Monday 23 May 2011

ennui - over and out
Part 1

I've found a way to get over my boredom with my current projects...

Finish them!

There is nothing deep and meaningful about this - simply a decision to "just do it"!

On Saturday night I put some of my favourite music on my iPod, put the iPod in the docking station and bit the bullet by sewing in the last 100 or so ends of my Fibonacci Strip blanket.


While doing so, I noticed that one of the patches had a dropped stitch. On closer inspection the stitch had somehow been broken or cut (it's acrylic so I doubt it was insect damage). I unravelled a row, picking up stitches top and bottom as I went, then tightened some stitches so that I had an end long enough to weave in, and sewed that end in.

With the long end that I had unravelled, I grafted the two rows back together again. Thankfully, it was a variegated yarn (one of my hand-dyes) so my wonky garter stitch grafting doesn't show up too badly!

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is the entire Fibonacci strip blanket.


The blanket was knitted in strips 20 stitches wide, with the length of each patch determined by the Fibonacci series of numbers: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. For this blanket, 1 was equivalent to four rows.

When the strip was the correct length, I picked up stitches (with the purple yarn) along the side of the strip and cast on an extra twenty stitches (in a different colour) to begin the second strip. As I knitted each right side row, I knitted the last of the twenty stitches together with one of the picked up stitches along the edge of the previous strip (a technique from entrelac) - no sewing for this knitter!

After all eight strips were completed, I picked up stitches along both long sides and knitted borders, then picked up stitches from the top and bottom and knitted borders. If I hadn't told you, you might think I knitted the border in the round but I didn't, it only looks like it!

The only downside to my favourite theme in knitting - colour, colour, and more colour - is all the ends to be sewn in! Yes, I could weave them in as I go but ... well, you know how it is! Sometimes sewing ends in can be therapeutic!

Come back tomorrow for my other "boredom breaking" secret!

5 comments:

  1. RADIANT!!!!!!

    I hav to psych myself up to do some jobs, too, and there is no shorcuts-you are right, just do it!

    This is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the full-size shot - it looks fantastic, very effective!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The finished blanket is wonderfully colourful - and I really like your technique for joining the strips as you go.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think you should call it Techni-colour blanket. Looks great. But the ends would drive me insane.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your blanket looks fantastic! I don't envy you having to weave in all those ends. Having said that, I'm working on a project that also has a lot of ends, so I'll be with you in spirit!

    ReplyDelete

Hi. Thanks for dropping in. I look forward to reading your comment.
I like to answer comments; if you are "no-reply blogger" I will try my best to get back to you on your blog! I'm not on FaceBook so I can't contact you there!