Category: Blankets
Getting Serious About Knitting
My goal is to complete the hexagon blanket in 3 weeks. Well, just the knitting portion; I’m giving myself a whole month to seam all the hexagonal pieces together.
I have 2 1/3 hexagons left to knit. The dwindling supply of yarn had me feeling anxious, so I took a road trip yesterday with Elly and my neighbor to my LYS, Yarn Gallery. While Elly snuggled with the resident dog, the owner found yarn to match my dye lot. What luck!
To aid me in my knitting goal, I’ll be joining Cheryl Marie of CherylMarieKnits.com in a Knitting Marathon on April 25th. I won’t be dedicating as many hours to knitting as Cheryl Marie because I’ll have Elly by my side, but I hope to make a serious dent in the remaining hexagons all the same. Elly should enjoy her movie time if nothing else.
If you have any unfinished knitting projects that you too are desperate to finish, you should join us!
Too Many Projects
When I told Dan about my desire to paint the kitchen walls orange, he laughed at me and told me I had too many projects. Maybe he is right. Here is my current to-do list.
1. Sew a party dress for Elly and me – deadline Sept 22nd
2. Plant tomatoes, zucchini and more carrots in my vegetable garden – deadline Mother’s Day
3. Paint stripes in the dining room – deadline asap because the carpet is falling apart which is no surprise since it is probably 50 years old
4. Paint the door white in the dining room – asap – see above
5. Paint the rad cover white in the dining room – not essential as the radiator can just sit bare
6. Finish knitting the hexagon blanket before the weather gets warm – approx May 15th deadline
7. Sew sheer curtains for the dining room and living room – deadline Thanksgiving Day
8. Sew slip covers for the wing back chairs – deadline Thanksgiving Day
What’s on your to-do list?
A 30-Year-Old UFO
Don’t you just love the 1970’s colors?
Clearly, it’s not my UFO, unfinished object.
1. I don’t crochet.
2. This would be an advanced project to make when one is 6.
No, it belonged to my neighbor, who is about the age of my Grandmother.
During a recent visit, my neighbor saw me knitting on the hexagon blanket. (I just have to shout out that I finished the 4th hexagon! If I can keep this rate up, I’ll have the entire blanket completed by mid May). She mentioned that a friend had taught her how to crochet many years ago, but that she had forgotten and frankly no longer cared for it. Still she had kept a half-finished afghan all these years, unable to throw it out. Would I want it?
I fell in love with the design. It’s not the typical crocheted afghan. It almost looks like it had been knitted.
But now that I have it, I’m uncertain what to do with it.
A. I could complete crocheting the afghan after taking a refresher course on how to crochet. Enough yarn is included to make it several inches longer. However, I’m not a huge fan of the colors and I detest the tassels. Plus, it’s acrylic yarn and not the nice stuff that they have out today.
B. Crochet a few more inches onto the afghan, but don’t include the tassels. Though the thought of weaving in all the current tassels makes me seasick.
C. Regift the afghan to someone who crotchets but not before translating the design into a knitting pattern. Then, knit myself a similar blanket in lovely superwash wool.
D. Hide the project for another 30 years.
What would you do?
Beautiful Noro Featured in the 4th Hexagon
The beautiful Noro matched with the natural Manos del Uruguay
I just love how the Noro changes color throughout the hexagon.
Serious progress is being made. There aren’t too many cool Spring days left in which I want to be working with warm wool.
I work on it every night. My knitting bag comes along on every trip to the local playgrounds.
Elly has even learned proper etiquette around a knitting project, such as pulling yarn out of a skein currently being knitted from is a no-no. Lol.
Baseball Blanket, a new pattern
With Phillies baseball season officially starting tomorrow, it gives me great pleasure to release a baseball knitting project.
A blanket for the baseball enthusiast!
It is an easy and fun project to work on while watching your favorite baseball team. The blanket is knit entirely in garter stitch so you can keep your eye on the ball. Three sections are knit separately and then seamed together to form the shape of a baseball. Shaping is created through simple yarnover increases, k2tog and ssk decreases, cast on rows and bind off rows. The yarnovers also serve as a visual guide of where to put the baseball stitching.
Knit one to take to the game today!
Price: $5.00 USD
This blanket would fit perfectly in a baseball themed nursery too!
I originally designed and knit this blanket because I needed my firstborn child to have a baseball blanket. Dan and I are huge Phillies fans. Of course, our daughter would be a Phillies fan too. Already, she shows great enthusiasm for the game.
Go Phillies!
More information about the pattern can be found here or on Ravelry.
Thank you to Nihart Photography for the beautiful pictures. More of her work can be seen at nihartphotography.smugmug.com.
More Yarn Needed
Perhaps I should be more specific because I am always in need of more yarn. I have yet to meet a knitter who has enough yarn.
My recent lack of yarn was in reference to the hexagon blanket I am knitting. I had neither enough Manos del Uruguay Wool Classica nor enough Crystal Yarns Taos wool to complete the blanket. Thus, when my LYS, the Yarn Gallery, sent me an email announcing their 10-year anniversary sale, I made plans to visit the store with Elly.
Elly was smitten with their two dogs.
I was smitten with their yarn selection.
I walked away with more Manos del Uruguay Wool Classica. To replace the Taos, my neighbor Janet, who just happens to work at my LYS, recommended Noro. It doesn’t match the Taos exactly, but I didn’t really want it to. The new colors will add more eye candy.
The Life, Designs & Crafts of Marie Haigh 