Hue Shift Afghan

The story of the Hue Shift Afghan has gone on for a while.  I bought the kit from Knit Picks in the last vestiges of winter, and started knitting it up not long after, slowly working my way through the first three of four quadrants.  Then I made a herculean effort to knit the last quadrant in five days in May, on our Jasper trip, and then set the whole thing down to languish before finishing the seaming and border.  I am not usually one of those knitters who puts off finishing an almost-finished project (the two long-ignored knitted bags notwithstanding) but this one just sat and sat while I worked on other things.  In the last week I finished up a handful of projects (some hats, some socks, some lacy cowls and a shawl) and I had an urge for something simple.  Garter stitch borders couldn't be simpler.

When I ordered the kit, Knit Picks was out of the black yarn for the border, so I chose a dark violet instead.  I think it's a perfect colour, since it is still dark but also really suits the rainbow colour scheme of the blanket, and is the next logical colour in the progression from either end.

I also really love how the lines made by the decreases on each of the mitred squares creates a sort of star design when the blanket is pieced together.

Even more awesome than finishing this is that I have a bunch of brightly coloured yarn scraps left over, so you know some lucky kid will be getting the most glorious rainbow scarf when I start my woven scarves for charity in the fall.

Even More Rainbowy

I finished another quarter panel of my Hue Shift Afghan, last night.  Where the first panel only used half of the colours of the design, this one incorporates all 10 colours in it, which makes it a lot more fun and interesting.  The third panel will be the same idea, but in a different order, and then the final panel is just the blues/greens.  I am still loving every minute of this one.

Umaro

Anyone who follows this blog knows how much I love Brooklyn Tweed patterns.  By last count, I've made eight of them (some more than once) including most of his blanket designs.

A year or two ago, I decided to make this blanket as a gift for someone special.  I bought the yarn and left it to sit in my closet until the right moment came along.  About a month ago, I was struck with a case of finishitis and decided to finish a knitted bag that's been waiting for handles and lining.  While I was searching my closet for the bag handles, I ran across this yarn, along with some yarn that I'd set aside for a cabled pullover.  I haven't found the handles, but I have cast on for two more projects.  I guess sometimes finishitis leads to startitis, too.

While making good progress on the cabled sweater and a couple of pairs of socks, I still managed to make this bulky blanket in a little less than a month.  I used elann's Highland Bulky wool to knit it, with huuuuge needles (10.0 mm, aka US 15.)  The single-ply wool yarn isn't my favourite to knit with, since it's a bit splitty, but it did knit up nicely.  The end result is a warm bulky blanket, albeit a bit fuzzy and prone to picking up lint.  If I did this blanket again (and let's face it, that's not unlikely) I wouldn't use a wool single again, but probably do something with multiple plies, and machine-washable, since I think that would make it more practical.

Warm Plaid Blanket

I've put off blogging this finished object for a while, until I could come to terms with it.


I finished the weaving and sewed the panels together - it was huge and wooly and lovely. Then I took a couple of days to twist the fringe at either end, which took a while since there are so many ends. Having done that, I was left with the question of how to finish it. Back when I made my series of Kindergarten Scarves, I would wash each one by hand as I finished it, using friction to lightly full them. Well, this blanket is far too big for that sort of thing, so I decided to use technology to aid me. I soaked and washed it in the bathtub, and then put it in the dryer.


I know, I know - the dryer?! Well, to be honest, I've had a couple of felting projects that I've tried to felt in the washer/dryer in my building, and have had little success with it, even when running the item through the machine two or three times, so I was quite confident that it wouldn't be a problem. Well, okay, only confident enough to leave it for a few minutes before checking on it. Fifteen minutes in, I opened the dryer, and was disheartened to see that it had already felted further than I'd intended. Sigh. Lesson learned. So it ended up a bit narrower and a bit thicker and a bit fuzzier than was my intention. I was pretty upset about it, but friends and family have reassured me that it isn't actually a total failure on my part (as I had initially worried) so I am learning to enjoy it. By the time I use it on some bright spring mornings on the balcony, I think I'll even learn to love it.

Cabled Blanket

I decided to participate in a loosely-defined knitalong with TFA yarns this month, to start off the new year right. However, I just hit a bump in the road and may have to rip back a ways on said project, so why don't we just talk about something else today, instead?


Last spring, my HLM was bragging to his family about how crafty I am, and he suggested that I make them a quilt or something, to give to them as a gift. I suggested an knitted blanket, instead, since it'd been a while since I made one and I had a hankering. I gave him a few options, and he chose this free pattern from Bernat. I hemmed and hawed a bit about what to knit it with, but ultimately decided on Knit Picks Swish Bulky, so that it would be machine-washable. He also picked the yarn colour, a now-defunct Douglas Fir.


I started knitting it in the spring, but of course the weather eventually got the better of me, as it got too hot to knit with a growing bulky-weight blanket on my lap, so it got set aside for a few months and then picked up again in the fall. I ended up ordering a few more skeins, as well (this was during a particularly difficult time when I had three projects on the go for which I seemed to have underestimated my yarn needs.) I ended up using 14 skeins in total, before I was happy with the length of it.


In the end, the blanket seems somewhat narrow, but it's because of the way the cables and the purl columns between them make it draw in like ribbing. If you actually sit under it, it will spread quite wide and really curls around you for a comfy couch experience. The cables are really squishy and luscious, which is why I loved the look of this blanket, initially. It will be a super warm and cozy blanket for naps on the couch.

A Year in the Planning

Okay, not really. I had it planned out and ready to go, way back when, but sometimes things just fall behind in the weaving queue, you know? So after making numerous showy towels and scarves and whatnot, throughout this whole year, I finally feel like this project's time has come. (I laughed when I read the bit in last year's post about "one more project before this one." A textbook example of the best laid plans, I think.) Perhaps the best impetus of all is that it's been a bit chilly of late, so why not prepare for the winter by weaving a toasty blanket?


I mentioned in that first post that I'm weaving it in two panels. This is the beginning of the first one, six repeats across and eighteen long. When I finish the second panel and attach them, the finished blanket will be twelve repeats by eighteen, which should be somewhere around 45 inches by 60 inches, the perfect size for napping on the sofa.

Pop Quiz, Hotshot

Does anyone want to hazard a guess regarding what this portends?

Another Adorable Baby Blanket

As I mentioned a week and a half ago, I recently committed myself to making a couple of baby blankets. Initially I was going to make two of the same blanket (the shale lace blanket I showed off last week) but my mom and sister were so enamored of Jared Flood's Tweed Baby Blanket (ravelry) that I decided to make one of each, instead. In retrospect, I'm glad I did. While I love the first one, I was a bit tired of doing the same thing over and over by the end of it, and making a second blanket the same might have put me over the edge.

The classic Shetland construction of this one is perfect for cleansing the palate: first you knit a big garter stitch square (from one corner to the opposite corner) which is so easy and meditative that it's heavenly. Then you pick up stitches along the four sides and do some lace. It just so happens that this lace changes colours every four rows, which definitely inspired me to keep going and do a full repeat (or two or three) every day.


Once again, the acrylic means that I can't block it quite the way I'd like to (sorry Jared) but it still looks great. The only thing I might change is the attached i-cord edging. I upsized one needle size to do it, but it still seems a little bit tight. Perhaps going up another size would have helped, or doing some more unattached rows of i-cord at the right places to follow the curves of the lace.

Once it was off the needles, I wasted no time in getting back to the springy fingerless mittens I've been hankering for. They are nearly done, so I'll show you those, soon.

Shale Baby Blanket

My name is Rhonda and I am a yarn snob.

I might as well come clean about it, now, because I've recently taken on knitting two baby blankets, and bumped up against the place where luxurious knits meet family-friendly knits. If it were my choice, I would knit Jared Flood's baby blanket patterns in a yarn that's cloudy and wooly and tweedy, and then handwash and block the heck out of them to create a work of art.


Instead, I have to actually consider the moms who will be using and washing these blankets. They will want to just throw them in the washing machine every time the baby gets it messy (whether with food or barf or something worse) so a luxurious heirloom in hand-wash-only wool isn't really reasonable. One option would be to find a superwash wool to make it with, but aside from being a bit more expensive, the options I found for superwash worsted-weight didn't appeal.

The obvious choice is simple and inexpensive and easy to find: 100% acrylic.


When I started knitting, I used acrylic almost exclusively. It was a while before I discovered the wonder and perfection of wool and other natural fibers. Over the years, I've obviously become a yarn snob, since I don't even want to admit I made this blanket from acrylic. Sadly, I can't really block it, so the lace, while lovely, will never quite be as beautiful as it could be, were it washed and stretched out flat and opened up. Nevertheless, I am very satisfied with this blanket, and I think the recipient will like it, too. I am hoping that it will be barfed on and snuggled up to and carried around until even workhorse acrylic can't hold up to the abuse.

On Infidelity

Before knitting took over my life, I used to have a lot of hobbies -- I used to read a lot more, and you know, even leave the house from time to time. I also spent a lot of time and money on a lot of different crafts: I embroidered and cross-stitched and made Japanese temari balls and sewed a lot of clothes and tried out paper quilling... You name it, I tried it. One thing that I never really took to was crochet.

It's not that I have an inherent bias against crochet -- okay, yeah, I do. It's not stretchy like knitting, which I find is usually a detriment. There are occasions where the stability would be preferable (if you don't see what I mean, just try to knit a corset) but generally I like my projects to have a little give. That, and I've never really learned it beyond the very basics.

So what happened to me, lately? I seem to have caught a crochet bug this week.


I have been sitting on lots of leftover sock yarn (as I'm sure every sock knitter does) and trying to decide what to do with it. I looked at a lot of little projects and various sock blankets on Ravelry, but for some reason the one that really appealed to me was little crocheted hexagons. Maybe it's the hexagon thing: after all, I am only making thousands of them for a quilt -- what's a few hundred more?

I began with a few from some of the leftover orange and brown yarn from the Fisherman socks.


Then I pulled out some leftover Koigu from my Lindsay socks.

I think I like them. I will continue making them, anyway. They are such a quick little thing (maybe 5 minutes a piece?) that it's easy to squeeze one in, if I don't have time for a repeat or two of knitting.


Then I found a really cute pattern for square shell coasters. Since I was already crocheting the hexagons, why not try this on some leftover hemp yarn I had? It is a little sloppy because of my uneven tension (I finally figured out how to tension the yarn without getting finger cramps -- on the next-to-last round) but I think it's still pretty cute. It's a bit big for a coaster, maybe, at about 5ish inches across, but works well for my big mug of iced coffee, this afternoon. Maybe with a little practice, they will even out enough to use them as gifts for someone, sometime.

Or maybe I'll get distracted right away by some more lovely knitting.

Unveiling Lizard Ridge

I know it took me too long to get photos of this up, and I apologize to those of you waiting with bated breath. I finished it after midnight on Saturday night, and just didn't manage time for photos in the following days, though I have been admiring it quite a bit, myself.


All the worrying about the widely varying colours came to naught, as I seemed to find a layout that made it work. One could attribute it to the fact that I chose the colours for the last 13 blocks consciously to try to tie it together, or to the fact that I managed a layout of the blocks that gave it a nice flow. Either way, I'm a genius and it looks great. I think there is a nice balance of bright colourful blocks to darker or neutral blocks, and I am very happy with how they play off one another. Can you find your favourite blocks in there? (Click for a bigger view.)

I went for a 5x5 layout, with 25 blocks total, rather than the pattern's recommended layout of 24 blocks in a 4x6 layout. Since each block is already a rectangle (roughly 10" x 12"), I thought that the 4x6 would give a skinnier, longer blanket. The 5x5 makes it a nice rectangle shape, and leaves it wide enough for two people to snuggle under.


As for the scalloped edging (would you ever have guessed magenta??) I had briefly considered coming up with some kind of knitted edging, rather than doing this crocheted one, but in the end, I couldn't imagine anything that would suit the blanket better. I used a larger crochet hook than she recommended, since the swatch I tried made pretty tight little scallops, and I wanted something a bit more relaxed. This crochet edging took forever, even though it's really only two rounds on the blanket. But so worth it, yes?

My HLM says that soon I'll be designing tour costumes for Aerosmith. Smartarse.

Sneak Peek

The seams are all sewn, so all that remains is to do the crochet edging tomorrow night. (Woo hoo! That's my kind of Saturday night partying!) I practiced my single crochet and double crochet this morning. I think I'm ready.

The seaming itself took forever -- I had planned to attach the squares to one another using a quick single-crochet, but that left Frankenstein's Monster-style stitches on the right side of the blanket. Not quite what I was looking for. So I ended up seaming the whole thing with mattress stitch: slower and more tedious, but ultimately much tidier. It also uses a lot less yarn than the single crochet would have. Thank goodness it's over.

While I don't have any finished photos to show off, today, I will give you a teaser: a blurry photo of the layout of squares, once I finalized it, but before I began the seaming.

And Then There Was One

Here is the second-to-last block for Lizard Ridge:

I am three-quarters of the way through the very last block, and have already ordered the yarn for seaming and edging. Care to guess what colour it will be?

I have also made some good progress on the Honeybee Cardi; it is now all in one piece and I am slowly moving up the yoke. Very happy with how it looks, so far. Soon, I'll get to pick out some buttons for a finishing touch.

Lastly, I am partway through the heel flap of the first Vampire Boyfriend sock, and am feeling good about how they are humming along.

Gosh, I feel so productive, all of a sudden.

Sick of Looking at These, Yet?

One of the great things about picking up my Lizard Ridge blanket again is that I have a lot of completed blocks to show off, so it makes for a lot of colourful blog posts.

Here's another one.

Onward

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I decided to get down to business and finish my Lizard Ridge blanket, which I've been working on for a couple of years, now. I'd been in a yarn club to periodically send me random balls of Kureyon, but the club was a bit sporadic and it's been a while since I remember getting any, so I cancelled and just went a bit Kureyon Crazy online. ("Okay, this one... and this one... and one of these and this one...") As you can see, I have plenty of it, now. I have already made one (almost two) squares since it arrived, and I can forsee it getting finished relatively quickly. Particularly since it gives me a colourful and satisfying break from the two (count 'em, two) sweaters I'm currently making out of teeny tiny sock yarn.


In fact, it was Lizard Ridge that got me thinking about my plans for 2010. I decided not to go for Ravelry's 10 Shawls in 2010 group, but instead to concentrate on using up some of the stash of yarn and fabric that I've accumulated over the past couple of years. When I added up the number of projects that I actually have the yarn and fabric for, I was a bit shocked, actually. Well over a dozen pair of socks, a few sweaters, several complete quilts and a few more quilt tops. So my plan is that I won't buy more, this year. Or more specifically, I won't buy anything to start something new. I will totally buy stuff I need to finish a project (like quilt batting or buttons, for example.) My only exception was the Rockin' Sock Club, which I couldn't quite resist signing up for, again. I figure it will give me some of that "Oooh something new and pretty" that I will be missing, otherwise.

Also, feel free to give me yarn gift certificates for my birthday, this year. I'll really be jonesing by then.

The Slow Progression of Lizard Ridge

Once I finished Clapotis, I needed some simple projects for pub knitting (since complex ones tend to get buggered up when beer gets involved.) I pulled out a bunch of projects from my stash that will work perfectly. The first place I started was doing a couple more blocks for my Lizard Ridge blanket, with some Kureyon that's been sitting patiently waiting. These two put me up to the halfway mark on the blanket. Another year or two and I will have this one done.

What I Did for Xmas Vacation

When I went to my folks' place for a few days over the holidays, I elected not to take my Bumbleberry socks along, but to make a bit of progress on another project, instead. I had a few skeins of Kureyon lying around, so I took them with me, and made a few more blocks for my Lizard Ridge afghan. The colours are (for the most part) darker, earthier than the bright colourful ones I had in the first set of six. It will be interesting to see how all the colours come together when I have finally finished twenty-four. I have actually considered making an extra one or two, in case something doesn't fit in. But a part of me also wants to keep the random nature of the project, and just let the chips fall where they may. Ironically, when I blocked these four out and went to put them with the others, I found one more skein of Kureyon with them. Had I known, I could have taken it along and had one more block completed. Alas.


Also, slightly belatedly, I finished some personalized Christmas stockings, which I love love love. They are from a pattern in the book New Noel by Linda Lum DeBono, using fabric from the Merry & Bright line by Sandy Gervais. They were totally easy, and I love the pointy cuffs and the elflike toes. The only challenge was attaching the applique letters. The tension was all wonky when I tried to zig-zag stitch them with my machine, so I ended up blanket stitching them all on with embroidery thread. It took ages, and I nearly went blind, but it looks great in the finished product.

Now I'm going to put Flight of the Conchords in the DVD player and get back to the knitting!

Shaded Entrelac

I can't believe I started this way back in April. Those of you following along will remember that I spoke of its hibernation throughout the summer, and picked it up again in the last couple of weeks, to make a concerted effort to finish.


And it's finally done. Measuring out at 42 x 54 inches, it isn't huge, but it's enough to cover me comfortably as I sit on the sofa and watch tv (and I know, because I've been quite warm as I sat under it, as I finished it over the last week or two.) Bear in mind that those are unblocked dimensions -- I chose not to block it for two reasons: One, that I have no space to block a blanket anywhere in my teeny weeny apartment, and Two, that I love the dimension of it. The squares all curl a bit to the purl side, as knitting is wont to do, so it gives a really puffy quilty look to the blanket. The edging came out a bit ruffly, as you can see in the above photo, which I'm sure would be fixed by blocking it, but as I said, that ain't gonna happen.

Looks like it goes on forever, doesn't it.
That's how it felt when I was knitting it.

Each of those squares took around 5 minutes to knit. Do the math, and then shake your head at my insanity.

In other insanity news, I've actually been contemplating knitting another afghan.

I wish I was joking.

Checking In

Okay I know it's been incredibly boring for my (few) blog readers, while I plug away on both the quilting of Requiem and the knitting of the Entrelac lap throw. Here at Chez Crafty, things have been moving along quite nicely -- I've been really getting into the quilting, and enjoying the process, slow and steady. Every day I run my hands over the fabric of something I constructed, and I made hundreds of tiny little stitches to hold it together. I get to look at beautiful designs like this one, and make a little frame of quilting around each one to show it off. It's been very relaxing and gives me a real feeling of accomplishment.

The lap throw is a bit less appealing, at the moment. I have pulled an old Instant Gratification Project out of the pile to put to use my new skill at knitting backwards. It has been a very handy skill with the entrelac, since it means I don't have to turn the work to purl a wrongside row every eight stitches. I actually do the purling from the front of the work, left to right. I realized one day that I have another project which is perfect for this...

Ages ago, I started a Lizard Ridge lap throw (yes, another blanket project -- get the feeling I'm a chilly soul?) which I have been progressing on slowly, mostly due to the fact that I haven't bought all of the skeins I need, from the outset, but instead joined a yarn club that sends me a Kureyon skein every 6 weeks or so. Not only does it make the yarn colours more random than if I was choosing them deliberately, but it also seems more affordable than buying them all at once. Yarn Math. So here you see the first six completed blocks for my Lizard Ridge. I have two more skeins, so may do another block or two soon, but for now, I just wanted to give you a bit of eye candy to tide you over until I get something else to show you.

I hope you are progressing with your projects, and feeling some accomplishment as well...

More Blankets Please

Okay, so this is the view out my window today:

Can you blame me for making blankets??

I admit that I felt a bit silly in the last couple of weeks, since I was working on a quilt and planning a knitted lap throw, just as the weather was starting to warm up nicely (I actually went out without a jacket one day last week, which really says something, if you know me.) But then we had some record snowfall for this time of year, and now I don't feel the least bit silly for making so many blankets. I need to keep warm.


I'm still waiting for my quilt frame to arrive, so nothing new on the quilt, but I've wound up some Cascade 220 that I got on the cheap at the Webs sale. Three lovely cool shades of grey that I adore. I've recently gotten the bug to make a lap throw from a pattern that I've been hoarding since I started knitting. I remember when I first began, I saw this entrelac throw and thought it was the most gorgeous thing ever. At the time, the instructions were like Greek and I set it aside for someday when I was more experienced and could figure them out. Of course entrelac is all over the web, and having done enough short-row socks, I was pretty confident that I could handle it now. I was right. Check this out:

Could. You. Die.