Kaffe Fassett: Shadow Blocks blanket

The next yarn in line was from my large supply of Rowan Summer Tweed.  It is one of my favourite yarns, and there was a lot of it.  I wanted to knit intarsia because my previous effort had worked out so well, and I had in mind one of the simple Kaffe Fassett patterns, eg Tumbling Blocks.  I found several versions, and they were not so simple to knit with the various shades that I had.  It would take a lot of planning to get an attractive result.

Then I came across a new Kaffe Fassett pattern in The Knitter, issue 118.  This pattern, Shadow Blocks, was for one of the currently popular narrow throws for looking nice at the end of the bed.  It is wide and narrow.  I turned it round 90 degrees, recognizing that it would alter the proportions but I didn't think it would matter.

I worked out the number of stitches needed for full repeats and did a crochet temporary cast on.  I was so intent on getting the right number by repeat that I didn't realise that I had done one repeat too few.  I realised when I had knitted some 15 cm when I investigated why it didn't take long to knit one row.  Following my principle of not unravelling mistakes in blankets I continued thinking I would have to do a wide border.





The intarsia took some 12 - 13 yarns per row in my blanket.  The pattern itself, being wider, took over 20, without suggestion for managing that many.  You could use bobbins, but it would be awkward even so, and involve fastening numerous end which seemed a shame when a yarn would be used in one continuous sequence from top to bottom.

I devised a method that worked fine for me.  I put the balls of yarn in a shallow box, close together so they wouldn't have room to move, in the order used.  At the end of the row I turned the knitting carefully to avoid displacing the yarns in the box.  At the end of the next row I turned the knitting carefully in the opposite direction.  This way I had to disentangle yarns only every twelfth row when some yarns changed place.

I enjoyed the knitting very much.  The symmetrical pattern was a pleasure as you could always see what came next.  The yarn was a pleasure to work with.  I had worried about the colours but I'm happy with the result.  It would have been nicer larger.

I did the border in moss stitch in the three colours I had enough left.  I would have preferred a plain border but it was difficult to calculate how much yarn would be needed.

Shadow Blocks

Pattern: Kaffe Fassett, The Knitter 118
Yarn: Rowan Summer Tweed silk 75% cotton 25
Needles: 4.5 mm
Size: 155 cm by 120 cm
Weight: 940 gr