The call for squares went out via one of my knitting groups. They needed to be as near as possible to 15cm x 15cm, using 8-ply acrylic; and whether they were knitted or crocheted wasn’t important. Someone would then take all those squares and make them into a blanket, which in turn would be presented to a nearby hospital. No colour or pattern specification required, just whatever you had on hand that would cheer someone in need of comfort.
I thought it would be the ideal opportunity to use up some stash yarn that met those descriptions and was never going to be quite right with anything else, so I cast on using 4.00mm needles. That was about when Life in general started to go off the rails, so I simply point out that, even as a child, when I was the most beginner of knitters, I have probably never tinked a garter-stitch item quite so many times! Of course, I had expert assistance to hand in those days, in the shape of my mother and aunts; nowadays, I’m my own expert assistance most of the time, and I obviously have my limits.
I’d also point out that the cheap acrylic yarn – whose ball-bands are long lost to history, so I’m unable to provide details – knitted up well and kept coming up well after the sixth or seventh tink. The stitch definition was still good, and – despite being reknitted and reknitted a bit more and reknitted again because that didn’t work – it didn’t go fluffy. Sturdy stuff, as I think the photo illustrates, and probably ideal for the sort of action it’s likely to see.
My original thought was that I could knit half a dozen such squares and, in normal circumstances, I probably could. Yeah. I’ve finished two. They will have to do. I remind myself that, if everyone visiting the pick-up point donated two squares, there’d be a carton of blankets already. I hope the two I’ve made will fit in with others. They’re simple, but they meet the criteria. And I hope their bright cheeriness will help to lift someone’s spirits at a time of distress.
I hope you have some cheer to wrap around you, too, particularly if you’re somewhere chilly 🙂
Last night, I sat up late, working on the blanket, because I couldn’t sleep. It’s not sensible when you know you have an early start, as today I did; but it’s sometimes unavoidable. Might as well be doing something useful. Right? As a result, I have commenced the final colour of the border, which is viridian. I am – as you might be able to see – part-way through the second round.
I’d originally half-planned to work the entire border in viridian, to pick up on the colour of YoungB’s futon sofa. Obviously, that’s another plan that changed, but no matter. We’ve plenty of colour choices, and now that I’ve completed the bits that used several different colours, I think I can truly claim the blanket is very close to finished; very close indeed.
We have a surprisingly busy weekend ahead, so I doubt if I’m going to finish all the viridian rounds in the available spare time, but I will certainly keep plugging away at it when I can.
Whether or not you have a busy weekend, I hope you, too, are able to keep plugging away at your almost-there-but-not-quite projects.
The border is wider, and I’m ever closer to finishing it
I had a day of WFH that included two long, must-attend online meetings, which didn’t require my input. In that case, what do you do but grab your in-progress blanket and keep yourself warm while working? Right? I did. The days here are getting colder, so a toasty blanket is definitely a winner. Somewhat surprisingly, we haven’t yet turned on our space heater but we’re not going to be able to hold out for much longer.
It’s interesting to note how tired we all are. We remain, astoundingly, COVID-free, although wider family members have been less fortunate in that respect. There are days when I think that the ongoing uncertainty and the tedium of daily RATs is all too much. YoungB is exhausted and despondent and we’ve only just begun winter. He is looking forward to having the blanket, so I must away and do some more rounds while he is out at salsa classes. They provide some light relief and physical exercise that is undoubtedly good for him.
I hope you’re also able to find some light relief, whatever form it takes.
That would be me on the border of the blanket. When the rounds get this long, you sometimes can’t easily see the progress. You’ve worked steadily for what is a significant chunk of time and you still haven’t finished the next colour!
Their progress isn’t obvious, either
The preparation for the remodelled GPO, however, is a bit the same. It has reached a point where there’s a lot of work – mostly pumping concrete, as far as we can tell when we line up at the window of our 13th floor lookout – but there’s little enough to see for the effort. The concrete is all going into the ground in long pillars of extremely-heavy-duty REO.
I’ll get there, and I’m sure they will, too. It’s not in any way a race, but I reckon I’ll finish first 🙂
Border getting wider, but I think needs to be wider still
Borders on large objects make the object even larger. It’s the nature of borders! YoungB would have been happy to take delivery of the temperature rug with a reasonably narrow border (about where it is in the above photo). The weather is cooling, and he’d appreciate the extra warmth provided by its undoubted weightiness. I haven’t weighed it yet or calculated rough weight from yarn used.
However, because the blanket is large, I think the border should be wider – something like as wide as the side of a square, simply for visual balance – and have kept working on it. I had hoped I might finish it on the long weekend just gone, but didn’t. All the same, YoungB shouldn’t have to wait much longer before he can use it.
I hope your long weekend went according to plan, no matter how you spent it.
That represents a lot more work than you’d think 🙂
During lulls in the technological efficiency, I occasionally pick up the blanket and work a stitch or three of the border. It is looking good, but there’s definitely a very l-o-n-g way to go. I’m enjoying the linen stitch/moss stitch. As a knitter, I find it more similar to knitted linen stitch. I recognise that the chain 1 is approximately equal to the slip 1. I don’t as readily see it resembling knitted moss stitch, except in its reversibility. That’s a distinct plus.
Whatever you call it, it’s effective. The border at that point garnered praise from a knitter friend who has stalled on her large project (a wondrous blanket that makes mine look very ho-hum indeed). I would have stalled, too, I think, had I not decided Most Firmly from the outset that I would not do anything else until the temperature blanket was finished. I’ve been pretty good about that.
With that in mind, and as my computer has just given me one of those, “I’m going to shut down on you,” messages, I’m off to do a spot more work on that border.
I hope your dedication is also holding in the face of temptation 😀
I weighed some of the yarn to make sure it would get to the end 😀
Whatever you celebrate, or even if you don’t celebrate anything, I hope you’ve had an enjoyable weekend. We’ve taken things very slowly. Plans have vanished without trace and nobody has minded. When I’ve found a spare moment, or hour, I’ve worked on the border of the temperature blanket.
It is a long way, and getting longer with each round. It will be some time before I can call it done but I am happy with its progress.
Bottom left-hand corner turnaround? Not an unusual thing. Bottom right-hand corner turnaround? Most unusual and Very Exciting.
Corner 2 – top RH
Whizzing up the long side – my word, that was quick! – and turning the top right-hand corner? Golly, how long ago some of those squares were made. Whizzing along the top edge – also quick; and there’s that dodgy one whose design-feature edge I remember putting to the outside for later consideration – and, guess what?
Corner 3 – top LH and stop!
Arriving back at the start, the corner that began it all. Yes. The basic blanket is finished. Tonight, I will probably start the tidying round of UK DC but that could be all I’ll get done, despite how speedy it is when you’re not having to JAYG or tidy ends. There’s a long weekend ahead. We’ll do our usual food and celebrations – lots of singing, of course! – but I anticipate plenty of time to sit back and relax with a bit of hooking.
All the best with any plans you have for the long weekend, particularly if they involve taking it easy with a bit of hooking 🙂
Yesterday, I worked in the CBD. Of course it was a chance for me to check the progress of the renovations on the old GPO. As you can see, the knocking-down stage appears to have finished. The large crane at the left of the photo is concreted in place and being used for construction. There’s a sad irony in comparing the amount of new concrete used to ensure machinery is safe and secure with the enormous amounts of it that were removed from the demolished part of the building.
Of course, in Australia we simply say “reno”, but if you don’t understand that it’s a shorthand version of “renovation”, you might want to pronounce it more like Reno, the city. That would be quite wrong.
In blanket news, I have about six squares left to enclose in row 20 before I get to turning that Very Exciting Corner. I’m off to wield my hook. Hope you’re able to wield yours, too 😀
I’ve had a longer break than anticipated from the temperature blanket. For what seemed like ages, I had three more squares ready to add to row 20 and a fourth that only needed its tails tidied before it, too, could be incorporated into the last row. Slow, for sure, but progress. Then there were a few more middles and a few more tails tidied. Then came the magic moment when I sent a message to YoungB to say, “I’ve just made square 380.” It and a few of it mates weren’t added, or even ready to add. But they were made.
Last of the squares with all tails tidied and in order of appearance.
By now, I’ve tidied all the tails – isn’t that a glad sight! – added those row 20 squares and am working back on the enclosing round. This time, when I get to the bottom corner, I’ll have a Very Big Happening: I’ll actually go around the corner, not turn back and add another row. It’s enough to make me want to sit and crochet all night, but I am back at the office tomorrow. So, yeah. No all-night crochet fest for me. There’s a long weekend coming. That might be the perfect time to take it easy AND manage to get a good run at doing the last enclosing all the way back to the beginning of the blanket.
Given the number of health-related interruptions this blanket has had, I’m reconsidering the notion of a time-consuming envelope border and looking for something a good bit simpler. As long as there’s a border that ties to the colours used in the body of the blanket, that will be enough. I have lots of yarn and a plan that involves simple DC stripes or perhaps moss stitch.
May your plans, whatever they involve, be as simple or complex as you want.
tingledfangers 