The Luna blanket takes shape

First post of 2012 and it's already half way through February!

Ah well, I had a recent surge of motivation for the Luna Blanket I'm making once I decided to start blocking the 50-odd squares I had knit by that point. My previous attempt of wet blocking (washing the squares and pinning them out to dry, using blocking wires) failed miserably as the yarn DK yarn weight combined with acrylic content meant the squares ended up shrinking back to their original curly messed up forms. So I decided to have a go at steam blocking them, using a wet flannel (wrung out) placed over the knit square, making sure all the edges were tucked down flat and ironing until I saw enough steam coming out (and the knit square underneath was suitably flat). I'm delighted to say that this worked brilliantly! I got through steam blocking all 53 squares in under 3 hours, which was much faster than my wet blocking method and far more successful. It made each square a nice smooth flat square shape ready for sewing together into the blanket.

So I then went about using mattress stitch to join 11-square long rows, then sewed across the squares to hold them all together. I underestimated just how long this would take, and had to spread it over a few days (needless to say the sewing got quite boring, but the end result is totally worth it).

So having sewn together 53/99 squares my motivation for finishing this blanket is sky high and a suggestion from my husband was to knit another 11 squares, so I could add on 1 more row at a time, so it's not too much knitting or sewing all in one go. This is working very well, as I managed to knit another 13 squares (2 to complete the 5th row and 11 for the 6th row) in under 2 weeks and spent some of last weekend adding them to the blanket. Since the weekend, I've knit another 6 squares so will soon be able to add on my 7th row of 11 squares to the blanket.

The finished blanket will be 9 squares wide (the 9 rows) and 11 squares long, and I currently have 6 rows of 11 squares all joined in a skinny blanket.

Current status:

72/ 99 squares complete - 27 squares to go!

36/50 x pattern A

36/49 x pattern B

Looking at those numbers I can't believe I've knitted that many squares...I've got it down to about 1 hour 20 minutes per square, so on the knitting alone (ignoring the fact that it used to take me about 1 hour 30 minutes per square in the beginning) I've spent at least 96 hours knitting this blanket so far (that's 4 complete days!!), and have another 36 hours of knitting left to do.

I'm so looking forward to the finished blanket:)

In other news I started a purple afghan with yarn Lewis bought me for Christmas - thankfully it's not made of squares but rather 3 massively long panels to be joined at the end. I'm really enjoying all the cabling as it uses Woven Braid, Trinity Stitch & Saxon Braid. I've done 12/24 pattern repeats on panel A so am more or less 1/6th of the way through this blanket, but am leaving it alone while I power through the rest of the Luna Blanket.

Don't know where all this blanket-making interest has come from, but I'm enjoying at all none-the-less!

My stash & some funny memories

I woke up this morning with the inspiration to dig out all the yarn I have stashed throughout the house and sort through, with the aim to getting
rid of most if not all of the acrylic yarns I have from my early days of knitting. The result is a huge bag full of acrylic yarn to ditch, and a lounge floor covered in beautiful yarns!

This exercise made me realise just how much yarn I have and also how much I had forgotten about totally!

I also came across some of the first things I knit, without patterns I might add, but based on general construction of the glove. Here we have the evolution of the glove, with attempt number 1:

As you can see the thumb went a bit wrong being about half the length it

should be! But this was my first attempt at the age of 9.

Attempt number 2 was the result of half using a pattern and half having no clue how to construct a glove:

Needless to say I didn't bother making a second glove and abandoned this project.

Enter 3rd attempt:

Despite being knit in yarn of the wrong weight, I think they give a reasonable impression of fingerless gloves:)

Squares, squares and more squares - ooh new yarn!!

Today was the Knitting & Stitching Show at Ally Pally, and for the first time in 3 years I managed to get there 30min before it started and was the first one through the door! I went straight to my favourite stall The Black Sheep, and set to rummaging through the multitude of packs of yarn, ended up buying 3 packs all at least half price to RRP:) Then I wandered around a bit and bought a few more skeins of beautiful sock yarn from Colinette, Yarns of Distinction and Araucania. Buy this point it was only 10:30am and I was already through my entire yarn budget. The place had started to really fill up by then so I headed for home with my bag of loot:)

The only problem with going to knitting shows is the overwhelming urge to buy yarn that you don't really need for a start, and second the overwhelming urge to abandon all current projects in favour of starting a much more exciting brand new project with the new yarn you've just bought! As you know I am in the midst of creating the Luna Blanket, constructed from 99 individually knit squares and have only recently passed the halfway point after more than 3 month's concentrated knitting almost solely on this project. I say almost because I got distracted by the socks I was making for Lewis (which I am currently wearing, with his permission of course!), but am now back in full swing with the blanket. I have just finished weaving in all the ends of the completed squares, which I had neglectfully forgotten about until I realised how many messy squares I had compared to the nice neat ones ready for blocking.

The plan tomorrow is to start blocking the squares methodically so I can make sure they are all blocked to the same dimensions, making for easier blanket construction later on. I also think that as I have made more than half the squares, it would probably motivate my to finishing if I actually started putting some of the squares together. Currently it feels like I've made a thousand of those pesky squares and that this project will never end. I never realised how much a boring project can ruin your enthusiasm for knitting, hence the involvement in between of other much more interesting projects. One of these interesting projects is the red cardigan/ jacket thing I'm making for my mum, but I have discovered something even more soul destroying than knitting all those squares: knitting a belt to go with the jacket. It is only 12 stitches wide and 72" long (or is supposed to end up that long), but do you know how long that is?? It's as long as I am tall! So I have taken to conducting this mindless knitting while watching the rugby in an attempt to just get it over and done with.

The desire to start a new project with my new yarn is pretty strong, but then I feel a bit guilty over the other unfinished projects I started at least 3 years ago, namely a pink camisole top in Australian Pear Tree yarn, a pair of stockings made from Lorna's Laces, 3 skeins of which I had to buy from a lady in USA just to get more of the same dye lot to finish the project, and a lace weight scarf using some expensive silk/ merino Sundara yarn I won in a competition (which was abandoned due to the similar tedium of trying to complete such a mundane thing as a scarf).

I know it will all be worth it in the end once I finish each of these, I just need the motivation to finish those projects (and also to not buy any more yarn for a while, that might help!).

Wish me luck!!

50 squares complete!

27 chart A
23 chart B

I haven't been keeping up with weaving in the ends so about half are still unwoven but am very happy to be at the halfway point:):):)

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Record Best: 1 sock 1 week

Ok, so I've become a little distracted while aiming to complete the Luna Blanket by the time I finish at Double Helix, as I started a 2nd pair of Monkey socks for Lewis, a while back, and have recently picked them up again. The reason I gave up on them for a bit is because this is the first pair of socks I'm making using invisible nylon thread alongside the yarn at the heels and toes. This is because every pair of socks I've made (this is pair #5) has developed holes in those places and I basically have no motivation left to mend things I've knitted. The only problem is, as it comes off a tiny spool it helps twist up the yarn at super speed making knitting in the round somewhat laborious, forever having to hold up your sock and let it unwind. This is particularly inconvenient for me as I knit on the train, and it looks like your holding up your work to present to people.

So, this post is in honour of the fastest I've ever completed a single sock - 1 week! At full speed it was normally taking me 2 weeks to finish a sock, but as this is the 2nd pair of the same pattern, it all went pretty fast, even with having to use the stupid nylon thread.

Now the socks are finished (bar Kitchener stitching the toe together) I will resume work at full speed on the Luna Blanket. With less than 3 weeks left at Double Helix, it looks like my target will not be reached, but I'm halfway through so that's pretty good in my books:)

x

Square no.40!

I just completed my 40th square in the park this morning! Woop woop! That's 20 of pattern A and 20 of pattern B:)

Got 2 whole squares done on the drive u and back (don't worry I wasn't the one driving!) from Witney to see my cousin and his beautiful new wife get married-a lovely wedding and great to be a part of.

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On a roll with pattern B!

Pattern A: 17 squares
Pattern B: 18 squares
Total: 35 squares complete, 64 to go!

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