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)