Category: Crafts

Finished Object – Scrap Blanket

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I present my second finished and washed scrap blanket.

A blanket with diagonal stripes of varying lengths, widths, and colors with a blue and green border laying across the top of a bed.

It’s made of all the unknown scraps from my stash box, so it’s definitely got a few bits that felted slightly in the wash. But not enough to affect it too much. 

A black dachshund puppy laying on the blanket piled up on the bed.

It’s definitely passed the puppy test. In fact, it’s passed the puppy test so well that he’s basically claimed it as a nap spot and I’ve taken to leaving it and most of the rest of my blankets on the floor at the end of my bed as his cozy area.

A ball of triple-stranded yarn with each strand a different color, the outer layer with two shades of pink and black, and inner layers involving blues, purples, yellows, and oranges in addition to the black strand.

Like I said, this was random scraps, so I don’t actually have a lot of precise info, but I can outline the general process. The base is a C2C blanket. I think this is the tutorial I learned from a few years ago, though if it isn’t I still think it’s a good, comprehensive one: C2C blanket blog post tutorial from Sarah Maker. I started in my heavier worsted weight yarns and used the magic knot method to create a ball of yarn to work from and add subsequent balls of yarn created the same way. With my thinner scraps I just used more strands together to get the right thickness. I “measured” by laying it on my bed and working until one side went across the foot of the bed, then turned one corner while lengthening the other side until it was as long as the bed before turning to make the final corner. 

The inner portion of the blanket before the border was added laying on a light wooden floor.

Once the middle had four finished corners, I took apart another C2C blanket that had been abandoned for a very long time because I ran out of the colors and used it to crochet a 6-row border around the outside using a pattern from the Crochet Every Way Stitch Dictionary and making up the corners.
Scrap blankets are my favorite way to use up scraps, especially if you are like me and just have an entire box you need to use up. I just probably would suggest that, unlike me, you wait until the heat wave dies down before you start working on one.

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Finished Object – Trellis Tee 2

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You know what’s really difficult to photograph? Black yarn, almost as difficult as it is to see properly while working with it.

A close up of a white woman’s torso standing in a garden in the sun facing the camera wearing a knit shirt made mostly of black yarn with stripes of brown and blue on the upper third and a skirt with white and black stripes.

But I managed to grab a couple pictures of this finished Trellis Tee by Lauren at Mother of Purl. I actually finished it a few weeks ago, but even though it was my “cooler” version of the previous one I made in acrylic yarn, it was still too hot for the second summer heatwave we’ve been having recently.

A close up of a white woman’s torso standing in a garden in the sun facing away from the camera wearing a knit shirt made mostly of black yarn with stripes of brown and blue on the upper third and a skirt with white and black stripes.

This version is made from Knit Picks Cotlin yarn in varying colors of scraps I had in my basket, hence the stripes near the top working in the brown and blue.

A close up of the top of a knit shirt showing the varying-sized stripes of black, blue, and brown going toward the neckline.

Unfortunately, I didn’t bother to keep any notes of how much of each color I had, so this isn’t a very helpful post in terms of yarn specifics. But what I can be helpful about is that this pattern is wonderfully written in a “recipe style,” meaning you take your measurements, make a swatch, and do a tiny bit of super easy calculator math to get your cast-on number, and then you are set.

A close up of the lace detail panel on the left side of the front in black yarn with a “wheat stalk” pattern.

The one modification I did (aside from the striping) was to work in the round where the pattern normally calls for seaming the sides. That was also necessitated by the fact I was working from scraps, so that I could keep track of where I needed to start adding the other colors. 

I have finished a few more projects, and am slightly motivated to do those write-ups as well, so hopefully a string of finished object Fridays is going to happen over the next few weeks.

Finished Object – Framed Sweater

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I finished this sweater two weeks ago, delivered it to the shop a week and a half ago, and am only just now getting around to writing about it. The good news is, if you are looking to make one for Rhinebeck, you’ve still got 2 months. If you are just here for the mathematical details, it’s at the very end.

The front view of a knit sweater with pink and peach color work on the body and sleeves in a pattern of squares filled with “sunbursts” of alternating colors and purple hem, cuffs, and shoulders.

This is the Framed sweater by Andrea Mowry of Drea Renee Knits, her Rhinebeck sweater release this year. I was asked to knit a sample in Malabrigo Rios for The Altered Stitch, my LYS.

The back view of a knit sweater with pink and peach color work on the body and sleeves in a pattern of squares filled with “sunbursts” of alternating colors and purple hem, cuffs, and shoulders.

Unfortunately, for these pictures, my dress form only went small enough to show this at 0” of ease. Seriously, my dress form literally only went down to 34.5 inches around the chest, which was actually lucky that it fit, just doesn’t show it with appropriate ease as called for in the pattern. But I guess if you like your sweaters with no ease, this demonstrates that for you.

Close up of the inside of the neckline of a pink and peach color work sweater with purple details showing the floats and pickup edge.

As cool as the outside looks, I almost love the inside more. Though its resemblance to a Good Humor strawberry shortcake bar often made me hungry while working on it. One tip I will give for this neckline (and really any neckline where you cast off while working shaping/shoulders), use Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off even though you will be binding off in knit stitches only. Keeps you from having a neckline that doesn’t fit over your head.

A finished knit sweater with pink and peach color work on the body and sleeves in a pattern of squares filled with “sunbursts” of alternating colors and purple hem, cuffs, and shoulders laying flat on a light wooden floor.

Now for the details in one convenient place:

Size made: Size 1, finished chest measurement 34.5 inch circumference

Needles used: US 5 (3.7 mm) for ribbing, US 7 (4.5mm) for body

Color A (hem, cuffs, and shoulders) – 68 grams (approx. 142.8 yards) of Malabrigo Rios in color 282 Leo (less than 1 ball)

Color B (lighter color in body) – 135 grams (approx. 283.5 yards) of Malabrigo Rios in color 695 Peachy (less than 2 balls)

Color C (darker color in body) – 132 grams (approx. 277.2 yards) of Malabrigo Rios in color 057 English Rose (less than 2 balls)

Extra construction notes (in case they help): I used the Tubular cast-on and bind-off suggested in the pattern on the hem, cuffs, and collar, but used Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off for the part of the neckline that is picked up for the collar. 

If you choose to make this sweater, especially using this yarn, feel free to ask any questions and I will at least try to steer you in the right direction.

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