Category: Knitting

I’m exclusively knitting the Shale baby blanket by Jared Flood. This blanket is much simpler to knit than it might appear. It’s a four-row repeat. The first row being the setup row. It creates a beautiful lacy design. Once I cast on for this blanket, I decided to stop knitting the blocks for the log cabin blanket until I’m finished knitting this blanket. I know, I know… I said I’d be knitting on both, but I changed my mind. Besides, I most likely will need to wear a “finger protector” for knitting that blanket. The bind-off was giving me callouses. Regarding the shale blanket, I’m not making the baby blanket and so I added an additional 100 cast-on stitches, to bring the total stitches to 251. Additionally, I’m using my US size 6 Hiya Hiya interchangeable stainless steel sharp knitting needles.

You know what? I’m at the point where I’m trying to convince myself to stop knitting this blanket and just turn it into a poncho, skirt or… some other item. For whatever reason, I tend to do that with the blankets I’ve knit. However, I know it will pass.

 

I’m looking forward to seeing how heavy this knitted blanket will be once I’m finished this knitting project. This is going to have some weight! I stated that when this blanket was about 4″ and now it’s around 30″ or perhaps a little over that? I do believe the next new blanket I start will be another Shale baby blanket and I most likely will cast on the same amount of stitches (251) however, I will knit that blanket at a much slower pace. I’m still undecided on what color the yarn will be, however, it will most likely be a jewel tone color and I do believe I’ll make it in superwash wool. Regarding the Shale baby blanket, my goal is have finished knitting this blanket by the end of September and if I continue to knit at this pace, this won’t be an issue.

Jumbo Yarn ball winder by Nancy’s Knit Knacks

I’ve had the opportunity to wind one more yarn cake with my Jumbo Yarn ball winder by Nancy’s Knit Knacks and I must say I have no regrets in making this purchase. It was a bit pricey, costing $301, however, it was worth the price.

 

Lacis Swift/Skein Winder

I had ordered this Lacis swift a day after ordering my jumbo yarn ball winder from Nancy’s Knit Knacks. I ordered it from a seller on eBay. It should have arrived earlier, however, according to the seller there was some mixup, and so it was delayed. Admittedly, I was slightly disappointed, however, the communication from the seller was amazing. They did a great job of keeping me in the loop so I would order from them again.

The past several months, I’ve been enamored with blanket knitting. I’ve already knit two queen-sized blankets, within three months and now I’m working on a third knitted blanket and now…. a fourth!

This past Friday, I added another blanket into my WIP rotation. I’m currently knitting the Shale Baby Blanket by Jared Flood. I stumbled upon it on Ravelry. I cannot tell you what I was looking for, however, the end result landed me on THAT blanket and I was smitten.

Shale Baby Blanket by Jared Flood – Initial thoughts…

• This design is gorgeous and it’s much easier to knit than it might appear. I did make one mistake in the above photo, however, I’ve since fixed that issue.
• I’m deviating slightly from the pattern. I’m slipping the first stitch purlwise, since I think, slipping the first stitch, creates a neater edge.
• I wanted a regular sized blanket, I cast on 100 additional stitches. The pattern states 151 stitches to knit the baby blanket.
• I’m using my size 6 Hiya Hiya Steel Sharp interchangeable knitting needles.
• This pattern is a four-row repeat. The most “challenging” aspect of this pattern is the SSSSK stitch, however, with my super pointy Hiya Hiya Sharps, this isn’t an issue.

 

I also started a Ravelry project notes page for the Shale blanket, so check it out if you like.

Log Cabin Blanket – Update

My knitting is slowly adding to my log cabin block pile. Currently, I have knit eight log cabin blocks. To be honest, I haven’t knit on this project in a few weeks. However, I plan to knock out at least one block weekly until I desire to knit more, or once I’m finished knitting the Shale Baby Blanket by Jared Flood.

Both blankets are still in their baby stages, however, I can already start to feel their weight and so I know they’ll both be heavy once they are finished. I do believe the Shale blanket will be the heavier of the two. I’m not overjoyed about knitting the blankets in July/August heat, however, I’m in love with this stitch pattern of the Shale blanket and the colorful log cabin blocks. I would like to have the Shale blanket finished by the time that fall arrives and the log cabin blanket by December, and so… I knit.

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