Something New

 I finally finished a stash buster project for me.  A 100% cotton blanket.  It is just big enough for my lap.  It’s finished just in time for winter.  

Ta Dah

 Charity blanket number 6 of the year.  

And the bowl of ends.  

Now off to do more knitting, spinning, weaving, sewing and deep cleaning.  

The Last Row

 I am finally on the last row of the never ending blanket.  The edging is 3 rows of Crocheted through the back loop.  After that I have a Googleplex of ends to weave in.   After washing and blocking it will go to a charity project.  Here is a small section of the blanket. 

24 Percent

 With the last blanket being finished it means that I have 24 out of 100 projects finished for 2021. At this point I really wish that I had made a sizable dent in my yarn stash, but alas the answer is a solid no, not yet.  So the 3 blankets used about 27 balls of yarn.  With about another 10 blankets to go that another 90 skeins. So with 13 blankets it will only use about 127 skeins.  With another 14 skeins of yarn for the hats that brings it to 141 and I think it was 10 for the shawl 151 skeins used this year.  I was really hoping for a much bigger dent in volume of yarn around the house.  I thought I would have at least one empty yarn tub by now.  Sigh..

Have you noticed that the estimate of blankets left to knit keeps going up to?  With all that said here is blanket number 3.  By the way with the 1st box of blankets almost full, with a lot more to knit, John graciously agreed to help deliver them. I added a prayer shawl that I knit and a couple of blankets someone gave for me to donate to a good cause.   

In case you were wondering the pattern is one of mine called Modular Baby Blanket.  You can get the pattern at you local yarn store, www.ravelry.com and www.love crafts.com.  It will be under Sheri Karobonik Designs.  It’s a great stash buster project because each square can be a different color.  So far I have only knit this in cotton, although other worsted weight yarn will work also.  Just remember if you start with cotton all the yarn must be cotton. If you knit with wool all the yarn must be wool.  This would also apply to man made fibers too. 

Finally Finished

 Well finally finished applies to 2 projects. First is the remodel of the craft room. We just moved a whole lot of stuff around. I also got rid of some stuff. From where my rocking chair sits, I can not even see the store room supplies.  I also reorganized the supply shelf’s and found room for some craft supplies.  

The next blanket is finished. However, by the time it dried there was not enough light for a good picture.  So that will happen tomorrow.  I am also going stash diving tomorrow to see if I have a few skeins of a certain shade of blue for the current blanket. If I don’t have any more, I will just mix up the colors some more.  

Finished

 Need I say more about the 100% cotton charity blanket?  Yes, I am working on the next 2. I am not sure what will be finished first.  

The Next Blanket

 I finally finished the next blanket tonight.  Tomorrow it will get washed, dried and bagged.  

The First Blanket of 2021

 This is the first block blanket that I completed this year.  I crafted six out of the nine blocks. Seed the blocks together.  Added a three round crocheted broader.  Washed and blocked it today.  Considering that our humidity was about 1% for most of the day, I did expect it to dry faster than it did.  I did make it reversible with one Tree of Life block face up on each side.   

Family Time

I am really enjoying some much needed family time.  This first holiday season without Eric is a lot rougher than I thought it would be and I knew it was going to be very hard.  To alleviate some of the stress I have been cleaning and purging stuff.  I also have some extra help which is nice.  I see a few Bookman’s and Goodwill runs in our future.

I have also been working on the blanket pattern that got sidelined when Eric went into hospice. I am almost done knitting the “wings”. Then just 4 corner blocks and the crochet edging.  Figuring out the yardage. Pictures and typing up the pattern.

Since I did not sleep well last night, I am going to bed early.

The Good, The Bad and The Dog Pillow

I am sure that most of you know that I have to re knit 2 patterns for lack of  copious notes.  So today I tried to start the rewrite with what I thought was a beautiful and expensive skein of merino,silk and nylon with a lovely color way and very long repeats for the pattern.  Well 20 yards in I was already at the 2nd manufacturing tie and I could see the third. By industry standards they are only allowed 3 tie offs per skein. It did not bode well.   If you know me well my motto is “Life is to short to knit with bad yarn or spin with bad roving.”  I pulled the project off the needles and removed the stitch marker. So into the dog pillow box it went. An hour of design time wasted.

I went stash diving and found a Crazy Zauberball from Schoppel Woole made in Germany. I have never had a problem with their wool or cotton yarn. It has a nice long color way. I started it after dinner and have the first 2 to 3 inches knit, so I did not lose to much ground.  Since it is a 2 line pattern with very little explanation I. Ishtar be able to type up this pattern and wait for the new sample to be finished for the pictures.

I also got another 72 rows done on the blanket and am ready to cast on the next square tomorrow.  It is going much faster this time because I have the first sample to work off.  By the way the 2 blankets will look totally different because with modular knitting I really have fun with color.

With any luck Eric will be back a program tomorrow.  It has been a long weekend with him sick.  This tired mom is going to bed.

A Lack of Notes

I am having to re knit a blanket do to a server lack of copious note taking on my part.  The only two blessings that I can think of is that most sections are repeated 4 times, and I only have to write it once and say please repeat this section 3 more times.  The other is that I have a blanket to knit as a present so I will use the duplicate as the gift. If I hustle I can get this done fairly soon as there is no design work left.

To answer the question everyone has been asking, yes there will be a knit along.  I just have to make the arrangements.

Finally Finished

Teri’s Blanket is finally finished. It was started as her dad drove her to grad school in the fall of 2009. It was supposed to be finished by December of 2009. Oops fast forward until today. It is finally finished. The only thing that I would have changed would be to use larger knitting needles. U.S. size 7 knitting needles were a bit small for a queen size blanket. The bowl is all the ends that I cut off tonight.

I also knit 12,755 rows so the row counter for the million row challenge on Raverly took a big jump tonight.

Life in the Blender Again

I am sitting with Eric while we do a trial run on pedilyte.  The kangaroo Joey is set to 5 ml per hour. For those you who do not live in the ml universe, that is 1 teaspoon per hour.  Yes, Eric is sick again. I swear that if I had a nickel for every time some said that their kids had allergies and Eric got sick, I could make a hefty donation to fight hunger here in Tucson.  With any luck I might just make it to bed by midnight.  I also feel that it falls on deaf ears when I ask people to stay home when they or their kids are sick.

In other news, Teri’s Blanket is on the last round of the boarder. Then I get to weave in two ends per block.  Then I will wash it.  I don’t think that I will block it since it is 100% organic cotton.  The final picture and row count should be some time this week.  It will have over 12,000 rows for the one million row challenge on Ravelry.

Last Square

I started knitting the last square of Teri’s blanket today. You know the one I started when she was a L1. You have all probably heard the story of how she picked 10 skeins of yarn and we both thought that it would be enough for a queen sized blanket.  Boy were we ever off in our calculations.   It turned out that 1 skein made 3 blocks. So I had enough yarn for 2 rows of blocks.

Then there was a frantic search for enough yarn to finish the blanket.  I think I will have enough yarn leftover to knit a sweater for me.  But I am digressing.  At Thursday’s knitting group at Grandmas Spinning Wheel we have an aggregate knowledge base approaching 200 years.  It’s a great place to discuss the merits of various finishing techniques.  So the plan is to chrochet the boarder. Yes, I will be bracing my left hand for this.  Not to weave in all the ends in one sitting.  Do the final trimming after the first wash.  Try to figure out how to fit it in my carry on luggage.

This evening I was doing the mommy multi task thing.  Finishing cleaning of the craft room.  Washing more eyrpy laundry.   Taking care of the eyrpy boy. Getting my final 5k step for the day. Giving Eric his medicine.  Plus near constant suctioning of Eric to keep the gunk out of his lungs.  Now I am just waiting for Eric to fall asleep.  I think I will leave the tv on all night so that I can sleep.

Tradition

It would not be a holiday around here without a certain someone getting sick.  At least he has a day off tomorrow. This means that he can help supervise laundry, knitting and cleaning.  I am not quite sure when it became a family tradition, I personally think that it was so last century.

At any rate, Eric is starting a trial of formula and I will knit.  All this happens while Eric’s tummy is determining weather he will be totally sick or not.

Teri’s Blanket.  In other news, there are only 4 more squares to knit before the next measurement.  Hopefully I will be weaving in ends and adding the broader soon.

Teri's Blanket, A progress Report.

This is a picture of Teri’s new blanket in progress. The first row is done and I am on the second square of the second row. As you can see it stretches across most of the den floor. This is going to be a queen size blanket with 15% more added for the shrinkage the yarn package tells me will happen with the first wash. I want to thank John for calculating the size increase otherwise it would have been too small once it was washed.

This is a stash busting challenge from My 8 Kids Mom otherwise known as the counting Sheep Farm.   http://www.countingsheepfarm.com/ It was started a week ago.

The blanket is being knit on size 7 needles with Lion Brand and Pakucho 100% organic cotton yarn. The great thing about these yarns is they are grown in the colors as shown and will intensify with washing. This makes it perfect for a busy student and should last a long time.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

The Friday Pattern -Wash Cloths and Beyond

This was the most wanted pattern by new knitters on Friday.

The pattern is for a wash cloth for new knitters this is a perfect pattern to leap off from. Use the needle size recommended by your yarn of choice. I like Lilly "Sugar and Cream" or Lion Brand cotton for dish cloths, but feel free to use any cotton you like.

Cast on 2

Row 1 knit one (K1), yarn over (YO), knit one (k1)

Row 2 knit one (K1), yarn over (YO), knit (K) till the end of the row.

Repeat row 2 till your wash cloth measures 10 inches up the diagonal side.

Row 3 knit 1 (k1), knit 2 together (k2tog), knit (K) till the end of the row.

When you have 2 stitches left on the needle bind off (BO).

Weave in the ends.


The abbreviations in the brackets are like the ones you would see in a typical knitting pattern. The pattern would look like this in in a typical book.

CO2

Row 1 K1, yo, K1

Row 2 K1, yo, K till the end of the row

Repeat row 2 till the diagonal measure is 10"

Row 3 K1, k2tog, k till the end of the row.

repeat row 3 till you have 2 stitches left on the needle.

BO and weave in ends

The thing I like about this basic pattern is that it can be grown into different projects by just adding a little more knitting. I like to use cable needles when knitting blankets, the weight is distributed more evenly and does not get as heavy as if knit on straight needles.

For a preemie blanket knit till the diagonal is 20-26 inches long. I would use a soft washable yarn with NO metal threads in it. The nurses in the NICU's generally do not like wool because it tends to felt when washed and is not quite suitable for their smaller charges.

For a full term baby blanket knit till the diagonal is 36". Use any yarn you like. If it is meant to be a show only blanket the yarn does not matter, if however, you want a usable blanket make sure that the yarn is machine wash and dry able.

To make different size blankets make 9 (3 blocks by 3 blocks)to 30 (5 blocks across by 6 blocks long) wash cloth size squares and sew them together. This is a good way to use left over yarn. Once the squares are sewn together a a small crochet trim to bring the project together.

If you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment with your e-mail and I will answer to the best of my ability. Have fun knitting and see where the yarn will take you.

Have a wonderful day.