FO Friday: Stashbustin’ #23

Posted on July 26, 2013 by atangledyarn84

This yarn can be challenging but this time I was up for it!! This one skein wonder is just a simple stockinette blanket with a four stitch seed stitch border. Finished size turned out to be 27 inch by 27 inch square. I used 10 1/2 US needles for a nice tight gauge. For more details on the yarn and stitch instructions see my Ravelry project page.

This blanket is oh so soft and yummy to the touch.

So soft to the touch in fact that when my Mother found this blanket in my WIP basket last weekend she announced that she would LOVE a full sized afghan for her Christmas. She then proceeded to fondle the yarn and the blanket at every opportunity for the entire weekend. Do you know how long and frustrating such a project would be to this knitter? Insert forehead slap here…

I am sensing that I am not done working with this yarn. Has any knitter out there every worked with a pattern or project that vexed them just because a loved one of said knitter requested it?

Happy Knitting!!

WIP Wednesday: Baby Blanket

Posted on July 17, 2013 by atangledyarn84

Stashbustin #23 is coming along!

This blanket has been traveling back and forth to rehearsal every night. I have only managed a few rows every night between scenes but little by little it’s adding up! Concurring this chenille yarn feels a bit of a personal victory. This blanket doesn’t have an recipient yet as it’s destined for my “emergency baby shower” basket. It may not be fancy but this mindless project is all I can manage with so much of my energy going to my current acting adventure.

One downside….because I gave Chloe the first chenille blanket I made, she thinks all chenille blankets are hers…

The Art of Mindless and Easy

Posted on July 4, 2013 by atangledyarn84

Happy Fourth of July to all!! I can hear the fireworks right outside my window as the neighborhood kids blow up weeks worth of their allowances. It all brings back memories to setting off fireworks for hours at my Grandma’s and Grandpa’s ALL day long. Of course we also took a break to have a weenie roast and smores on what was almost the hottest day of the year, lol.

On the knitting front, I can’t wait to start Neon. I already have the new needles I needed and working on my swatch! But it’s a very complicated project for me and I have decided to hibernate the project for while. My theater rehearsals are just taking too much out of me. I Just don’t have the brain power to work on this wonderful pattern by Joji. I really want to enjoy this sweater and also end up with a garment that fits and is knit correctly. So it’s going to the back burner….for now…

Insert mindless and easy….

Just a simple stockinette baby blanket with a seed stitch border, in lovely peach chenille. You will remember my chenille antics here, lol. So I am going into this with eyes wide open and all my lessons remembered from last time. I just needed a home run project to work on while I am rehearsing my show. So I decided to cast on a cute blanket this morning because I have the day off from my big kid job. There is an art to working a mindless and easy project!

The puppies agree with me. They are very exhausted with my crazy schedule and needed an extra nap. I can never figure out why my lab, Dex, like to sleep with nose under the edges of couches or beds. Such a weirdo!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th! We are off to enjoy our day off and America’s independence!!

A Bed For Chloe

Posted on June 15, 2013 by atangledyarn84

Hello from the boondocks of Kansas! I got to have my morning coffee from the deck of my parents house and watch all five dogs run around my parents yard chasing each other. I hope they wore each other out, lol!

Now on to some knitting news. Remember this Stashbusting #19 blanket? And all the problems I had with it here and here? And then the solution I talked about here?

Well I got brave and I measured (twice to be sure) and then got out the scissors and snipped it apart in the center. I wanted to rip back a few rows on either side and re-knit a new border on each side. Thus creating two new appropriately sized blankets out of one large wonky one. Well I soon discovered that it was going to be impossible to pick up and re-knit the edges. The yarn was falling apart and I cold not discern the individual stitches in the midst of the chenille. Not to mention that the way I snipped was not the same direction as the way I needed to work. So on to another back up plan!

I grabbed some bulky weight yarn in really close color match and secured the loose stitches I had created with my cutting. I paired the two squares wrong side to wrong side and seamed around the outside with a whip stitch using the matching yarn. And you can see my results below. A double thick blanket/pad thingy.

Chloe claimed it almost immediately. So I took this as a sign as this blanket was always meant for her, lol. Goes well with her coat don’t you think?

And then she proceeded to rub her scent all over it as to say “this is mine and you can’t have it back”!

It now lives in her kennel and she (and I) couldn’t be happier that this project is over. Good riddance I say! Well I need to get my butt in gear and get the dogs walked, shop for groceries, and get ready to cook dinner for my grandma and cousins!

Happy Saturday from the boonies!

A Good Project Gone Bad

Posted on April 4, 2013 by atangledyarn84

Remember this FO?

It was a frustrating project and I was NOT happy with the end result. It’s just a very odd shape! I literally finished it and shoved in a box.

Based on some awesome advice from knittingwithheart I think there is a “fix”!

Folded over the blanket is a nice Snuggly size….

I am going to snip the yarn in the middle and rip back a few rows on each side. Then pick up the live stitches and re-knit a matching border. This way I have two Snuggly sized blankets instead of one weird sized one!!

Wish me luck and Happy Knitting!

FO Friday: Simple Stockinette Blanket

Posted on March 22, 2013 by atangledyarn84

I’m finished with Stashbustin’ #9. This was one of my less than enjoyable knitting projects. I started here, then changed course here, finally made at least some progress here, and thus leaving me utterly done with this project!

It really did need a third skein of yarn. But I just couldn’t bare the thought of continuing to work on this blanket, so I just cast off.

I ended up with roughly a 55 inch long by 32 inch wide strip of knitting. I’m thinking lap blanket??? Who the heck knows…

Folded in half it makes two appropriately sized baby blankets. Maybe I should get a pillow insert and seam around it for a pillow cover?

I did learn a few things from this experience:

A) Always check gauge or risk ending up with a wonky size

B) I learned how I need to treat chenille for both maximum stitch definition and fabric quality

C) I should listen to my mother

I WILL work with this yarn again. I just need a better game plan next time! But now this project is done and I can focus on my raglan cardi.

TGIF and Happy Knitting!!

WIP Wednesday: Stockinette Baby Blanket

Posted on March 13, 2013 by atangledyarn84

Stashbustin’ #9

I have made some great progress on my Simple Stockinette Baby Blanket in Bernat Baby Blanket. Especially since I got snowed in at my parent’s house this past weekend and it’s the only project I took with me. The alterations I made in my previous post have really helped. It’s not the best blanket in the world, but I feel victorious for surviving thus far without incoherent babbling!!

Having said that…..I am improvising this pattern and I did not swatch for gauge. (Please see previous WIP post where I was bragging about swatching my cardi…) I do realize that gauge has significant implications but my knitterly brain just refused to accept that reality in some projects. The resulting WIP blanket is proving to be coming out enormously wide. My calculations have blanket coming out at 50 in long and 30 in wide or vice versa.

I have decided to roll with the punches and call this an “unintentional design feature”‘ I am on my second skein if yarn and I think I’m just going to knit until I get to the end of it. My mom took only look at my progress and declared I should use three. Sadly she is right and I know it. But I just can’t keep working on this hot mess of a project. Lesson learned: I shall not improvise a project without first checking gauge and dimension! I am just going to finish what I have (should even be able to cast off this project before the weekend) and move on!!

Anybody need a wonky shaped blanket? (I am the master of my own knitting, at least according to the Yarn Harlot!)

Happy Knitting!

My Tangled Yarn Knitting Adventures

Ramblings from an obsessed knitter

Tag Archives: chenille