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)

Seascair Blanket - Fourteen Squares Done

I also finished up all of the easy squares for my Seascair blanket, so now I just have the patterned squares left to do.  But now I need an easy knitting project for my work bag.  I do have two partial squares on the needles.  I have been carrying the yellow one in my work bag.  It isn’t completely mindless knitting, but can be worked during meetings.

Pattern:  Seascair Blanket by Carol Feller

Yarn:  Stolen Stitches Blasta

Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Seascair Blanket - Ten Squares Done

I am still making progress on my mindless work knitting, and have completed ten of the gray squares.  I have four more squares to go.  I have the next skein caked up and cast on and have made progress on square eleven.  And yes, I do pull this out during meetings, even when I am in the office.  I remember years ago pulling my knitting out during a two week class, and one of the instructors wanted to call me out for it, but the other instructor told him it was fine.  Turned out that he was a crocheter and understood how knitting or crocheting something simple helps keep you focused.  I also used to knit during my seminar classes in graduate school.

Pattern:  Seascair Blanket by Carol Feller

Yarn:  Stolen Stitches Blasta

Needles:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

 

Seascair Blanket - Five Squares Done

As of March 1 I now have to go into the office at least 3 days a week.  After almost two years (my last day in the office was March 20, 2020) of working from home this has taken a bit of a readjustment.  But one thing has not changed, the need for mindless knitting while in meetings or reading documents.  Fortunately I had this project languishing in my pile of UFOs and it is definitely mindless.  This was part of the 2021 Celtic Knit Club by Carol Feller of Stolen Stitches.  It even comes with its own project bag.  These squares make up the border, I have 5 finished, only 9 more to go, and then I get to work on the fun squares, which may not always constitute mindless knitting.

The biggest readjustment is just dealing with people face to face.  While I recognize the value of face to face interactions, as an introvert it is very tiring for me, which is one reason I have not been blogging much this month.  That was the really nice thing about telework.  Not only was I more efficient because I had fewer interruptions, but I also had more energy.  It was also so much easier to adjust my work schedule to accommodate pop-up situations - taking a break during the day if I knew I had a meeting that was going to run late, for example.  And frankly I think moving protoplasm from point A to point B for very little reason is a waste of time and energy, even if my commute is only 5 miles.  Ah well, the past two years have definitely spoiled me.  The readjustment continues.

Pattern:  Seascair Blanket by Carol Feller

Yarn:  Stolen Stitches ‘Blasta”

Needles:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Seascair Blanket - Two Squares Done

 

Last year I signed up for Carol Feller’s Celtic Knit Club 2021.  I thought it would be something different to do.  The yarn is Blasta, a worsted weight that is 60% Fine Irish Wool, and 40% New Zealand Wool spun by Donegal Yarns in Donegal Ireland for her club.  It is non-superwash and I’m really starting to like the “old fashioned” yarns.  I think it is easier to knit them to gauge and to knit them evenly because it is sticky.  It seems to naturally knit up at a tighter more even gauge.  I just grabbed the needle size recommended and the squares blocked out to exactly the called for measurements (11 inches square).

I needed some mindless knitting the other day, so I grabbed a cake and cast on.  I have actually knitted all four of these plain squares from the first shipment, but the other two still need to be blocked, and Friday I started the first of the two cabled squares.  This color is Liath.

Pattern:  Seascair Blanket by Carol Feller

Yarn:  Donegal Yarns Blasta

Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)