Premature casting off

is what I did this week, cast off before I should, and only because I didn't think things thru, I've also dug out an unfinished project and made progress. Friday was my last day at work until the 3rd of February - yes 6 weeks off, one week more than the cubs. Of course being work, and as we are moving into a new office in an existing building that is about to be renovated ... I will be back in Monday to help pack up some of the equipment. I will be using most of my leave this summer because I've moved offices 5 times in 10 years, and every time it has been into a space that was renovated for us. I've learned that its best to stay away until the builders and co have stopped making loud noises and the power is on and the IT people have every thing connected. I think that knowing I was about to walk away from work for 6 weeks made me relaxed about my knitting .... which is good until mistakes happen. My good news is that Toby's latest 'lost' sweater came home, finally from camp - and it still fits! That is always a danger with cubs, it seems to only take them a matter of weeks to outgrow some things.


Thursday I knit Spiral Bound sock number two until the leg was as long as the leg on number one, then I worked the few extra rounds where the stitch count is adjusted to fit a 2x2 rib .... and worked the rib and cast off, and woven in all the ends. Only thing is that second sock ended up being a full 1 cm or more longer than the first sock. Turns out that I should have worked the leg of the second sock until it was 5 rounds shorter than the leg of the first sock ... as there are 5 more rounds before the rib starts. Doh! So I've frogged the top of the first sock, seems to make more sense to lengthen the short one than shorten the longer one.




And as it is summer I realize that is the best time to block large blankets. Last time I blocked it outside with tent pegs, and it worked well. To do that again I need to take advantage of the warm sunny weather .. which is now or in the next month or so. To do that I need to finish the blanket. First stage is to piece it together and stitch it together.




I used a more firmly twisted darker grey yarn to stitch it up.The stitch I used to join it is simple whip stitch, just over and over and over, thru both loops of the chain edges.

One done, the blanket sections just ease and fit into each other.Once the seams were done, I wove in all the ends. This yarn is a 6 ply thick yarn, and it made sense to weave them in after the seams were sewn. I split the 6 plies into 2's and sneaked the yarn tails into the garter bumps as neatly as I could.


The next stage is to pick up the loops of the slipped stitches around the edge and work an I-cord edge. I've got matching yarn in natural white to work the edge on this blanket. Last time I did that after it was blocked .... I'm not sure what I'll do this time, depends on the weather really.


And despite the fact that it is 20+ degrees, warm and sunny and we have all the windows open .. I notice the blanket has already been snaffled from the sofa I parked it on to await the edging. Its nice when the stuff I make is liked, really nice.

take care
make sure you have some yarn time, and I highly recommend finished long abandoned WIP's, its like an instant project, a few hours work and then its all done :D
na Stella

Back to the blanket - final touches

So today after waving good bye to BIL and very very loud nephew, well he seemed loud, older than my two and much much more boisterous. I sat down amidst the calm and quiet and lined the baby blanket. Today's post is all about that.


Gillian asked me line the blanket with woven fleecy cotton giving two very sensible reasons. First so the baby would not snag the floats with little sharp newborn fingernails, and second so the blanket would have some grip and not slide off in the wee small hours of the night. A real pro at mother-hood I suspect. I realise that my elaborate finishing of the steek is now hidden - but still have not come up with any nicer solution. I could have bound the blanket with the fleecy cotton, but it would have been bulky and probably suffered from 'differential shrinkage'* between the cotton and the wool and puckered.
I cut a lining in fleecy brushed cotton, about 6 cm larger than the fair isle centre section of the blanket. Then I pressed under just over a cm to neaten the edges and than about a 4 hem to make the lining sized to sit inside the ridge of the blanket edgeing. I mitred the corners and machine stitched the hem in place close to the fold line.



I pinned the blanket together at the corners, and evened out any extra length along the edges with pins. I suspect the edges have stretched somewhat with working the facing. Then I used a double strand of machine stitching thread, and mattress stitch or ladder stitched the lining to the 'bump' of the facing edge. A gentle tug and it pulled neatly into place. I used quite long stitches, as I wanted to keep the blanket edge flexible not pulled tight and stiff.







I pinned and worked each edge in turn, until meeting back up at the beginning. When finished you can just see the stitches, so the lining could be removed once the baby has grown. It does make the blanket almost quilted, much thicker and warmer. I have toyed with using a few lazy daisy stitches in the left over yarn to secure the backing to the blanket - but do worry they will snag the yarn floats.















and I just have to celebrate the i-cord edging with you, it works so well, such a resolved finish. I am very happy to know about that technique.



and here is a view of the right side and 'other' side corner - there is no way I could call this the wrong side. Delivery to Gillian is August 9-11th some time, and Baby is expected a week or so latter. I hemmed the left over fleecy cotton to make a matching wrap/sheet/spill cloth. You can never have to many of those when babies are about.


*Thats my textile scientist side showing - in the use of terms such as 'differential shrinkage'.

Repeat 72 times

Take plain fish, align it with one of a more colourful nature and stitch carefully together thus. Weave in any ends and repeat . . . . . . . oh . . . . . . . . . around 72 times.



One small - blankie, soft, so soft, but mighty mighlty small for all that effort. Fish are twice as long as wide, so to get this square blankie it took 12 fish by 6 fish. Images of the plan, the wrong side, the right side and the finished blanket.



Dawns a realisation that I like many before me, did not really comprehend the scope of the undertaking. to function as a blanket - of any useful size at least 288 fish are required in sock yarn.



Put aside as an ongoing project, to mop up left over sock yarn, some things can't be hurried.




Next post, finished baby surprise jacket, and the start of a new colour work cardigan for me, me, me.

sewing together the fish, and book club

So quick post today, book club tomorrow night which is blog night, and lots of nights out this week. More on that latter. Book club, I have been a member for over 2 years now, but never record the books i have read, this months was harrowing. Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse, a tale of the health aftermath of hiroshima experienced by one man and his neice. Interesting, and very sobering, and worthwile but not a fun read. It is a book club where we buy into a larger organisation the WEA (workers education association started way back in the wee small years of the 1900's), they select for us, and we have a history of getting really sobering books, and some that were just horrific "the corrections" springs to mind. Still we eat nibbles, we compare childrens progress, most are ex nurses, while I am not, so I have learned lots, most are mums, but some are not, and we admire food, houses, haircuts and clothes, and cheer up those who loose boyfriends, jobs, and miss out on things they wanted.

I have not made any moves on unpicking powder blue and most unflattering cabled zippie long line cardie in the world, but I will after this week and weekends round of work events, including a preview and opening of our new building. but I did take a few moments last weekend to stitch together two fish, before frogging the stitching and washing them/blocking them. I scanned these, the camera still being in the wrong location.

Right side shows the fish right side up, left side shows the 'underside' or belly of the fish. the top pair are stitched from the underside, picking up the lower loop of the chain edge, the bottom pair stitched from the right side, picking up the top loop of the chain edge. Easy, and so neat. I just need to decide if i like the rustic stitches showing look, or the stitches on the underside. I was very very happy with how neat it all turned out. Works for me. Will try and post step by step instructions of how I did that after next weekend.


Oh, and the fish count is still 66