Broken rib 2 blanket C47

The Ravelry entry for the second Broken rib blanket, this one in Sirdar Big Softie.

The next blanket

I have decided to write about my knitting in Ravelry rather than here.  Here is the entry for the next blanket, #213.

Joanna Allen: Primavera Pansies needle point cushion

It has been a while since I wrote about my tapestry cushions (or needle point as they may be more correctly called), but that doesn't mean that I have stopped stitching.  I somehow got behind with doing the backs.  Now I have done several.

The first is this one, designed by Joanna Allen, a Primavera kit.  I got just the canvas from a charity shop because I liked the design so much.  No yarn, no picture, no chart.  There was a list of the Anchor yarn numbers and how many skeins needed from each.  So I selected yarns from my store.  I did have the correct shades for several.  For the rest I went by the shade in the picture and selected similar ones.  It was useful to know the amounts needed.

The good thing about needle point is, that once you have done the stitching, it is impossible to tell if you used the correct shade, unless you have a picture to compare against and have the patience to.  I searched the internet for a picture to help with the stitching, but didn't find any detailed enough.









I enjoyed the stitching.  I am very pleased with the result.  The design is oblong, so rather than altering a standard 35 cm square pad I stitched a strip of backing fabric to top and bottom.  A plain fabric might have been better; I used what I had.

If the canvas looks bumpy it is because I hand washed in an effort to block it because I didn't use a frame.  It is not noticeable in the finished cushion.

Stitched  14 November 2018 to 7 June 2019; finished cushion 4 February 2020

Blanket #212

The next blanket, #212, is another standard dark blanket using up black, brown, green and navy yarns.  I would like to introduce burgundy and purple, and one day I will.  In this blanket I use another Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Astrakhan yarn as a regular stripe for texture, this time in brown.  The three balls nearly covered the whole blanket.  I like the texture.  There is more navy mohair as well.

Corner to corner crochet throw

I have seen several versions of this corner to corner crochet pattern, and I was intrigued to try it.  The advantage is that as you start from a corner you don't have to decide on a size in advance.  You turn the next corner when you decide it is wide enough and the third corner when it is long enough.

I found a pattern, by Carolyn Calderon, on Ravelry.  It is very simple crochet, chains and double trebles all along.

I wanted to use my double knitting weight cotton yarns, starting with Rowan Pima Cotton, knitted into this cardigan from a Debbie Bliss pattern.  I had troubles when I knitted it, and I redid the yoke smaller because it slipped down my shoulders.  Even the smaller version did, and I hardly ever wore it.  It was a shame because the yarn is so nice, in the Bark shade.







With it I added various other cotton yarns in similar shades.  I particularly wanted to use up a Jaeger Albany ribbon yarn that I bought one day when I was in particular need of buying yarn.  It is a nice light pink shade and to my surprise the ribbon structure fitted in well.

The crochet flowed easily.  I discovered a problem that I had not anticipated.  The rows became very long and I did not want to change yarn in the middle of a row.  So I had to estimate at the beginning of a row if there would be enough yarn to complete the row.  Luckily I did it with success every time, and I did not have to unravel any.  But it disrupted my shade pattern.

It was really nice when I had turned the third corner, and the rows were getting ever shorter.  I didn't do the edging in the pattern because having used several yarns I needed to cover the ones I had brought up along the side.  I did my standard edging of one row dc and one row picot stitch.









I am quite pleased with the blanket or throw.  I don't like the gaps the pattern creates - you can't see them when the blanked lies flat, but it becomes obvious when you move it.  So I don't think I will do the pattern again.

Corner to corner crochet throw C45

Yarn: Rowan Pima Cotton, Jaeger Albany and other DK cotton yarns

Hook: 4 mm

Size: 115 cm by 160 cm

Weight: 1415 gr

Done 3 October  to 28 December 2019

Blanket #211

The next blanket #211, is another in darkish colours, red, blue.  I enjoy putting these together.  I did a regular stripe of a nice Malabrigo kettle dyed wool in a brick shade.  The mohair was Sirdar Supreme Mohair in mulberry.

I unravelled this tunic dress in a nice cable pattern.  It is a Debbie Bliss design, Mathilde from Winter Essentials in her Cashmerino DK.  The dress annoys me.  It is my size and I would have enjoyed wearing it, except for the neckline.  It is too low.  On me, shorter than average, it is in danger of slipping indecently low because there is nothing to hold it up as the ribbed neckline is too stretchy.  The dress is so heavy that it can only be worn in cold weather, and then I would need something to cover my neck and chest.  A warm top underneath would make the dress feel even warmer.  A scarf would not cover my chest adequately.  It is such a shame.  The yarn itself is useful in the blankets despite the synthetic content.

Broken garter stitch blanket C44

This is the next blanket in chunky yarn.  I started with the yarn, Rowan Kaffe Fassett Colourscape, random dyed in long runs.  I bought several lots half price when it was discontinued in 2012.  I have since bought more odd hanks in charity shops.  This time I started with the bag of 10 hanks in the brown rust colourway.

I am always on the lookout for an easy pattern, lots of knit stitches and easy to memorise.  In Noro 14 I found a pattern called broken garter stitch by Cheryl Murray.  It means that you (knit x purl x) st and on the next row you knit the knit stitches and purl the purl stitches.  It creates neat columns.  I converted this to a sequence knitting pattern.

I was intrigued by sequence knitting when I first came across it.  But then I realised that if you get one stitch wrong you upset the sequence and the pattern changes.  It is not TV knitting.  My simple sequence became k10 p10 (to create wider columns than the Noro pattern), but I started with k5 before continuing (p10 k10) ending with k5.  So the next row became k5 p10 k10 creating a perfect sequence and sticking to the broken garter stitch pattern.

I added some of my precious Rowan Cocoon yarn in brown every third row, and started knitting.  It was easy and enjoyable, and I like the result.

Broken garter stitch blanket C44

Yarn: Rowan Colourscape and Rowan Cocoon in brown

Needles: 6 mm

Tension: 13 st per 10 cm 

Size: 125 cm by 170 cm

Weight: 1500 gr

Done 20 June to 2 October 2019