Blankets – This Tangled Skein

Just a Little Crazy

May 31, 2010

9:00 am

Comments Off on Just a Little Crazy

Afghans and Blankets, Blankets, In Progress, Knitting, Projects, WIP

It’s not that I hadn’t heard of the Sock Yarn Blankie. It kept popping up in podcasts and here and there in the Ravelry Forums. As cool as Shelly’s Blankie looked, I just didn’t have any desire to turn my scraps into a real, honest-to-goodness project.

And then Stacy started talking about it, too. She mentioned another lovely blanket, and then I stumbled on Elizabeth’s gorgeous project (also, she has the best blog name ever).

Somewhere in there, I reached the tipping point, and this happened:

I have been keeping sock yarn remnants neatly balled up in a drawer of my card catalog cabinet, like they were just waiting for this project.

I swapped several remnants with Stacy, joined the BlankieMania group over Ravelry, and found a mini-skein swap to join. I shipped off an envelope full of yarn.

I can hardly wait for my new mini-skeins to come in.

Ready, Set, Wait

by beth

June 15, 2009

10:07 am

1 Comment on Ready, Set, Wait

Yarn

Baby, Beaded Knitting, Blankets, Chicago Illusion, Entomology, Illusion Knitting, In Progress, Knitting, Knitty, Mishaps, Miss Honeychurch, Shawls, WIP, Wollmeise

I’m all set to get started on Miss Honeychurch (which I keep calling Miss Honeydew – perhaps I need more fruit in my diet), except for one thing.

My yarn is somewhere between Ohio and California. My copy of A Room with a View is also somewhere between a shipping center and my house, but I expect it to arrive today. (A year of Amazon Prime is one of the best holiday gifts I’ve gotten. It is, indeed, the gift that keeps on giving.)

But I have my pattern and a short circular needle for swatching. My plan is to read the book and knit the sweater over the course of July and August. The sweater should will be done by Labor Day, which is still quite warm in this part of the country.

It’s not like I don’t have anything to knit in the meantime. The Chicago Illusion Blankie is coming along slowly:

Each charted row is actually four rows of knitting (two in each color). It’s going a little quicker now that I’ve marked every 10 columns on the chart for easier counting. And it only took ripping out two rows to get me to do it!

And my beloved blue skein of Wollmeise informed me that it didn’t really want to be socks (after I started a cabled sock not once but twice!). It wants to be the Entomology shawl. How could I argue?

250 beads down, 955 to go.

Hey, Look, Knitting!

by beth

June 12, 2009

10:11 am

1 Comment on Hey, Look, Knitting!

Yarn

Alphabet Blanket, Baby, Baby Knitting, Bibs, Blankets, Chicago Illusion, Debbie Bliss, Finished, In Progress, Knit Picks, Knitting, Sanguine Gryphon, Test Knitting, WIP

In my long blog silence, there has been knitting. Last night, I finished off a blankie for Little Miss.

Specs:
Pattern: Alphabet Blanket
Designer: Debbie Bliss
Source: The Baby Knits Book, courtesy of my library system
Yarn: Patons Grace, hot pink, 9 skeins
Needles: Addi Turbo Lace, sizes US 2 & 3
Comments: Bliss suggests her own (now discontinued) Wool/Cotton Blend for this pattern. I had this Patons Grace (originally intended for a pair of matching Reid sweaters for my niece and Little Miss) in my stash. Of course, using mercerized cotton for a lace blanket was not the best idea I ever had, but I think it turned out rather pretty, and I’m sure the various joints in my hands will stop aching really soon. I used Russian joins throughout, which are a little bit bulky in the DK weight cotton, but not noticeable unless you’re really looking for them. And since the Patons Grace had at least one knot in almost every skein, I did a LOT of joining.

I really need to make a second blocking board. I had to block the blanket folded in half.

I left it overnight and took it off this morning, spreading it over our coffee table, still slightly damp.

To celebrate completing the blanket, I cast on a new blankie, this time an illusion-knit one in Sanguine Gryphon Traveller. I’ve never done illusion knitting before.

Speaking of new-to-me techniques and finished objects, my most recent contribution to Knit Picks was in the May catalog.

The Fruity Bibs were my first go at intarsia in cotton. The Knit Picks Comfy, by the way, is incredibly soft. Just lovely, lovely stuff. The buttons are sweet little shell buttons I bought at Unwind, my fantastic LYS.

And speaking of Knit Picks, I ordered a batch of CotLin for Miss Honeychurch, about which I’ll have more to say on Monday.

FO Friday!

by beth

October 19, 2007

1:03 pm

1 Comment on FO Friday!

Yarn

Baby Knitting, Blankets, Donation Knitting, Finished, FO, In Progress, Knitting, Lace, Pinwheel Blanket, Secret of the Stole, WIP, Wraps

That’s the Colonial Williamsburg Pinwheel Baby Blanket, all done and washed and dried and laid out and sat upon by the cat and brushed off and taken away from the cat and laid out again.

I put a bit of a rush on it early in the week so I could take it to a meeting on Wednesday to show the folks who might want to purchase it at next month’s fundraiser.

Pattern: Genia Planck’s Round or Pinwheel Baby Blanket, a KnitList pattern I found through Ravelry.
Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun in Colonial and Williamsburg, a bit less than one skein of each.
Needles: Denise Interchangeables, size US10.5, with a cord that just kept getting longer
Modifications: None
New Technique(s): I used the Lighter Circular Beginning (scroll down) to cast on.

Since I was pushing to finish the baby blanket, I thought I was going to fall way behind on Secret of the Stole, but I finished Clue 2 this morning while Little Miss was napping.

The picture quality isn’t very good. The sun was a little too bright for the light yarn on the white blanket. I’ll get a better one after I finish clue #3, which I’ve just printed out.