Mitered Crosses Blanket for ME!

I can't believe I waited two whole days to post about this! My Mitered Crosses Blanket is officially DONE. I was up way past my bedtime on Friday trying to finish this. I had spent a couple of hours (and listened to several podcasts) trying to get the border done. Like I said before, my goal was to finish this before the wool show on Saturday. However, by around 1am Saturday morning, I was a bit too bleary eyed to finish the border on the sides of only three remaining squares. Instead, I finished it on the way to Wooster (about an hour away) and grafted the ends of the I-cord when I got home. 

It's a success! I am so pleased with how this turned out. I almost can't believe it's done. 

All attempts to stage this blanket were thwarted.

I knit all my squares on a size 8 needle (5mm) and did the three needle bind off with a size 10 (6mm). The I-cord was also done in a size 10 so I really have very minimal puckering anywhere on the blanket and probably nothing that decent blocking won't fix. Overall, I used six and a half balls of Noro Keuryon (it was half a ball per finished square) and about eight and a half skeins of Lamb's Pride. I had originally purchased ten skeins (thank goodness) so it was no problem when I wanted to make it an extra row longer. Despite the heat this weekend, the blanket has been folded and moved to its place of honor on our living room ottoman.

Pattern: Mitered Crosses Blanket for Japan by Kay Gardiner

Yarn: Grey - Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted in M-03 Grey Heather

          Multi - Noro Kureyon in #215

Needles: #8 (for squares), #10 (for bind off and I-cord)

Finished Size: approximately 40" by 65"

Began: June 14, 2011

Completed: May 26, 2012

Ravelry Link

Since it's a holiday Monday here in the U.S. I've decided to start working on the baby blankets I had planned, along with the socks for my dad (three projects on fingering weight? Seriously, Andrea?).  What about you?

Great Lakes Fiber Festival

As I stated earlier today, it takes a true fiber lover to be able to rub wool on their face when it's over 85 degrees. My knitting group spent several hours this morning/afternoon at the Great Lakes Fiber Festival in Wooster, Ohio. I didn't have any grand plans to buy yarn but did come away with a few goodies. 

I picked up a skein of tweedy handspun from Hilltop Heritage Farm. It's 300 yards of DK weight, 70% wool and 30% mohair. It has a nice sabley look to it and I think this may become the knitted dog I referred to a couple of posts ago. I also picked up two mini-skeins of yarn in two colors I'm still low on (green and orange) from Ursula's Alcove. At a dollar each, I couldn't resist. A couple of darning needles completed my day's purchases. I know somewhere in this house there are at least half a dozen darning needles all in hiding. Now that I need one, I can't find any. Considering I just used one on Thursday, this is pretty irritating. In my mind I keep singing that Paula Cole song only changing the lyrics to "Where have all the darning needles gone?" I need to graft my I-cord edge together and the needles will come in handy. I feel like I showed a lot of restraint today and while I saw some pretties there, I came away with things I know I'll definitely use. Did anyone else happen to head over there today as well?

Finishing

All the pictures in the post were taken on Thursday, about halfway through finishing (post-seaming, pre-weaving bind off ends in/I-cord). You'll see how most photos in my house can quickly turn into a doggy photo shoot. 

One of the things I was dreading most about the Mitered Squares Blanket was the finishing. Not only is there the joining of four small mitered squares (using two colors per square) and then the log cabin sections of each large square, you are making at least 10 or more squares. Then you must join all the squares. If you use a three-needle bind-off that's three ends of yarn per join. Once all your squares are joined (in my case, 13) you'll want to weave in the joining ends, because hopefully you had the forethought to (mostly) knit in your ends as you were working. 

So you've joined and woven ends. Seems like you'd be done, right? Not quite. There's still the I-cord border. Now this is totally optional. However, without it, the blanket doesn't seem quite finished. I-cord is mostly slow going. For every three stitches you knit, you're only actually doing one off the blanket. 

 

I dread finishing in pretty much all cases. I'm a product knitter. I'm in it for the item. So to still be working on this almost a year later makes it hard for me to remain motivated. I spent all of Tuesday, Wednesday, and part of Thursday seaming this bad boy up. I even had a nightmare that Adam put my blanket away and somehow unseamed all my squares! I sewed in ends Thursday and cast on for the I-cord but didn't get a whole lot of progress going on that part. Today, I've spent several hours working on the I-cord and am this close to being finished. I have about three sides of squares left to finish. But, it's getting late (it's actually Saturday already) and my knitting group is headed to the Great Lakes Fiber Festival tomorrow. I had wanted to finish this blanket before I bought more yarn there since I bought all the grey yarn for this blanket there last year, but I'm so close I'm sure I'll be able to finish this sometime over the long weekend. 

Just in time for 90 degree weather.

Signs of Spring

Sure enough, I saw it as I was pulling in after work this afternoon; the first peony blossom of the year!

 

They're a little bit earlier this year than last (check out 2011 and the first blossom ever in 2010) but it's really no surprise considering the weather we've had this year. Also, the bushes have definitely increased in height since last year. I would say they're pretty close to 4' tall.

Anyway, I had plans of being productive this afternoon but was feeling a lot like Hazel.

I did manage to spend a couple hours seaming the first couple rows of squares on my Mitered Squares Blanket (insert fist pump here!). It took me about 3 hours to get just two rows all seamed up, with three rows left to go still. It's definitely exciting now to see it coming together.

This weekend is the Great Lakes Fiber Festival in Wooster, Ohio. My knitting group has planned a fun afternoon outing and I'm hoping to find some incredible goodies (yarn, mostly). I'm especially looking for yarn dyed similarly to the yarn used for this cat.  I'd like to knit a stuffed dog for the baby and I'd really like a brown colored dog. If anyone has suggestions where to find this I'd love to know!

So Close

You might remember that in my last post, with the arrival of my new needles (hooray!) I've been itching to cast on something new. I've done a pretty thorough search through Ravelry and all my pattern books to find something but what's really bothering me is the unfinished Mitered Crosses blanket that's been hanging around forever. For the most part, I'm a pretty monogamous knitter. I tend to have no more than two projects going at a time. This project (accroding to my project page) was started on June 14th, 2011.  With the upcoming Great Lakes Fiber Festival, where I purchased all the grey Lamb's Pride last year, I'd like to get this finished before buying more yarn and starting something new. 

I spent hours yesterday finishing what I thought would be the final square, and weaving in ends (ugh!). I laid all the squares out in my kitchen to see about how big it would be, and sure enough, it's too small. It's measuring about 48" in length which would be fine for a throw for me, but with my tall husband hanging around, it just won't do. In order for it to actually be a useful throw, I need to add another row of squares. Which means more knitting. Which means I'm not done yet. I spent some time working on it today and have almost finished one square. My plan is to block all of them before seaming together. I'll have some time tomorrow and this weekend so maybe there will be progress? With this blanket though, who knows?

Birthday Stash

I think it could be said that around the time of my birthday I tend to want to shower myself with gifts. Last year my yarn stash saw a bit of an increase. This year however, I'm not really feeling like knitting for myself since I can't fit into anything. I still have the itch though, but how to scratch it? Luckily, I was the recipient of some pretty awesome gifts. 

My brother sent me 60 Quick Baby Knits. Very appropriate considering my birthday fell on Mother's Day this year. I've already started planning a few projects for Baby Luscious. 

My friend Amy gifted me with The Knitter's Life List. This is a really fun read with a lot of ideas on how to expand your knitted horizons. 

And the big hit of the night...

was my new set of Addi Clicks! How did my husband know this is exactly what I wanted? 

It may have had something to do with the email and link I sent him in March. 

Now I really want to cast on for something new but can't decide what. I finished my Featherweight Cardigan last night so I'll be sharing that soon!

Mini-Skein Destash

I know there's been a lot of hype over these mini-skein blankets the last few years. Maybe it started with the Sock Yarn Blanket, although I'm sure some other knitter must have thought it a good idea to knit a blanket with leftover sock yarn. Lately, there's been the Hexi-puff craze and others. I've decided to try to knit a sock yarn blanket using rainbow colors for little Luscious (as we've begun to refer to him, don't ask me why).  I spent some time at 2am last Saturday digging through all my sock yarn minis and arranging them by colors to see what I have and what I will need. I've decided to get rid of all the minis I won't be using, because to be honest, I'm pretty sure after a project like this I will definitely NOT want any mini-skeins hanging around, and to help beef up my current rainbow colored mini-skein stash.  Ideally I'd like to sell all the mini-skeins so I can buy more in the colors I need, however, if you're a mini-skein collector too and think you might have some minis in colors I can use, let me know. I'm definitely open to swapping. I'll include a list of the colors I need at the bottom of the page. 

Just FYI: all my yarn is stored in ziplock bags upstairs in the guest room so the pups never have access. We don't smoke. All minis are at least 5g. I'm accepting payment through Paypal. You can contact me through my email but make sure to post in the subject line DESTASH or something so it don't accidently delete it. I'll sell all minis in sets of 10 for $10 (that will include shipping) to anywhere in the US (Canada add $2). I have a lot of untagged minis that came from swaps on Ravelry so I only know that they are superwash. I'll post any other information with the photos. I'm willing to mix and match, just specify what you want.  All minis have been sold! Needle case is still available.

Photo #1:
The two minis in the middle are the same color. All are superwash.

Photo #2:

All superwash.

Photo #3:

The mini-ball at the bottom might not be superwash.

Photo #4

From L to R: Baby Ull -#7502, Malabrigo Sock in Eggplant, Knit One Crochet Too in color #1289, Knit Picks Imagination Handpainted -Gingerbread House, Cascade Sassy Stripes -#714

Photo #5:

All superwash

Photo #6:

All superwash.

Photo #7:

These skeins I'm thinking might not be superwash. I do know that the two matching ball and skein on the left are an alpaca/nylon blend, the one next to it is hand dyed.

Photo #8:

(Long sekin) Knit Picks Stroll -Basalt Heather, (Next row, top to bottom) Swilan -#904, Wisdom Yarns Marathon Socks Miami -Everglades, Kauni , Live, Lane Cervina Forever Jacquard, Cascade Yarns Sassy Stripes

Photo #9

All superwash

Photo #10:

All superwash, third from the left is Patons Kroy

This is not a mini-skein but I'm destashing for the cause. This is a Namaste straight needle case, brand new, never used. Measures 14" long. $14

My current mini skein list:

Purple minis 12

Blue minis 14

Green minis 7

Orange minis 18

Yellow minis 9

Red minis 7

I'm looking for at least 20 of each color. Thanks!