Tag Archives: blanket

Cast On: Northwesterly

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I broke down. I couldn’t wait anymore. Arbitrary knitting rules be damned. I needed to start my Northeasterly blanket!

I am holding my fingering weight scraps held double with a cone of plain white sock yarn. Even after washing this white yarn is not the softest sock yarn I’ve ever knit with. But I love how it’s marling nicely with the sock scraps.

Because I’m using fingering weight held double I’m following the DK weight pattern instructions. It took me a minute to get the pattern in my brain but I was able to work up an entire scrap ball during kiddo nap times. This will be long term project much like my memory blanket and I absolutely love it!!

Happy Knitting!!

Preparation

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I have been itching to work on my memory sock yarn blanket. And it’s been pulling all of my knitting focus. But close on its heels is my Northeasterly blanket. I have scraps, needles, pattern and my coned yarn to hold doubled all kitted up in a bag. And after a helpful comment on this blog about coned yarn….I decided to wind off a skein of the white yarn and wash it.

This being for two reasons, one to wash off the spinning grease that is used to manufacture coned yarn and two to see if the yarn blooms and shrinks up. I wouldn’t want wonky fabric after spending so much time knitting a blanket for Pete’s sake! So I stole some quiet time while PB was napping and while hubby and Jellybean were out building a snowman last weekend. I had yarn and a podcast….it was heaven!

I wound off yarn until I felt like I had a decent amount and tied off a skein. Don’t mind the dog hair, it’s just considered extra fiber content in this house. (Dex is blowing his coat yet again and I’m now vacuuming almost daily and still can’t keep up!)

The skein has since had a bath and is drying (slowing) in the laundry room. When sufficiently dry I will wind it into a cake to be ready for blanket knitting! Jellybean seemed keen to work my yarn swift and sad I finished my skein without him. So as a mommy and me project we might make a second skein to wash one of these evenings. We will see if his interest abides ninja figures and magnetic tile building.

Happy Knitting!!

A Little Blanket Knitting

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I loved the Lemonade Shop’s Stormy Day yarn so much that I couldn’t wait to add it to my memory blanket. I wanted to make sure I got my square done before I got started on the Rainbow mitts too.

I haven’t touched this in awhile and I kind of forgot how beautiful this blanket is. I have an itch to work on this, but it won’t earn me any points in the football KAL I’m playing in so I have kind of let it sit in my bag.

My better angels may win out and this may see some action this fall. Especially after I show you some mini madness I have earned. But that needs to be it’s own post. For now I’m going to pet my pretty blanket and snuggle under it.

Happy Knitting!!

A Finished Jellybean Blanket

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I managed to squeak Jellybean’s Purple blanket in before sunset and before PB’s arrival.

I did end up doing a SC crochet border around the blanket edge to neaten it up. I took the last half skein of yarn and just went round and round till I ran out. I think I made two full laps. Using the locking stitch markers I was able to (mostly) keep the same stitch count across the blanket. Consequently this blanket is the most square I have ever made!

My stitch gauge kinda changed here and there. But the important part is that Jellybean loved it. And he’s actually keeping it on his bed! Not to lay under mind you….just to pet, lol. He loves it because Mommy made it…..and it’s all purple. That’s a win in my book!

Happy Knitting…..I mean crocheting!!

WIP Wednesday: Jellybean’s Purple Blanket

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I have been indulging in another nesting project. Jellybean’s love of purple has not abated and his blanket has been giving me stares of shame from the WIP bucket. I had started off like gang busters on this thing back during the Pigskin Party football KAL. I finished one skein in record time and then promptly let pregnancy and other projects steamroll this right to the bottom of my list. Now I have this crazy arbitrary idea that this needs to be done before PB gets here because Jellybean NEEDS a super hot blanket at the end of May in 90+ degree Kansas weather.

In the photo above, I have completed (almost) three full skeins out of four now. I have the fourth skein split in half. My plan is to use the first half to grow the blanket and then the second half to put a simple single crochet border around the edge to hide the few places where I lost and had to add back an edge stitch here and there.

Fingers crossed I can maintain momentum on this. My bump is growing daily and it makes it hard to craft, knitting or crochet, in a comfortable fashion long enough to make any progress.

 

Blanket Resurrection

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I recently cleaned my large knitting tote full of WIPs that lives on the chaos of the “mail table” as we call it in this house. I sorted needles, notions, and yarny bits and bobs back to their rightful places that had collected. I also took some WIPs to the craft room for longer term storage. Call it pre-baby knitting nesting if you will. Really it was a task I had been putting off for too long mostly due to the prolonged morning sickness and just general hair on fire craziness at work.

As a reward for completing a boring but necessary task….I treated myself to pulling my memory blanket from hibernation and adding two new squares!

I added a square of deep royal blue from my Midas Hat and as I talked about I added a stripey square from my Accidental Travel vanilla socks. I found I really missed this project! I think this blanket might be the perfect post-partum maternity leave knitting plan. It’s easy to pick up and put down as well as soothing garter stitch. It allows for some quick mini-victories after completing each square that should be good for a soul that doesn’t have many knitting minutes left in the day. Not to mention it’s just lovely and cheery to look at.

I am preparing myself for the joy and total time-suck that is nursing and caring for a newborn baby. And this go around I will also have an active young-ling that will also need his own attention. Knitting is important to me and I’m not going to give that away. But I am mentally preparing for the (temporary) shift in schedule and priorities. I wasn’t able to do that with Jellybean as I literally had no clue what was coming as a first time parent. I want to be kinder and gentler with myself this go around. My littles will only be small for a short time and I want to soak up every second…no matter how exhausting they are!

Happy Knitting!!

One Skein Down

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Jellybean’s Purple Blanket is one skein in!

The jumbo locking stitch markers are a HUGE help to this novice crocheter. I have thus far (knock on wood) been able to maintain 10 stitches in between the markers. I have had to fudge once or twice but no one can tell and the blanket is still square! I do struggle with consistent tension. But that will come with time and practice. I don’t find crochet as therapeutic as knitting so I don’t know that I will devote a ton of time to crochet versus knitting. But it’s nice to have that tool in the toolkit.

I leave this project in the living room where Jellybean and I both can see it. He reminds me every once in a while that his blanket isn’t done yet. So it’s good motivation to add a few stitches every night. Now I only have 2-3 more massive chenille skeins to go….

Happy Knitting….er, I mean crocheting!

A Purple Blanket for Jellybean

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The ongoing sleep deprivation by a certain small human in this house has continued. My child is a happy and healthy robust 3 year old that simply does not need as much sleep as some other children his age. That being said he (and we) are still needing to find ways to cope with some relaxation and snoring issues. We have been put in touch with a fantastic regional children’s sleep clinic and we all have high hopes that this will be good for everyone.

That being said my Jellybean is also VERY attached to the color purple. If it’s purple….it’s his. He received a purple sparkly throw blanket for his third birthday and it MUST be with him in bed for sleeping. He doesn’t want to cover up with it necessarily….it just is there for comfort. We have had some nights where said blanket cannot be located and it’s the end of the world. So industrious knitter that I am had him pick out some purple yarn at Joanns so we can have TWO acceptable purple blankets.

He chose some Bernat Blanket Brights in POW Purple. I also got a new and lighter Clover crochet hook in the appropriate bulky size and some locking stitch markers to help me count across my piece. As a novice crocheter I sometimes have trouble placing my hook and unintentionally add or drop stitches.

I also decided that I wasn’t going to wing this blanket. I went to Ravelry and did a search for a pattern that suited my needs. I found the Hudson Baby Blanket by Jamie Williams. It’s basically the blanket I have been improvising but checked for gauge and the better directions for adding height when turning rows. I did modify from the pattern by going up to 90 stitches from the pattern recommended 64. I need my blanket to be more child sized than baby sized. Jellybean is already wearing clothes from the boys section at 3 years old….

I’m hoping to have this baby done up soon so the blanket crisis is a thing of the past!

Happy Knitting!!

Into Hibernation: Part Three

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Today I bring you the last installment of all the WIPs going into hibernation because of the Pigskin Party KAL.

Today we have Mitred Square Memory Blanket. These past couple of months I have really been able to bust out a lot of new squares. I’m happy that I purchased sharper metal tipped needles. The join still catches once in awhile but I can live with that. I really just can’t get over how crazy pretty the mix of all these yarns are. This will be the WIP I miss the most…

Knit-us Interruptus

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My scrap blanket hit a speed bump this past holiday weekend…



This is Harper the ball of fluff my parents are fostering. Not only does he not understand knitting isn’t for licking, he doesn’t understand why I can’t spend all my free time throwing his toys for fetching. This little pup is the energizer bunny of playing fetch. You will tire out before he does. If you don’t throw the toy in a timely manner he WILL yap loudly at you. 

I finished exactly one and a half squares in a long weekend because my large blanket was very tempting for puppy cuddling!

Happy Knitting!!