and pull the yarn cakes out as needed.

Small Blessings

Because the needles are so large, I’m finding that I’m not experiencing any wrist pain. Lifting items with my left arm are still not to be done and lifting above my head will bring on the pain. I’m not rushing anything and am thankful for what I can do. As a Christian, I’m reminded to give thanks for all things, but even if I wasn’t, staying positive sure beats complaining. I’ve been around people that seemingly always have a negative cloud about them and at times it can wear upon you.

Today was cool and so I was able to utilize the blanket that I just finished. It’s draped over my legs.

What are my knitting goals for the year? I want to have knit three afghans before 2019 rolls around. After this one, I have one more to complete. My third afghan will be knitting a log cabin afghan.

The above blanket is a colorful inspiration for myself. This one was done by Staci Perry of Very Pink. More on the log cabin afghan that I’ll be knitting, the book I purchased specifically about these types of afghans in a later post.

Resources

1. Learn to knit a log cabin blanket – Staci Perry
2. How to knit a log cabin blanket