Category Archives: blanket

FO Friday: DK Hibernation Throw

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Spring is around the corner and I have a finished Hibernation Throw! Seems appropriate to be “coming out of hibernation” from winter and to have finished this project.

Pattern: Habitation Throw by Helen Stewart

Needles: US 10s

Yarn: Valley Yarns Franklin Natural coned sock yarn and all the fingering weight scraps from my stash

Mods: I modified this pattern for DK weight yarn (fingering held double) to make a scrappy marled version of this blanket.

This project just ticked all the boxes for me and I’m almost tempted to cast on another one! It was very to memorize and easy to read where I was when I put it down mid repeat. It used up a TON of scraps from my stash. When I weighed this behemoth it weighed 822 grams. Based on some maths I did based on the average sock yarn statistics….this blanket used rough 3,300 yards of yarn!

And I finished this in about a month and a half. That is lighting speed for me and a blanket. But I will fully admit that this became a knitting obsession and I didn’t really work on much else for that period. I did notice that when I was taking FO photos that my blanket is not perfectly square. I found that at multiple times I had to fudge my decreases on the last half because I didn’t have the right number of stitches. I’m pretty confident that this led to the last half being slightly bigger than the first half.

But I don’t care, I have a new snuggly blanket that is 100% mommy’s and no one else can use it without permission! Happy Knitting!!

So Close To The End Of Hibernation

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You guys….my DK Hibernation Throw is sooooo close to being done. I’m definitely using up the smaller and smaller scrap balls now. And the rows are going much faster. Based on what I can cover up with while knitting, I think this should be a good one person lap throw.

It still feels a little “rustic” to the touch thanks to the Franklin Valley Yarns undyed sock yarn I’m holding double throughout. It might soften with washing but I’m not sure I want to wash the blanket right away. I know for a fact some of the yarns I used will bleed. And I sort of want it to be just so…at least until the first time my kids spill on it.

Happy Knitting!!

Knitting For Warmth

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It’s a mix of rainy/cold and snow/cold here today. So I’m super glad my Hibernation Throw is at the point it makes a nice blanket as I knit!

Can I say how exciting it is to be on the downhill slide of a blanket project? The rows on this project are only getting shorter and shorter as I go. I still have plenty of scraps to add to this blanket. I really think this is going to be a nice personal sized blanket when I’m done. I can admit I have googled more coned sock yarn in a grey color because I’m already planning a second throw….sheepish grin….

I’ll try to spread this blanket out and take proper photos of this blanket when I can grab some sunlight. Happy Knitting!!!

Habitation Throw Halfway

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My Habitation Throw is over halfway now. I finally got to where it looked good enough for me and I started decreasing.This thing is really screaming through my scraps! I have gone through a good amount of my coned solid white yarn and I had to pull some bigger used skeins out of my stash as I was working the long middle sections.

My widest point is the peachy/pink section. I am now having to strategize with my remaining scraps. I want to make sure the colors look good adjacent to one another but that I will also have roughly enough to do an entire repeat of garter and eyelets. That’s just my personal brand of crazy.

I still have a ton scraps in my bag. And I’ve pulled some DEEP stash skeins of sock blanks and Joann’s sock yarn just in case I need some longer sections. This blanket has literally consumed all my knitting time. I don’t want to work on anything else right now.

Do you have a project obsession?

Can’t Stop Won’t Stop

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My favorite project right now is still my Hibernation Throw. It’s just so fun to watch the colors develop as I add new scraps. Plus it’s extra satisfying when one of these section uses up every last bit of yarn. It makes this knitters heart happy!

I’m still increasing in the pattern and since I’m heavily modifying the pattern I’m not sure when to stop. I might see how many larger sized scrap balls I have left so I can work until I have enough to get to a middle point and then have enough to account for the larger decrease sections as I work down.

I have been kind of monitoring my colors and changing every eyelet row if I haven’t already run out of yarn. This has made my color blocks uniform-ish in size and makes the fabric look intentionally scrappy. My symmetry loving brain really likes this. Though it does mean that some of scraps are used up and I still have little balls leftover.

Happy Knitting!!

Skeining Up For Hibernation

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My Hibernation Throw is continuing to grow and grow. I have almost exhausted the first skein of the Valley Yarns coned sock yarn I had previously done up.  I am holding my sock scraps double with this undyed/coned sock yarn for my blanket. So last night I dug out my cone and wound up more yarn. I still have my hand made yarn swift that my husband’s family made me. (The cone is only set on the center for photography purposes…it doesn’t function that way.) I wound off two same-ish sized skeins and tied them off with random scrap yarn.

My husband asked me why I just didn’t work from the cone. Well, this coned yarn has quite a bit of spinning grease left in it and it really plumps up when I wash it. So as not to distort my fabric of my finished blanket when I was it, I really prefer for the plumping to happen before the knitting. It’s extra time and extra steps but I really hope it prevents future heartbreak.

I tried a sample of the Pineapple Grove soak wash. The scent was fine but I didn’t really get a wiff of it on the finished yarn. But it smelled nice in my sink.

Now I just have to wait for these two skeins to dry! I called my main hall bathroom curtain rings into service to hold these skeins out of reach of grubby kid hands. Fingers crossed!

Happy Knitting!!

Darn Counting Anyway

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I am an accountant and I have the degrees and fancy certificate to prove it. But oh man, did I have a fail at counting. I have been religiously knitting away on my Hibernation Throw. And last night I looked down and swore a little. (Okay, a lot)

I had knit right past where I was supposed to add the next eyelet row. I failed to count to where I had five garter bumps. I was watching TV and the show must have really captured me because I was on auto-pilot. I do have the pattern memorized….I just lost count. I had added two extra garter bumps in my delirium.

I think I’m going to grab some smaller needles and thread in a lifeline to rip back. I just randomly grabbed US 10s when I hastily cast on this blanket. The fabric seems nice so I’m glad I made a lucky guess. But I think I’ll find some US 3s or 4s to thread in and see if I can rescue this without tinking two yarns held together.

I’m still over the moon with project because I love to see all the stripes forming AND seeing my scrap bin shrinking and shrinking. I just wish I could have remember to count, darn it!!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Habitation Throw

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I have been seeing Helen Stewart’s Habitation Throw show up everywhere this holiday season on all the social medias and podcasts. Everyone was making them with their advent mini skeins. That didn’t really feel like what I wanted to do. But I couldn’t get this pattern out of my mind even though I have a ton of WIPs to be working on.

Finally I had a light bulb, I could hold my fingering weight scraps together with the giant cone of Valley Yarns Franklin Natural that I have. It a sock weight yarn on a cone with 6,000+ yards I had intended for my Northeasterly blanket. The Northeasterly blanket has not gone anywhere but I liked the idea of an easier marled blanket reinvigorated my blanket mojo.

Essentially this is a marled DK weight blanket. I had a little trouble getting the I-cord cast one set up but I managed and now zooming. And I’m ADDICTED, I can’t put this down and it’s all I want to knit. It’s corner to corner construction so I am just knitting until I feel it’s wide enough and then decreasing then. So I’m hacking the pattern a bit.

I’m just pulling scraps from bin and knitting until they are gone. I am also spit splicing the yarns together so I won’t have any ends to weave in. There has been some effort on my part to manage the colors. I don’t have a plan but I am trying for “planned randomness” and that the adjacent colors don’t look hideous next to one another.

Happy Knitting!!

Palette Cleanser

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My knitting mojo has hit a lull post Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, Christmas was good and my kids only saw the magic. But there was some unforeseen hospital stays (no need for alarm everyone is doing okay), so much driving and vomiting in between opening presents on Christmas morning. And I ended up doing the brunt of the Christmas prep, cooking, cleaning and running interference between all the grumpy people in my extended family.

I am just plain worn out and I’m slightly concerned my cold turned into bronchitis. So I decided to ignore all my WIPs and pull out my comfort project. My memory scrap blanket that I probably haven’t touched since this past summer. It’s just a nice palette cleanser and it felt nice and warm on my lap as I caught up on Vlogmans videos and knit happily away in garter.

Do you have a palette cleanser project?

FO Friday: Zen Yarn Garden Baby Blanket

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I’m so pleased to keep my FO train rolling! This week I finished my Zen Yarn Garden Baby Blanket!

Pattern: Zen Yarn Garden Baby Blanket by Staci Perry

Yarn: Knit Picks Brava Bulky in Solstice Heather, Cobblestone Heather and Red.

Needles: US 13s

Mods: Cast on 144 total stitches and worked extra stripe repeats. I also added fringe/tassels. My Rav notes are here.

I really wanted to use up every last inch of yarn and I had pretty decent sized balls when I bound off. So I thought…tassels! I measured and broke up my remaining yarn and added them to the points of my chevrons. This took the yardage of this blanket to 1,006 yards! I know the tassels are the most baby friendly but I can always remove them later. But for now I adore them!

I haven’t taken finished measurements yet but I have washed and dried this blanket. The above photo is taken on our king sized guest bed and it covers a good sized portion of it. Most of all, I’m just beyond thrilled to have over 1,000 yards of acrylic out of my stash and put to proper good (and washable) use!

Happy Knitting!!