Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

New Blanket

At the end of May I posted a photo of some pretty and soft Ice yarn.  I said that I was going to make something for some “me” time but hadn’t decided what I wanted to make, or rather what the yarn wanted to be.

A about a month later, the yarn decided that it wanted to be a blanket and the search was on for the perfect pattern.  I have a digital file of patterns and returned to one that I had made previously.  I liked the old fashioned look and really enjoyed knitting the squares.

The pattern that I used and am using currently is Classic Elite Yarns, Modular Throw.  Sadly, Classic Elites Yarn has gone out of business so the pattern is no longer available for download.

The squares are knitted in four sections and sewn together.  The first time that I knit this pattern, I followed the instructions to change the colour at the top of each section so that there ended up being a contrasting colour square when the pieces were sewn together.  I decided to make these all one colour this time as I am making this for myself and love the softness and look of the white.

Lack of notes (or lack of memory) left me knitting this in pieces and sewing the four smaller squares into one larger one.  I was powering through the small squares and really enjoying the rhythm and speed of these pretty pieces.  I had twenty-three small squares made when I remembered knitting the four pieces together in the round originally.  I stopped at this point and sewed together four large squares to see I wanted to continue this way.  This one is blocked

It is a really good thing that I have a ton of this yarn.  The resulting large square was not great.  The seam was too thick and created a ridge that could not be blocked out.  I also didn’t like the finished product with the needle size that I had been using.  It was just too floppy for a nice snuggly blanket.  After a few weeks in time out (and also because I had eye surgery and couldn’t comfortably knit or read, boohoo) I opted to restart the project with a smaller needle and knit the large squares in the round in one piece.  This one is not blocked and I have not closed the centre yet.

The result is more like what I had envisioned and I am really happy with the new square.  I added a border of a contrasting colour of the same yarn.  Buying more yarn was not in the plan but, you know, sometimes you just gotta!  This one is not blocked or finished.

There are times when it just pays off to restart a project.  All of the work that goes into creating something beautiful is truly satisfying when you love the finished project in spite of the hiccups and restarts along the way.

I am aiming for a finished blanket by the end of September; let’s see if I can do it.

Have a lovely week ahead with lots of love and kindness.

Knitting

Hand Dyed Triple Blank

Dying yarn is a really great way to express your creative side in colour.  I have a bunch, and I do mean a bunch, of undyed sock yarn that speaks to me every once in a while.

I had knit some sock blanks a year or so ago that I wanted to paint as gradient cakes.  Knitted with double or triple ends, the idea was to produce two or three cakes that were the same.  It worked well and this is the end product.

I had a large blank of three ends of sock yarn that was left over undyed.

After dying some merino and silk blend with a mixture of blue and yellow to produce a lovely green, there was a fair bit of dye left in the pot but not enough to dye a whole skein.

I added some extra yellow to soften the green and threw in the blank.  It turned out a beautiful avocado tone with slight variations that I really like in kettle dyed yarn.  Rinsed and dried, it was time to unravel and separate the three strands into individual cakes.  I have done this before by winding one end onto a yarn winder and hand winding the other ends into balls to rewind.

I am a collector of knitting machine stuff and found myself with three winders.  I know that seems excessive but I did have six and have given a couple away so don’t feel too badly about the ones remaining.  It turned out that having an assortment of winders is the best possible thing for this job.

Although it took a while to unravel the blank, I ended up with three nice cakes and no rewinding a ball into a cake which is a real pain.

Have a lovely week filled with kindness and crafting.