Bunny Wishes Sweater - Cast On!

Once I had finished my Seascair Cushions and Blanket I swatched for the Bunny Wishes Sweater, and cast on last Sunday.  This is one of the projects for the Fleece & Harmony Canadian Collaboration series.  There will be four this year.  The designer is Canadian, the yarn is Canadian, and if you get in on the kits, you get a Firefly Notions set of stitch markers in a matching tin, and she is also Canadian.

The designer is Sarah L. Kelly of Grey Owl Knits and I just love her color work patterns.  I have several in my library, but this is the first one that I have knit.  The yarn is Wildwinds and it is absolutely lovely to work with.

I really do enjoy color work knitting, there is something addictive about it, but it does require my attention - it is definitely not mindless television knitting.  Still, I’m making pretty good progress.

The pattern is extremely well written, with instructions for all the techniques used as well as links to videos, and color as well as black and white charts.  I’m using colors that are very close to the original design, so I’m using the color charts.  I have everything set up in my knitCompanion.  There is short row shaping at the back of the neck for a better fit.  The pattern calls for wrap and turn, but I used German short rows, my preferred method, and did an extra round after resolving all the double stitches before starting the color work.

I am almost done with the increases on the yoke.

Pattern:  Bunny Wishes Sweater by Sarah L. Kelly

Yarn:  Fleece & Harmony Wildwinds 

Needles:  US 2 (2.75 mm, for collar and cuffs), US 2.5 (3.0 mm)

Simplified Seascair Blanket - Finished!

I finished up the I-cord bind-off last night and wove in the last of my ends and it is all done!  I love how it came out and I used up most of the yarn that came in this club.

This is all that I have left.  I started this blanket back in May of 2021, and it is very nice to finally get it finished.  Now I can go set up the Bunny Wishes Sweater in knitCompanion and cast on!

Pattern:  Seascair Blanket by Carol Feller

Yarn:  Blasta

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Simplified Seascair Blanket - Edging Done!

I finished up the edging this morning while watching the latest Fleece & Harmony Woolcast, and immediately started working the blue mitered square corners.  That was a little bit fiddly, what with the extra needles poking out from the edges, but it wasn’t too bad.

Jezebel immediately laid down on the blanket when I laid it out.  I am very happy with how this is all turning out.  Now I just need to work the I-cord bind-off and it will be done and I can cast on something new.

Pattern:  Seascair Blanket by Carol Feller

Yarn:  Blasta

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Simplified Seascair Blanket Border - Two Edges Done!

When I was pondering how I wanted to work the border on the blanket my first thought was to mimic the border on the cushion covers, I did the math and figured out how many rows of the Marl I could work and how many rows of the Mustard I could work, but when I started picking up stitches around the edge I decided that I really didn’t want to work those long rounds on multiple needles.  So, I ripped out what I had picked up and decided to go with something simpler.  Based upon my yarn amounts I knew that I would have to use the Marl yarn for the shorter edges, and based upon my yarn usage it looked like I could get 14 rows on each edge.  Perfect!  It would match what I had done on the cushions at least in that respect.  My original plan for the Mustard was to pick up stitches along the edge of the Marl, but as I was working the Marl it occurred to me that I might have enough of the blue to work a mitered square in each corner.  I did some quick math and determined that I could do that, so that is the plan.  I’ll pick up along the long edges with the Mustard and work 14 rows on each edge.  I’m leaving all the stitches live because when I am all done working the edges and the mitered corner squares I will pick up stitches along the mitered corner square edges (using the yarn tails from the borders) and work an I-cord bind-off with the Mustard.

Jezebel is performing her inspection of the blanket, as is her right and duty.

Pattern:  Seascair Blanket (Simplified) by Carol Feller

Yarn:  Blasta

Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Seascair Cushions - Done!

I used up all of the gray yarn working the 14 rounds on each of the four squares that I had knit - but no real yarn chicken worries.  Working the I-cord, 3-needle bind-off on the second cushion didn’t take long at all.  Getting the zippers in was a bit fiddly.  I put the pillow forms in, and pinned the zippers into place, then I pulled the pillow forms out and basted the zippers into place by hand.  Then I back-stitched the zippers, also by hand.  I tried using the sewing machine but didn’t get very far at all (thankfully) before realizing that was not going to work.  Picking out what I had done was a pain, but I managed it without damaging anything.

Now that the cushions are done I can finish up the edging on the blanket.  I ended up with 16-inch pillows - the pattern called for a single 18-inch pillow.  I couldn’t find any instructions for the I-cord, 3-needle bind-off, so the way I ended up working it was:  cast on the 3 stitches using a long-tail cast on, work one round (because I was starting at a corner), then start working the bind-off:  knit two stitches of the I-cord, slip the third, knit two stitches together from the two pillow covers (the bind-off part), pass the slipped I-cord stitch over the new stitch.  When I got to the side that was going to have the zipper I did the standard I-cord bind-off on one cushion cover, joined the beginning and ending of the I-cord using the tail from the cast-on, and used the still attached yarn to work a normal bind-off of on the other the cushion cover.  They came out great - very cushy.

Pattern:  Seascair Cushion Cover by Carol Feller

Yarn:  Blasta

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Seascair Cushion Covers - Four Squares Done!

All four squares are done and blocked.  Once all four squares were done, I grabbed my 40” circulars and picked up stitches around the Marled square.  It didn’t take me long to work the 14 rounds that I had determined would give me enough yarn for two pillows.  My yarn estimate was pretty good.  Next I worked the border around one of the Mustard squares, and then I started joining them with an I-Cord three-needle bind-off using leftover Marl yarn.  And now I have one cushion cover almost complete.

The pattern has you work two rounds of unattached I-cord at the corner before working the corner stitch, but I split that up around the corner stitch, working one unattached round before and one after.  I think it works better.  When I got to the fourth side I only did the I-cord bind off on one square, and did a regular bind off on the other square and I’m going to put in a zipper so I can take the covers off the pillows if I need to.  I’ve ordered the pillow forms and invisible zippers and will get them on Monday.  I’ve already started working the border on the second Mustard square.

Pattern:  Seascair Cushion Cover by Carol Feller

Yarn:  Blasta

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Seascair Cushion Covers - Three Squares Done!

I’ve finished up three squares, both of the yellow squares, and the blue square, and will be casting on the marled square today.  I estimated my yarn usage for each of the larger squares (by color) based upon my yarn usage for the smaller squares used in the blanket and my estimates have been pretty good.  I also have done an estimate for the border of each square, and it looks like I can do 14 rounds of the gray around each square instead of the 26 rounds that the pattern called for.  If I were only making a single pillow, which is what the club pattern calls for, I would have had enough yarn to do all 26 rounds, even with all of my skeins being short of the weight on the yarn label.  The pattern does not indicate how big the squares should block out to but I’ve blocked them to 13” by 13” just based upon the size unblocked, mostly going by the diagonal.  With the gray border the squares will probably come out to about 14” square.

Pattern:  Seascair Cushion Cover by Carol Feller

Yarn:  Blasta

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Seascair Cushion Cover - Cast On!

Sunday night we watched football, so I cast on one of the Seascair cushions.  I can knit this without looking at it (too much) unlike the joining, which absolutely required my focused attention.  I have four skeins left, well not quite four skeins, as they were all underweight, and I had to use some of the blue skein to finish joining all of the squares.

I will knit one square from each of the skeins, and use the leftovers to finish the cushions - starting with the gray leftovers from the blanket.

Pattern:  Seascair Cushion Cover by Carol Feller

Yarn:  Blasta

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Simplified Seascair Blanket - Blocks Done and Assembled!

This past Saturday I finished the last two blocks and blocked them.  I laid out the remaining blocks Saturday evening and started the assembly.  First you join the blocks into the columns, and then you join the columns, all of the joins are three needle bind-off, so pick up stitches and then bind them off.  For the columns you pick up along the edge of one block and then continue to pick up along the edge of the next, using the same needle and yarn.  I used a 32” circular needle for that, and had to pull a loop out where the two blocks met, but it worked great.  For joining the columns I had to use to two 40” circular needles, picking up the stitches of each column to join on one of the needles.  When joining the columns I did columns 1 and 2, and then 3 and 4, and then did the middle seam so that I always had the same amount of fabric on each needle.  The joining took 39 grams of yarn.  So far the blanket has taken 789 grams.  One thing I noted was that none of my skeins were the full 100 grams.  They were all underweight.

I have also sewn in most of my ends.  I left all the ends on the edges of the blanket because I am planning on working a border with whatever yarn I have left after working two cushions.  There is a matching cushion pattern that was part of the club, and I will be using that pattern.

Pattern:  Seascair Blanket by Carol Feller (mitered squares only)

Yarn:  Blasta

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Simplified Seascair Blanket - Eighteen Blocks Done!

I have been working pretty consistently on my mitered squares and have completed eighteen.  I also started blocking them this past week.  I’ve been blocking four a day, until today, because I only had two completed that had not been blocked.  I’m working the last two blocks for the blanket.

I have been weighing everything to determine how much yarn I will have left over after completing the blanket - less whatever I use to join all the squares together.  The pattern has you pick up stitches and join blocks using three-needle bind-off.  I have a spreadsheet with stitch count and yarn usage so I can figure out how big I can make the pillows to use up the rest of the yarn.

I have my bag of leftovers from the blocks that I’ve already knit.  And the four full skeins all caked up.

Pattern:  Seascair Blanket by Carol Feller (mitered squares only)

Yarn:  Blasta

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Simplified Seascair Blanket

Back in 2021 I joined Carol Feller’s Celtic Knit Club 2021.  It was during the COVID pandemic and I was working full time from home.  The club came with all of the yarn that you see above and four patterns, a blanket, a hat, a cowl, and mittens.  All of the projects were made from the same yarn - Blasta - a worsted weight yarn that is 60% Fine Irish Wool and 40% New Zealand Wool, and has 232 yards per 100 grams.  I started working on the blanket on May 10, 2021.  By June 10, 2021 I had two mitered squares.

The next update came on March 26, 2022, at which point I had five squares (you get two squares out of a skein).

The next update came a little quicker - on April 13, 2022, with six squares (finishing out the first three skeins).

With eight squares done by June 12, 2022.

And ten squares done by June 19, 2022.

And all fourteen squares done by September 5, 2022.  All of that 2022 progress actually came when I was back on-site and in the office at least three days a week because they made such good work knitting.

And then I got to the patterned squares that go in the center of the blanket, which is where I stalled out.  They just were not fun to knit.  The dark blue made seeing the pattern stitches difficult, and the cables in the yellow were just a pain to work.  At this point in my life I don’t have to do anything that I don’t enjoy (the perks of being retired), which brings us to the picture at the top.  After finishing up the Fika Shawl I was thinking about what to work on next, whether to cast on something new or work on finishing up one of my languishing works in progress.  I pulled out the two partially finished squares and pulled the pattern up on knitCompanion.  I knew that I did not want to keep working the patterned squares, and looking at the other projects in the club I realized that they used the same stitch patterns, so what was I going to do with all of that yarn?  I like the mitered squares, and they are fun to knit, and quick to work up, so I decided to just make mitered squares and when I have them all done I will assemble them however I want.  I’m thinking a blanket, and maybe a couple of pillows.

So I frogged the two partially finished squares and started knitting a mitered square with the yellow yarn.  To reclaim the kinky yarn I ran it through the steam from my tea kettle.  It worked a treat and didn’t take long at all.

Pattern:  Mitered squares from the Seascair Blanket by Carol Feller

Yarn:  Blasta

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Fika Shawl - Finished!

Once I got into the groove of the pattern this worked up fairly quickly.  The only real set back was when I was blithely working the cable crosses and forgot to switch the direction on the second half of the shawl and didn’t realize my mistake until I had worked the wrong side row, and had to tink back a row and a half to fix them.  There was at least one other time when I started to do that on the second half but caught myself after the first one.  Other than that it was pretty smooth sailing, I even remembered all of the increases on the right side.  I did check my stitch count on a regular but not overly frequent basis to make sure I hadn’t inadvertently missed an increase.  The shawl ends with 1x1 ribbing, and the pattern says to work the ribbing until you have about 8 grams left and then bind off in pattern.  I quit a few grams earlier than that and cast off this past Wednesday evening and blocked it Thursday morning.

Blocking was pretty easy, although I didn’t force a straight line across the top.  That does mean you end up with a little fold at the back of the neck when you wear it, and really, this is more of a shawlette than a shawl.  I haven’t decided if I want to seam part of the front edges together and turn it into a cowl, or if I want to add some I-cord ties to the wing tips so I can tie them behind my back and wear it as a shrug.  It is very pretty, and very soft, with nice drape.

Pattern:  Fika Shawl by Inge-Lis Holst

Yarn:  Onling No. 4

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Fika Shawl - Two and a half Sections Done!

Having finished my Floret socks I have been focusing on my Fika Shawl.  I made a spreadsheet to keep track of stitch counts and yarn usage so I can use as much of my yarn as possible.  The shawl pattern itself is very simple, so once it is established I don’t need to refer to the pattern instructions, all the important pieces of information are on my spreadsheet.  I have become more of a monogamous knitter since my retirement.

Pattern:  Fika Shawl by Inge-Lis Holst

Yarn:  Onling No. 4

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)