drum roll please!

I have some finished objects to share with you.

The first is a Christmas present for our grandsons. Their grandad, my WM, is a keen gardener and Older Grandson particularly loves helping with the watering so I thought this “I Spy” book would be fun for them. Cloth books are appropriate because Younger Grandson still chews things and cloth books are more forgiving than cardboard!

I have a part-finish: today I completed the backing for the Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt. I plan to get this basted in class next Monday and quilted next week; that will mean another Christmas present done and dusted!

And now for the biggie!

Drum roll please!

After twelve months of on-and-off knitting, hundreds of ends to secure, 5.50 metres (220 inches – a little over 18 feet) of i-cord to knit and attach, my intarsia blanket is finally done!

Specifications

• Dimensions:  1.0 metre x 1.75 metre (40” x 70”)
• Yarn: 8ply (DK) acrylics
• Needles: 3.50mm (US 4)

Here are some close-ups of the striping pattern (which I love) and the multi-coloured i-cord.

Last week, I posted about my current WiPs. Here’s the list:

1. Christmas Angel – almost finished
2. Cloth Book – finished
3. Christmas Tree Embroidery #3 – a small amount of progress
4. Baby Blanket – at least 40 rows knitted; I am working on the seventh 32-row repeat (I’m not sure if I’ll need 10 or 11 repeats)
5. Very Hungry Caterpillar Quilt – backing finished today
6. Intarsia Blanket – finished
7. scrappy blocks – 16 blocks made: there will be a post about these on Sunday

At last, I’m making some progress!
ETA linking up Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday

Feeling flat? Finish something!

 eta: I'm linking this post with Thank God it's Finished Friday seen this week at Quilt Matters. This is my first contribution - I hope it won't be my last.


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Last week, the constant grey skies were making me blue and I lacked enthusiasm to do anything much.

So I urged myself to finish something.

Look-ee here!

A bound flannelette quilt (36" x 54")

I finally found some dark flannelette (black to be precise) to do the binding.


But wait – there’s more:

a finished blanket (afghan)

 All the ends from those one, two or three rows of colour have been tied off and hidden inside the binding! (A trick I learnt in a workshop last year with Liz Gemmell.)

The grey skies are back but I’m too busy to be feeling flat!

I thought I could!

The Western Sydney Institute of TAFE is having their blanket collection and afternoon tea next Wednesday, 3rd August. The blankets will then be delivered to Wrap With Love at the ABC Knit In on Friday 5th August.

Each of the campuses in the institute competes with each other and themselves to see who can make the largest amount of blankets and to beat the individual campus and Institute totals from previous years. In 2009 the Institute donated 73 blankets, and in 2010 we donated 118 blankets.

In both 2009 and 2010, I made four blankets for my campus. This year I again made four blankets - I am nothing if not consistent! All four blankets are made from 8ply (DK) acrylic yarn so that laundering is not an issue.

I did push the time limit a little but I've made it with time to spare. Last night, I sewed in the last of the ends and finished crocheting an edge around the fourth blanket. Here, for your viewing pleasure (and my sigh of satisfaction) is the Pinwheel Blanket.

175cm x 100cm (70" x 40")

And here are the other three blankets I'm donating:

a crocheted blanket

Entrelac Blanket #2

and Fibonnaci Strip blanket


Do you see a theme of bright colours in my work? I thought you might!

a note to the Cruise Director

ETA: progress on my to do list is at the bottom of the post!

One of the followers of this blog has self-styled herself as the "Cruise Director" (hi, C!)

In the interests of keeping the ship afloat (so to speak), I bring my latest report on the progress of the Pinwheel Blanket.

The finished blanket will have 112 units (5" x 5") joined together to make 28 blocks (10" x 10").

So far I have joined 80 of those units into 20 blocks.

I then joined those 20 blocks into 10 pairs of blocks.

Four pairs are joined together to make a group of eight (seen on the left of the photo below) and six pairs are joined to make a group of twelve but the twenty blocks (8 + 12) have not yet been united.


Before I ran out of yarn, this was the pile of units I had knitted.


Because there is a mistake in the joining of two blocks in the photo above, and because I would have to rip out 200cm (80 inches) of grafting to fix the mistake, I have decided to let sleeping dogs lie. (Are sleeping dogs allowed to lie around on this ship, Cruise Director?)

The good news is that having made that mistake, I can now make a deliberate mistake and fudge one more block for the yarn I couldn't get!

So now I have to do the following to be finished by next Sunday:

• finish knitting two units which were started but couldn't be completed because of the absence of purple yarn (done - Sunday 24th July)
• join 28 units into seven blocks (done - Sunday 24th July)
• layout the units to see which two colours will work best for my fudge block (done - Sunday 24th July)
• knit four units for the fudge block (done - Sunday 24th July)
• join those four units to make one more block (done - Sunday 24th July)
• join the last eight units into four pairs (done - Sunday 24th July)
• join the four pairs into one large group of eight (done - Sunday 24th July)
• join the group of eight to the other group of eight to make a group of sixteen (done - Monday 25th July)
• join the group of sixteen to the group of twelve (done - Monday 25th July)
• sew in all the remaining ends (started - Monday 25th July; finished Wednesday 27th July)
• crochet a border around the blanket to finish the edges neatly (started - Tuesday 26th July; finished Wednesday 27th July)

Do you think I can do it?

a new project on the needles

I ran out of yarn to finish the pinwheel blanket (afghan)! I'm hoping WM can get some for me on his way home from work this afternoon.

Last night, I should have been grafting all the squares I have knitted but my head is still not clear (from my head cold) and I was having trouble seeing to pick up the stitches on the dark triangles!

Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

A few posts ago, I mentioned a group called Angels for the Forgotten. They are trying to collect 1,000 baby blankets and 3,000 bags by the end of August. These items are given to "the forgotten" - children who are going into foster care. I want to help and have bought fabric to make some bags but don't feel well enough yet to sew.

Knitting is a different story - I can do that, even with my eyes closed. So, last night, I grabbed some 4ply (fingering) yarn and my 4mm (US 6) needles and cast on several times because in my dopey state I can't count!

After the fourth attempt, I had what I thought was 192 stitches. I knitted six rows for a border then began my modified "Feather and Fan" (aka Old Shale) pattern. I got twelve stitches from the end of the first row and realised I didn't have 192 stitches! I had 182. I had to unpick the whole row. Finally I did what I should have done in the first place - I went and got some stitch markers! I don't generally use stitch markers for such an easy lace pattern but my head is obviously thicker than I thought!!

Anyway, in case you are interested, here is my modified Feather and Fan pattern. I modified it so that baby's little fingers wouldn't get caught in the larger holes created by yarn-overs and it would be faster to knit having no purl rows.

Note: Pattern is done over a multiple of eighteen stitches. (my extra two stitches are now edging stitches - I was going to have a border of six stitches but I wasn't pulling all my knitting out and starting yet again).

Row 1: *K2tog 3 times, (M1, K1) 6 times, K2tog 3 times*, repeat from * to * till end of row
Rows 2-4: Knit

M1 = make 1; pick up thread between next two stitches from back to front and knit (this creates a small hole and doesn't twist the stitch)

And here is a photo of what I have done so far - not much, is it?

14 rows

I think I can ...

I think I can get my Pinwheel Blanket (afghan) finished before the end of July.

During the past week there has been some no-sew grafting. Most of the units that I have knitted so far have been been joined into four-patch pinwheel blocks.

four units grafted together (no sewing!)

All the yarn ends that met in the centre of each block have been darned in.

All the blocks have been steam blocked (see yesterday's post) - the "star" shape in the previous photo would make joining difficult so blocking was necessary.

straight edges from blocking

A layout has been decided but I don't want to spoil the final reveal so no picture just yet!

24 more blocks need to be knitted and grafted and then I can join all the blocks together, starting like this:

four blocks grafted together (still no sewing of seams)

I think I can!

a busy week and pinwheel blanket progress

I can't believe it's been a whole week since I posted about the Pinwheel Blanket - time flies when one is busy! So what have I been doing?

Monday: sewing class
Tuesday: take DD to obstetrician
Wednesday: at Craft Show test-driving sewing machines
Thursday: roaming around town looking at sewing machines and fabric
Friday: eye test, grocery shopping
Saturday: helping out at the Knitters' Guild stand at the Craft Show - too busy to even think about looking at sewing machines or fabrics!

So here we are: Sunday again and time to update my progress on the blanket. I am making 112 of these in five colours (mauve, lavender, purple, rose and crimson)

 I'm more than halfway with the knitting - I have done 63 of the 112 units needed.

So, all I have to do is knit 49 more units and use no-sew grafting to join 104 of those units to make 26 blocks (like these two which I've already completed)

10" x 10" - they will block square

.... then join the 28 blocks to make a blanket

... and sew in all the ends (I keep forgetting to weave them in as I go)

... and add a border! Thanks to the workshop I attended last weekend, I've got a great idea for this one - can't wait to get to it!

Will I have it finished by the end of July?

pinwheel blanket progress

As I said in my post a week ago about this project, I need four of these units

to make one of these

Right now, I have one of these (grafted together by the no-sew method I learnt from Galina Khmeleva in March; but I still had to sew the ends in):

two piles (twenty eight units) of these:



and one lonely one of these:

That makes a total of thirty-three units of the 112 necessary, which means around 79 hours of knitting and a whole lot more sewing to do before the end of July!

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!

wavy crochet

After spending several months in hibernation, my crocheted blanket (afghan) for Wrap With Love is finally finished.

My skills at crochet are very basic. My grandmother taught me to wield a hook when I was a teenager but I didn't use those skills for nearly thirty years. Now, I occasionally crochet just to use different muscles from knitting.

Since I don't really like sewing squares together (my mattress stitch never looks tidy), I decided to crochet a blanket in "one piece". First I crocheted two 30" squares then crocheted them together. Then I crocheted a five inch border all around.


Sounds simple, doesn't it? But things didn't work out as I had planned. Firstly, my squares were not square! I didn't realise that until much later. Secondly, the tension (gauge) in the two squares was slightly different so even though I had done the same number of rounds for both squares, they were not exactly the same size! Nevertheless, I persisted.

I began crocheting the border. After several rounds, with more than 750 stitches in each, I lay my blanket out to be measured. It would not lie flat! I pulled and I tugged but, being 100% acrylic, it had no give. I set it aside.

I wanted to rip it all out and start again but WM said that human bodies are not flat so what did it matter? Finally I took it to someone I know who does beautiful (and fast) crochet work. She told me my tension (gauge) was too tight and suggested I try using a larger hook for my work. I still wanted to rip it out but my "expert" told me there was no need. I listened carefully and, several months later, finally got around to buying a larger hook.

But, those of you who do fibre/textile crafts would know, when you add a larger piece to a smaller piece, you either have to gather it or you get a ruffle! So, now my non-flat blanket has a wavy (not quite ruffled) edge.

You thought I was going to show you the wavy edge, didn't you?

And you know what? I'm going to leave it like that! I didn't make it for accolades. I'm not going to enter it in a competition or exhibition. There are too many needy people out there for me to worry that my blanket isn’t perfectly rectangular or doesn't lie flat. At 9.3 kg (just over twenty pounds), it's thick and heavy and will keep a non-flat body warm this winter.

Isn't that what it's all about?

blocked now awaiting borders

I knitted a blanket (afghan) in chained diagonal squares. I bought the yarn unlabelled in Wangaratta in 2008 and believed it to be acrylic; after all I only paid $20.00 a kilo for it. While seaming I realised it must have some natural fibre content (probably wool, though possibly mohair) because it kept falling apart as I tried to stitch with it. It's a boucle yarn which means there's an over-spun yarn (probably acrylic) wrapped around an under-spun yarn (natural fibre?). This is fine while knitting or sewing in ends that are attached but means the yarn disintegrates when cut for sewing.

Anyway, after sewing the chains of diagonal squares together the whole thing looked lumpy and I was disappointed as there is a deadline on the finished blanket and the yarn, like mohair, is very difficult to rip. Working on the basis that there must be some natural fibre (almost certainly mohair) involved, I decided to block it - what harm could it do? If it were 100% acrylic it would dry quickly and then shrink back to its original size (and lumpiness). If there were, by chance, natural fibres involved, it should block easily. Judge for yourself: natural fibres?

A wonderful thing about the magic of blocking (apart from getting rid of the awful lumpiness) is that it has grown considerably meaning that it only needs borders along the length to make it a little wider. I’m glad I had trouble with the two knitted on borders I made and went to the trouble of ripping them off – the new borders will be much more narrow!

I did have some help with pin removal – Tom was involved in a cat fight last night: through the window! He scrabbled around on the blanket and several pins were removed in the process (Please note: no animal was harmed in the making of this blanket!)

Now to remove the pins and see what happens…

I lost a little over an inch (3cm) from the width and slightly less from the length; I’m happy with that. What I thought would be 31.5 inches by 63 inches has turned into 33 inches by 70 inches. The side borders will therefore need to be 3 ½ inches wide.

Yay for the magic of blocking!

The entrelac saga continues

I looked at the 120cm square I had knitted. It's not a good size for a cot blanket. Besides it's too dark for a toddler; it's knitted in blues and purples. Not only that, because I had not made the decision to stop when knitting each square, there are 'live' stitches on the needles; so, I've changed my mind again.

I'm going to finish the blanket to the original size. However, I'm taking the pressure off myself to have it finished by 18th April. That way, I won't feel like I have to knit for hours on end; you know, "just one more row...". To preserve my shoulders, I knit for half an hour then go and do something else. When I feel ready I come back and knit for another half an hour. I'm on holidays so I have that freedom.

As the tortoise said to the hare, "Slow and steady wins the race!"

Entrelac blanket progress ... or is that "conclusion"?

You may remember that I attended an entrelac workshop last month. To put my new found skills into practice, I decided to make a blanket for Wrap with Love in an entrelac style - squares of 25 small 10 stitch x 20 row squares in garter stitch alternating with plain 50 stitch x 100 row squares in garter stitch. That, dear blog friend, is a total of 140,000 stitches [as is normal for the Wrap With Love afghans - 28 squares or a total of 70in x 40in].

I set myself a goal to have the knitting finished by 18th April, when we have Part II of our entrelac workshop at the Knitters' Guild meeting. So far I have knitted 80,000 stitches, so in 12 days I have 60,000 stitches to knit [or 5,000 stitches a day]. I'm on holidays - unless TAFE calls me for some relief work this week - but it's still a big ask!

Yesterday, I knitted 9,400 stitches and my shoulders are a bit stiff today [don't tell the health professionals who are looking after my shoulders]. Actually, my right shoulder is really sore. I was using a KnitPicks cable needle so the weight of the blanket was on my lap and on my legs. I have a very close knitting style; I keep my elbows by my side and can knit easily on crowded public transport. But, believe it or not, knitting is hard on the shoulders; partly because knitters tend to slouch [especially me] and partly because the muscles attached to the shoulders [biceps and triceps, for example] are involved in the knitting, whether it seems like it or not. I've been told this on separate occasions by my sports medicine specialist, my physiotherapist and my massage therapist; all of whom tell me to limit knitting to small amounts of time! Sometimes I just get carried away!!!

The blanket is growing but, of course, it's getting heavier and heavier and so every stitch seems slower and slower. I have learnt to knit in both directions so that I don't have to turn the work around - that's okay when doing purl garter stitch; my knit-in-reverse [left to right] is slow but okay. But, it's sooooooo slow when doing knit garter stitch - my purl-in-reverse is painfully slow! Sometimes I push on, especially on the short rows, just to get the practice and therefore build up speed, but sometimes I just get jack of it and turn the work as needed - usually on the 50 stitches rows!

It's better for me to be able to knit in the future [I clearly remember five weeks of no knitting!]. I cannot knit today and it's my own fault for knitting for too long yesterday. The weight of the blanket, in spite of the cable needle, is pulling me down. Not knitting today means that I will have to knit even more stitches every other day to reach my goal in the given time frame - a super-human effort. So, today I made a decision; a cot-size blanket [120cm - 40inches - square] is useful and will save my shoulders! Now, there's a load off - figuratively and literally!!

All I have to do is sew in the myriad of ends that come with entrelac knitting.