Finished Log Cabin Blanket (Adriana)

Thanks so much for all your kind words on my Gallery Jacket. Unfortunately I left the sweater at my parents' so I haven't gotten much use out of it yet. I'll get it back next week.

While I was home I was finally able to get some pictures of the finished log cabin blanket. It's really hard to photograph an entire blanket.

With flash so it's a little brighter than in real life.


See how much my mom loves it :)

I'll have more pictures after my mini-Christmas party with Heather, Mike and Sam tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you guys!

Square #12! (Adriana)

Here it is, the final square of the log cabin blanket:



Not only that but I'm halfway through seaming the blanket! I can't believe that my log cabining days are over and that this project is almost complete. I'm going to hold off on posting pictures of the finished blanket until I give it to my mom on Friday. I just can't wait! I love gifting my handknits, especially to people who love and appreciate them.

I've been feeling a bit of knitting ennui these days. Usually I can't wait to get through one project to jump into the next one. I do have Granny's socks to knit but those certainly don't inspire me. Since it's supposed to be getting cold out (one of these days. I can't believe how hot it was yesterday) I decided that a sweater is in order. One thing I was looking at led me to another and the next thing you know I've found a pattern which excited me: Chick Knits Ribby Pulli (I like the scoop-neck version). I think I'll use my red Mission Falls 1824 Wool with black cuffs.
It's nice to feel excited about knitting stuff again (I hate when I lose my knitting mojo). Now if only I could make myself feel excited about my homework :)

Feelin' Square (Adriana)

Thanks for all the comments on my Granite Shawlette. I've been wearing it every day and I love it! My mom has a picture of me wearing it to the show last week but I keep forgetting to get her to email it to me. Until then I thought I'd show off the latest log cabin squares.

Over the past few months I've been working on this project off and on. When I finished the shawlette I realized that I just needed to knit 3 more squares to have the blanket done. With that as my incentive I have been monogamous to this project and I am now on the last square. The goal is to finish it this weekend and seam the blanket next week so my mom can take it home after her visit on October 26th.


Block 7


Block 8 (knit during my first week back at school)


Block 9


Block 10 (started during the bus ride to and from the Drowsy Chaperone)


Block 11 (finished last night while watching Ugly Betty and Grey's with my classmates (the lemon margarita I had does not appear to have affected the knitting :P))

I am currently halfway through the centre square of the last one. Hopefully I won't let my heavy homework load interfere with finishing off this project :)

Happy Friday!

Anatomy of a Log Cabin Square (Adriana)

It’s almost the long weekend (yay!) and I’m doing something exciting this year. Pete and I are heading up to the wilds of cottage country to hike and swim, and visit Gen (also so Pete can have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch a play take place at dawn on a lake, but I’ll be happy sleeping through that). As I was packing I had to make the most important of packing decisions: what knitting to bring. I finished the first Pomatomus sock but I didn’t want to be playing with charts on the drive (although miraculously I do have the pattern mostly memorized). I decided to take the drop stitch lace tank which should keep me busy but, as every knitter knows, you don’t want to run out of yarn or hit an impasse on a trip and not have a back up project. I grabbed the 7th Log Cabin Square to take with me (since fall is around the corner and one of these days my mom will be wanting her blanket). While doing so I realized that I had totally forgotten to blog about the 6th square.
This is the square that I was working on during the craziness of the Fringe show. As such, I have documented the growth of it during that time.


The square in all its glory

1) backstage of 1st performance
2) rehearsing a particularly tricky scene (the confrontation, for those who've seen it)
3) 2nd performance & 3rd performance
4) chilling on my evening off
5-6) visiting with Jane and Dave after the 4th performance
7) Going to and from a friend's Fringe show
8) The evening after the 5th performance (after everyone had come, eaten ribs and left)
9) Relaxing in front of the tv after everything was done

And that’s the anatomy of a log cabin square :)
I hope everyone has a fantastic and relaxing long weekend!

Block 5 (Adriana)

I've got a lot of projects on the go right now which doesn't make for good blogging. But I did finish the 5th square!

I didn't like this one when I just had the centre but now I really like it!

I've been working away on Ev's Birthday Bolero but progress has stalled. I have the sleeves left to knit but I'm missing the measurements for Ev's forearms. Here's what I've done so far.

The short-row collar took a lot of time and a lot of yarn but it was fun :)

What else have I been working on you might ask? Here's a hint.

Yes my friends, there has been sewing but it doesn't make for good blogging so I will wait until there's a FO to show off.

Spillyjane recently came to me with a problem; she is running low of sock yarn! Being the good friend that I am, I dug through my sock yarn stash and came up with two hanks of my handdyed yarn which had been languishing in the drawer. I'm happy to pass these off to someone who will actually knit with them.

Enjoy the yarn, Spilly! I can't wait to see what you make :)

And just for fun

Look, it's Cleo!

Blocks 3 & 4 (Adriana)

I hope that everyone had a lovely long weekend. Mine was super-fantastic! We celebrated my granny's 90th birthday with just her immediate family, which totalled 16 people. There was great company, excellent food and I even got some knitting done. But I'm getting ahead of myself.





This is block #3 which I didn't like very much but now it's growing on me. I tried to force the colours by breaking the yarn and jumping around, which I have decided I shouldn't do. I need to trust that the square will look great without my influence.





Block #4 is destined to be my favourite. You see, I cast on Saturday afternoon, while visiting with some relatives at Granny's home. I knit away and ended up casting off right before saying goodbye to everyone at the end of the party. My family is so terrific. They were really interested in my knitting and they kept asking me questions (they were particularly curious about spit-splicing). They were very excited when I finished the square before the end of the evening.

I forced the colours on this one just a little because I had some extra green from a different ball kicking around. I think it's stunning and will have to have a place of honour in the blanket.



Granny's socks were a big hit and I have pictures of her wearing them but they are trapped on mom's camera. I will try to get my hands on them soon.

Blocks 1 & 2 (Adriana)

Apologies for the lack of updating recently. Heather and I are both working full time right now which leaves less time for knitting (at least for Heather who has an hour commute each way) and less time for blogging.

I have still been knitting like a fiend. I'm done the back and both fronts of the birthday bolero. I need to do some finagling for the sleeves so it's been put on hold until I can measure the recipient's forearms.

This has given me some time to work on mom's log cabin blanket. I enjoy before and after shots so bear with me.

This yarn has become this:

And this:


That's right, two squares are done! I'm 1/6th of the way through a blanket!

Here they are together.

I had my doubts about the colour combo when my mom picked it out but I should have trusted her colour sense (since she is an artist and all) because it looks fantastic!!
Here are some details about the planned blanket: each "square" is 14" by 15" and I'm making 12 of them which should result in a blanket which is 56" by 45". I think that will be the perfect size for a couch blanket.
Log cabining is really addictive. Each strip goes by so quickly that you just want to do another and another and another! This project has definitely replaced socks as my mindless knitting... at least for now :)

Also, I may have fallen in a fabric store and when I got up I'd accumulated this:

Top from left to right we have: big ruler, bias tape, zipper, thread, 25th anniversary edition rotary cutter
Bottom: yellow scissors (when I was little the yellow scissors were the fabric ones), fabric for this dress, fusible.

I'm totally psyched to start working on my dress but I will be a good girl and finish my outstanding projects first, namely the bolero and my quilted cushion.

Mail Day! (Adriana)

It was a big day at the post office for me yesterday.

This may look like a huge haul but, actually, none of it is for me.

I really enjoy knitting for loved ones and so I wanted to make something for my friend Ev. But as much as I love surprising people with knitted goods, sometimes it’s worth ruining the surprise to make sure that they have something they like and will wear. For her birthday Ev is getting a bolero made from a pattern and yarn of her choosing.

This is Wool of the Andes Bulky in Emerald, coincidentally the same yarn I used to make a cardigan last fall so I was able to use the remaining two balls.
The white yarn in front is for the sock dyeing challenge created by Rosemary for herself, Heather and I. There will be more about this once it gets off the ground.

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. My mom and I both fell in love with Heather’s log cabin blanket in progress, and we agreed that a new house warrants a new blanket. My mom picked out the yarn and paid for it, and I get the fun of knitting it! I love this kind of deal.


This is Noro Kureyon 92 and Peruvian Wool Antique Rose. (12 balls of Kureyon are hard to find; I devoted an entire morning to the task.)

I had my doubts initially about the colour combination but now that I see them together I think they are stunning! I’m so psyched to play with the Kureyon. The colour changes makes everything more fun. I can’t wait to start knitting this up but unfortunately I can’t cast on right away. I need to wait until the arrival of the lovely Lady Genevieve on Friday evening with my 5.5mm Addi needle. Gen is set to arrive around 9pm so I plan on casting on at 9:10pm (I’ve allotted 10 minutes to hug and squeal and get her set up in the guest room. Then we knit).

Lately my thoughts have been drifting towards sewing projects but now it’s time to concentrate on knitting. I need to have the socks done by May 20th, the bolero by June 16th and the blanket by the time it gets cold outside (ok, so maybe that’s not much of a deadline but I would like to have the first two done to show my mom on May 20th which shouldn’t be a problem).

Visual Aids (Heather)

It was a weekend of good photo ops.

We took a trip up North to help a friend move. The upside was that we stayed at the friend's cottage! It was perfect weather: snowy, but clear for both drives.



I have to confess, I had no part in the creation of this snow-wedge-person... I watched from the comfort of a comfy couch beside a crackling fire.

Speaking of which, I finished the third square of the log cabin blanket.



I am planning on formulating some fantastic blocking plan which will miraculously shape each square to the perfect size...

My feet couldn't wait any longer for some trekking socks of their very own, so I cast on a new subway sock.



The knitpicks needles failed me again on the second row. I guess I will have to break down and email them. I hate having to complain, but I really do think they should know. And it isn't really fair to complain about the needles and give a negative opinion of them when they haven't had a chance to explain or make it right.

Before we left for the weekend, I was bummed about my amarylles blooming while I was gone, so my mom suggested I leave them in a cool dark place while I was gone. I did, and they bloomed in the bathtub instead. It doesn't really help that my apartment is never 'cool' by any stretch of imagination, certainly not by my mom's standards (hi mom!). But I didn't miss much, the blooms were in peak condition today!



In other news, I have been yarn-purchase free since December 31st (except for that one skein to finish Birch). It really isn't easy, there are so many gorgeous yarns out there! And sales! And new must-haves!! It has maybe brought some focus to my yarn lust, though. If I was to buy one skein of yarn right now, it would be Fleece Artist Sea Wool. I went to Lettuce Knit on a mission for Adriana and was therefore able to drool in its presence. They ordered 300 skeins in anticipation, and judging from the rich colours and the silky hand of the yarn I can't see that being a mistake. The one niggling point of the Sea Wool is the enclosed pattern: Bordello. From the picture on the outside it looks astonishingly like Jaywalker! I can't comment on how close the written patterns are since I was a queen of self-control and managed not to purchase any today. Any input from informed readers??

But if I am on a yarn diet, what the heck was I doing in Lettuce Knits today??

Being the kind and generous soul that she is, Adriana allowed me to live/buy yarn vicariously through her and snap up some Sweet Georgia laceweight on her behalf before it fades into extinction. The colour is Black Orchid, and if possible, it looks even better in person:




The purple is a vivid lavender/periwinkle, and the monochrome gray/white underneath just sets it off perfectly. I took about twenty pictures trying to get the colours just right, and this was the closest I got. I have got to learn to take pictures before dusk starts to fall.

Closeup!



Yum. If I was on a real diet, this yarn would be a triple chocolate cheesecake with raspberry sauce. Or a medium rare steak cooked by a certain friend's dad (he won over a vegetarian!).

Best Laid Plans (Heather)

So. Nothing seems to inspire project monogamy like explicitly stating that I plan on making it a long term work-in-progress.

The yarn supply seems to be holding up very well. I have enough kureyon from the second ball to do the centre of the next square. That means that I can get more than a square a ball... and since I have ten balls total, I might even be able to eke out another row of squares. But let's not get ahead of ourselves!

Two squares down, seven to go. I am starting to think that I should do something really interesting for the centre square. Any suggestions?

In non-knitting and possibly gross news, I whacked myself royally on the edge of my car door while brushing off the car and have the most monstrous and painful bruise about the size of my fist on my arm... I am attending a career workshop in an incredibly hot and stuffy room and now I can't wear short sleeves. I am just going to have to sweat it out, because what can I say about the bruise? I ran into a door?

Past Square One (Heather)

Yesterday I really got my knit on and finished the first square of my long-term log cabin quilt (a la Mason-Dixon Knitting).



It is about 14 inches square, unblocked. This will make for a roughly 45" square quilt if I do nine blocks. I will definitely have enough yarn for 9 blocks because I almost made it through this square using one ball of Noro, and since half the blocks will take less Noro, it should all work out nicely. Not sure I would have enough left over for three more blocks, but anything is possible. Let's see how I am feeling when I get that far. There is certainly enough Selkirk to do another three blocks and even a border. So I'm cruising!

It seems this project might be the answer to my knitting slump: even socks require some thought, but all I have to worry about in knitting these squares is how many garter ridges I've knitted. Even the picking up of stitches is a breeze. And I am (easily amused as it makes me) constantly charmed by the emerging colours of the Kureyon:




Both yarns are about equally rough on the hands, but since I am not intending monogamy to this project, that will be fine with me.

I finished Odessa, and it has a certain papal quality to it. The hat curse lives on! Pictures and a team post to come.

Greetings from the Deep Freeze (Heather)

One subway sock down...



One to go...


(chapstick included for scale)

I am chronically worried about running out of yarn, and when you are dealing with socks of epic proportions, one perhaps has a valid reason to worry. If the proprietors of my local post office weren't so grumpy, I would ask them to weigh the remaining yarn for me, but as it is, I think I will just play it by ear.

You guys brought up some important things to consider with the log cabin blanket... I will have to ponder further. I didn't really expect such support for option #2! Portability is not crucial to this project, but it would make it more convenient.

Gen asked about the tidiness of my seams: I am twisting each picked-up stitch by knitting through the back of the loop, and I am really happy with how tight a seam this produces. I don't know if this is recommended, but since I am a loose knitter, I think it really improves the look of my squares. Also, I am using wool, not cotton, which has a very forgiving amount of elasticity.

Any suggestions for her on picking up stitches more neatly?

Now, to cast on for the second sock before I get distracted...

Log Jam (Heather)

First off, proof that I imanaged to block the Donegal hat yesterday. It is missing this morning, so I imagine it was carried off to brave the chills of downtown Toronto.



I knit it with one full skein of Debbie Bliss Donegal Chunky Tweed, I knit it top down, using this pattern and cast off when I thought I was going to run out. Since I was left with about a metre, I can say that this worked very well. Also, since this hat was 24 inches in circumference, and with brim unfolded can cover the nose, I can say with fair authority that there is enough yarn in one skein for any human-sized hat. I also knit it at a tighter gauge for extra warmth, so the result is a nice and sturdy hat that can stand up to our delayed but now vigorous winter.

Now, on to the crux of the post!

Since I seem unable to knit with only one thing on the needles, I had a bit of startitis the other day. Long meaning to knit a log cabin blanket, and inspired by a friend's start, I got busy and knit a square. Then I knit some more, and so on...



As I got to this point, I stopped and pondered. I have a bag of Noro Kureyon that was earmarked for this adventure, you see it in the middle. I wanted a blanket with potential to be as big as I wanted, so I decided to add a contrasting plain colour, cue some Ram Wools Selkirk: certainly not the softest yarn out there, but neither is Kureyon, and they are nearly identical in weight.

My original plan was something that looked like this:



The swampy-brown representing the Kureyon, of course... it will move from bright pink to electric teal, etc. This option has the benefit of having no finite end, therefore I can stop when I run out. I have enough extra selkirk to make a border of my choice.

Of course, a quilt would be lovely... cue option 2!



This would be stunning, no? But there is a finite end to this quilt, and knowing my luck, that end would come just after I run out of Kureyon...

Option 3:



I was too lazy to make a brand new template, so you will have to extrapolate for yourself. I haven't seen one done like this, but maybe there is a reason? Maybe this blanket would be unbalanced? This one of course ends when you want it to, so no yarn shortage looming here.

This is going to be a long-term need-some-boring-garter-stitch project, no deadlines.

Any ideas? I can't promise I will stick to your advice, but I would sure like to hear what you think!