Tag Archives: blanket

For the Dogs

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So, you know the Woven Stitch I talked about last week?  Well.  I worked up a nice big square of woven stitch in big squishy Biggo yarn.  It measures about 2 and a half by 3 feet.  It’s thick and squishy and warm and lovely.  And it was going to be a fantastic new bathmat for the guest bathroom.

But Ollie had a different idea.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA(These are the best pictures I could get with him wiggling around and carrying his blanket around the house.)

So, it looks like Ollie has a new blanket.  (How could you say no to that face?) Whoops!

***OH!  And the Twist and Tweed giveaway has been extended until Wednesday!  Be sure to comment here to enter!***

Inspiration: Princess!

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There isn’t much reason for people (especially American people, like me) to care about the British royal family in the 21st century.  I mean, honestly, what do they do?  Not much.

Well, not much except have adorable babies that they dress up in the most amazing knitwear.

The Royal Family is at it again, with their brand-new (and so far unnamed) baby girl.  Look at her!  (And look at the Duchess… dang!  Can you believe she gave birth about 24 hours before these pictures were taken?  What a trooper.  I bet all she wants to do is go home and sleep for about a year.  And put on some PJ pants.)

Lindo__close_up_ka_3289646b[1]And, let’s take a closer look at the new princess’s knitwear (click on the photo for a larger view):

royal-baby-tele_3289946b[1]That bonnet!  That blanket!  So gorgeous.  (I probably wouldn’t wrap my newborn in a white, heirloom-quality shawl, but then again, I’m not a Duchess.  So.)

I love the bonnet.  It’s so simple and perfect.  Squishy garter stitch and tiny cables… Could it be more classic and adorable?

Silverfox Bonnet by Lisa Chemery

SilverfoxBonnet_main1_sm_medium[1]Lilacs for Lila by knittedblissJC

8931079780_5475beaff6_z[1]And that blanket!  Look closely, and you’ll see it’s knit from teeny-tiny lace-weight yarn.  It must have taken forever to make something that beautiful!  I love the stockinette body with the simple, geometric edging.  Very classy.  (Although, honestly, it’s something that should only be taken out for international press events.  You don’t want to have to scrub spit-up out of such fine wool.  That makes me sad just thinking about it.)

Amalthea by Anne Hanson

Amalthea164_72dpi_medium[1]Christening Shawl L252 (My Weekly) by Gladys Amedro

2417516836_27d245680e_z[1]All the best to the new baby princess!  And, Kate- go home, put on your sweat pants, and eat some ice cream!  You earned it!

Inspiration: Mermaid, mermaid, mermaid

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A couple weeks ago, someone posted a link on my Facebook page.  People do that from time to time, as I’m sure they do to you, too.  Once people know you’re a knitter, anything vaguely knitting-related gets posted to your wall.  Often they’re something I’ve seen before or something I have no interest in.

But this time, the projects blew my mind.1962699_10153195383503330_642696267624178778_n[1]Mermaid blankets!

Can you think of anything better for a kid to snuggle up into while reading their favorite book or watching The Little Mermaid for the millionth time?  I know about three dozen kids that would lose their minds if they saw this.

I suppose, technically they’re not blankets; they’re more like cocoons.  But still.

So, of course I had to go searching Ravelry for mermaid blanket patterns.

Maybe your Barbie needs a mermaid blanket?

Mermaid Tail for Dolls by Ansley Bleu

2844392201_5643108549_z[1]Or maybe your baby.  (Although I wouldn’t leave them alone in a mermaid tail.  That seems like a strangling hazard.  But maybe I’m paranoid.)

Merikelpoinen by Emma Tavi

vxc_medium2[1]Of course kids would love this super-snugly mermaid tail blanket.

Mermaid Tail Blanket by Creative Crochet by Becky

IMG_8561_medium2[1]But, if we’re being honest, we (I) all really just want to make grown-up sized ones for ourselves.

Mermaid Tail Lap Blanket by Angie Hartley

IMG_0446_medium2[1]And now I have this song stuck in my head.

 

Wedding Blanket- the Last-Minute Edition

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As a knitter, I use any excuse to break out my yarn.  Whenever a friend has a baby, they get a sweater.  When a friend gets married they get a blanket.  That’s just the way it goes.

Usually, I pay attention to the schedule of these things.

Except, for some reason, I totally spaced on my friend Michel’s wedding.  It’s next weekend.  I started her blanket last weekend.  I’m a dumbo.

I knew I had only about two weeks to do it, so I had to pick my pattern wisely.  I decided to crochet the blanket, since that goes faster, even for me.  And, I wanted something super simple, without any seaming, so granny squares were out.

I considered making a ripple blanket for a while.  I particularly liked this one.  The white against the brightly colored stripes is super cool.l32025a_medium[1]Modern Ripple Baby Blanket by Lion Brand Yarn

But, a couple rows in, it turned out I had messed up on my counting and I had to rip it all back.  So, I decided to try something a little simpler.  Something I could work on while binge-watching Parks and Rec.

1_medium[1]V stitch by Sucrette

Totally cute, right?  I used the V-stitch pattern, and a made up a semi-random stripe pattern inspired by the first blanket.  But, in a very cool (if I say so myself) neutrals-and-neon color palette.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI think it turned out pretty well.  It’s a good size for snuggling under with a good book and a cup of tea, or throwing over the back of a couch.  I hope she likes it!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERANow I’ve got to go put ice on my wrists from crocheting too fast!

Do you ever knit to a (ridiculous, self-imposed) deadline?

 

Inspiration: Bulky, Bulky Pins

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As I mentioned on Friday, I’ve started Pinning (Pinteresting? Someone tell me what the proper word is!).  And, well, I can see it becoming something of a problem.  I’ve been spending way more time than I probably should poking around Pinterest and looking at all the beautiful things that I will never have time to make.

(Also, sometimes I like to look at the Everything tab.  It’s about 15% hair tutorials and makeup tips, 30% extra-calorie cheesecake recipes, 25% diet salads that “Actually taste good!,” 15% workout routines, 5% inspirational quotes, and 10% stuff I’m actually interested in.  Point in case, I just spent 20 minutes looking at “Super Simple Manicure Ideas.”  Why?  Because they were there.)

Anyway, I looked over my pin boards (is that what they’re called?)  and I found a trend in some of the knitting I’ve been pinning:  Super bulky stuff.

This scarf/shawl/shoulder blanket is part of the new Ferragamo Men’s collection, and was shown in Milan (so you know it’s chic).  I’d wear one, even though I’m not a dude.  It looks like a great long swath of stockinette, maybe knit in the round, so that there isn’t a “bad side.”

628x471And I just love this fantastically chunky Brioche Cowl from Diane L. Augustin.  Aren’t those colors to die for?  I would like to just wrap myself up in a cocoon made from this.IMG_4128_50_medium2[1]If we’re talking about chunky knitting, you can’t get much chunkier than this amazing arm-knit blanket.  It’s of super-thick yarn, but you could use slightly felted wool roving, if you wanted.  Using arm-knitting for this project is really smart; that way, you don’t have to worry abut finding knitting needles two inches in diameter.Untitled-3-copy-1024x854Well, now I’m off to dream of Pinterest and spend more time looking at a particularly interesting list of “the 52 easiest DIYs.”

Inspiration: Knitting in Fall

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The temperature has finally settled in the low 60s, the mushrooms are sprouting on anything that stands still for more than a minute, and the fog has descended.  It is officially fall in Seattle.  I know that makes fall sound less than fun, but I absolutely love autumn in the Pacific Northwest (maybe I’m a masochist. You be the judge).  There’s something incredibly cozy and comfortable about getting up in the morning and putting on a flannel shirt or a fluffy sweater, drinking your cup of coffee and seeing nothing but gray mist outside your window.

(Interestingly, though, it’s almost impossible to take a good photo of fog.  So, instead of making you look at the crappy ones I took, I will steal one from the internet.  But, really, this is what my street has looked like every morning this week.  Except, my street has more houses.)b0a416d5ce158c4654afa438dc27868e[1]It makes me want to curl up with a mug of hot cider, Jazz music on the radio, a fire in the fireplace, and a knitting project that uses massively bulky yarn.

We could start small(ish) with a cowl so thick and cozy you could burrow into it and practically turn into a (very warm) tortoise.

The Gathering by Kalurah

DSC_2956_medium2[1]I can only imagine how quickly this gorgeous sweater would fly off the needles.  Do you think I could finish it by this evening?  It’s supposed to drop into the 50s tonight.

The Big Cable by Justyna Lorkowska

bigC3_medium2[1]Or I could just give up on any pretext of leaving the house for the next six months and hunker down under this (perfectly named) blanket.

A Blanket For Seriously Cold People by Sylvia Bo Bilvia

6443776281_f97d115886_z[1]All this talk of super-plush projects has gotten me in a very cozy mood.  There’s only one thing I can do now… I’m off to go put on as many scarves, sweaters and slippers as I can find, and bake myself a pumpkin pie.  Happy Fall, everyone!

Inspiration: Knitting the Sky

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My friend Jenny visited me last weekend.  We have known each other for years (since college).  Actually, we met through the Knitting Illini, our university’s student-run knitting club.  (I’m still trying to find a knitting club as fun and welcoming as that one, but that’s a whole other story.)

Anyway, Jenny pulled out her needles and several shades of blue and gray yarn.  She whipped up a couple little garter stitch squares and put her knitting back in her bag.  I was curious what she was making, and she said she was “Knitting the Sky.”  I had never heard this concept before, and had her explain.

Apparently, Knitting the Sky is the idea that you put aside a few minutes each day to look at the sky and then pick a yarn color closest to the color of the sky to make an afghan square, or a few rows of garter stitch to add to a scarf.

As far as I can tell (and correct me if I’m wrong), the first person to do this was Leafcutter Designs.  They sell a kit (yarn plus directions) to make a Sky Scarf.  It’s a simple garter-stitch scarf, but the subtly shifting grays and blues make the scarf look almost like it’s made with hand-painted yarn.

sky-scarf-kit-3 Gorgeous, right?

But Jenny is an overachiever (in the best possible way), so instead of just making a sky scarf, she’s making a sky afghan, like this one.

Finished+Sky+Blanket+4How beautiful is that!  Who could have imagined that wrapping up in cloudy and rainy days could be so cozy?

And, imagine extending the idea of using a color to represent a day in other projects.  How about a striped cardigan that shows your mood each day for an entire year?  Or what about a pair of mittens that represent what you ate for breakfast for a month?  OK, I’m getting silly now.  But, the point still stands.

This is a fantastic idea, and a great way to get some knitting in while getting more in touch with the world around you.  Too bad that if I was to make a sky scarf it would end up being a uniform Seattle-gray.x354

Whoops! A Counterpane Follow-up

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Do you remember Grandma Anna’s Counterpane?  I spent hours reverse-engineering one of my great-grandmother’s bedspreads from a little snapshot my Mom sent me.  I even posted a pattern.

It turns out, I didn’t have to.  (Insert sad noise here.)

I received a package from a great-aunt a few weeks ago (one that also included a few of my great-grandmother’s crochet hooks).  In the package was also a couple of my grandmother’s old craft magazines.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThis booklet, the Learn How Book, was published in 1952 by Coats & Clark.  It has a few simple projects and extremely thorough instructions on crochet, knitting, embroidery and (very usefully) tatting.  (The projects are actually pretty and practical, especially considering the publication date.  There’s even a sweater that I would totally make for myself, if I wore a girdle.)

But, right at the end of the crochet section, something popped out at me and literally made me do a double take.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt’s the counterpane!  The counterpane!  I couldn’t believe it!  Not more than a month after spending all that time working out the pattern from a tiny, blurry, cell-phone picture, and the pattern lands in my lap!  I couldn’t believe it!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt even used the word “cluster” for the bunches of stitches, just like I did.  Weird, right?  (Sure, the big clusters were called popcorn stitches in this pattern, but hey.  Close enough.)

I scanned through the pattern, and it looks like we both did mostly the same things, which is amazing.  Although, it’s a little hard to read the pattern in the booklet… look at that block of text!

The biggest difference I saw, though, was that they used a much, much finer gauge on their bedspread than I did.  I used a size H crochet hook, which is about 5 mm in diameter.  The booklet calls for a size 7 steel crochet hook, which is super tiny!  It’s actually less than 2 mm in diameter.  That means that instead of the blocks being about 10 inches across, like mine turned out, the original counterpane squares were only 5 inches by 5 inches!  That means, if you’re following the original pattern, you’ll need 260 squares just to make a twin-bed-sized blanket.  Talk about dedication!

I’m glad I got to see the original pattern, and I love seeing my great-grandmother’s old-fashioned handwriting in the margins of some of the patterns.  But one thing is for sure, I definitely won’t be making this bedspread at the original gauge.  That’s just crazy!

Pattern: Grandma Anna’s Counterpane

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My Great-grandmother Anna was a remarkable woman. She was married at 16, lived through the Great Depression and World War II, and raised 11 children (and nearly a hundred grand-children). And through it all, she spent every free moment knitting and crocheting to keep her family warm. She even won a blue ribbon at the Wisconsin state fair for her knitting!

I never got to meet my great-grandmother, but her legacy lives on in the projects she has left behind. I like to imagine that every piece of her knitting is a friendly little “hello” through the decades to me and her other descendants.

Zimmer CounterpaneThis counterpane is based on a bedspread that one of my mother’s cousins inherited from Great-grandma Anna. The pattern has been lost, so I decided to come up with my own. The original was made with white worsted-weight cotton, like most traditional counterpanes. Feel free to substitute your favorite fiber, or change the color to give the blanket a more contemporary feel.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAGet the pattern here:

Grandma Anna’s Counterpane

Inspiration: Counterpanes

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Ever since I saw that picture of my Grandma’s counterpane, I’ve had counterpanes on the brain.  They’re so charmingly old-fashioned, but still manage to combine the elegance of a monochromatic palette  and gorgeous textured stitching with the coziness of a snugly soft blanket.

Let’s indulge my new minor obsession, shall we?

Bedspread (Counterpane with Leaves) by A.M.

bedspread_close__003_medium[1]dogwood by tincanknits

9M-dogwood-00_medium[1]Marguerite by Priscilla Publishing Company

5698274754_ea17cdfdc5_z[1]