My memory blanket has seen some knitting time this early. I treated myself to a professional pedicure and then snuggled up under my WIP while watching podcasts. It was an all too short self care session but every little bit helps.
If my schedule and daylight cooperates, I will try to get outside and take some pictures of the full blanket in natural light. My mom commented when she saw it that it looks like the Technicolor Dreamcoat from the musical, lol.
I needed a brain break and maybe a palette cleanser. So this past weekend I just focused on one project….my Sock Yarn Memory Blanket.
Above is pictured spread out on a king sized bed. So it’s getting pretty impressive in size! I focused on adding length and not width this weekend. I have a TON of scraps to go in this thing but I focused on incorporating all the leftovers from my recent finished like In the Light and Christmas socks.
I was a good knitter and placed a stitch market to mark where I started. It’s hard to see the purple unicorn on the purple square over there in the corner….but it’s there. So that means I added eight squares in one weekend! (Note to self….move stitch marker….)
I am no where ready for this to be done. I think I’ll just keep plodding along and see how it keeps growing! 😛
My sock yarn memory blanket has seen some recent daylight. It if officially “squared off” again as I just completed a full row.
I counted and I officially have 165 squares! It fits comfortably across my lap with lots of fabric to spare on either side. I still think I will make it wider but for now I’m going to focus on length.
Some of my more recent square additions include yarn from my Into the Light and Retro Rainbow Vanilla socks. I am still sort of planning my squares. I don’t put self striping next to self striping or solid next to solid. But it’s getting harder and hard to do that the bigger this thing gets. The good news is that it really doesn’t matter as their is enough color in this blanket that it all kind of blends.
I am feel the Christmas fog for real in this last run up to the big day. I have finished my latest crochet blanket and other than some socks I don’t have much on the needles. I’m kind of waiting around for my Christmas Eve cast on. So I picked up my Memory Blanket. I probably haven’t touched this in a year and a half?
Turns out I left it with a TON of ends to weave in. So I pulled out a tapestry needle and got to work tidying up my blanket.
I love it when a plan comes together! I just looks so polished and complete after burying those ends. I was even inspired to add two new squares while I had this out.
And I packaged up all my ends and I think I will put out in the spring for the nest builders in my yard. I have both mice and birds. The mice are due to neighbors….sigh.
The blanket is really getting to decent sized. I need to finish the row at the top and the concentrate on adding to the longer side. I am just so pleased with how this really looks like a stained glass project with the grey in between.
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.
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!!
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.
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!!!
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.
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.
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!!