Chevron Blanket: Forest Heather or Bust!

Last time I updated you on my Heirloom Chevron Throw, it looked like this (ugh, this photo is blurry because my corner of Canada + November = dark all the time!):

Since then, I’ve made some fun progress! I finished the last rows of the 4th stripe, in Cascade 220 “Irlande”.

After I finished the last full chevron, the next bit of the pattern is to work two corner triangles to square everything off, using the last colour. I really love changing colours in striped projects. It just always feels really momentous!

The last colour is also Cascade 220, in “Forest Heather”. I’ve been pretty impressed with the Cascade 220 colourways that I chose for this project, especially the Heathers, because they’re actually fairly layered and interesting. I think of Cascade 220 as an affordable workhorse yarn, and I think it’s been just right for this project. Good drape, enough squish factor, and lots and lots of colours to choose from. I’m so pleased with how all the colours are looking together! It’s definitely a greeny-goldy bonanza. Not colours that would make everyone happy, but I really like them.

Of course, somebody still thinks this project is JUST for her, so when I spread it out to look at my progress and take a few photos, she opportunistically jumped up and settled in. Sneak!

Chevron blanket update… and blanket surgery!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about my chevrons blanket (aka Heirloom Chevron Throw by Jocelyn Tunney – the pattern is FREE)! Despite still having generally terrible wrists/forearms, I’m managing to sneak in tiny bits of knitting here and there (mostly because I am not typing very much right now – my typing job is on hold for a little while, so I can stand a bit more knitting as a result). Here’s the blanket with gratuitous cat blanket thief!

Looking good! Wait a minute… what’s that in the apple green stripe?

Ugh! A weird little tuft of yarn! At first I thought maybe I’d done a bad job of felted-join-ing, but upon closer inspection, I remembered that it was just a felty nep in the yarn, and when I knit it in, I’d thought it would blend in fine. But because everything else is so smooth, it’s REALLY obvious. And annoying. I decided I could probably fix it with some surgery, by cutting the yarn, unpicking the few stitches where the nep was, and grafting with new yarn… weaving in the ends on the back for close to seamlessness.

EEP!

I worked on figuring out the kitchenering with contrasting yarn, to make it easier to see what was going on. Then I tied on the right colour of yarn to the contrast yarn, and gently pulled/guided the correct yarn through. (I really should have taken more photos… but it was intense.)

A little bit fuzzy, but:

Pretty good, right?

This is the spot I fixed! Could you tell?

I am loving this blanket, even though it’s sooooo slow going. 20 more rows (10 more ridges) of this colour and then I’ll be on to the final triangles to square it off!

What are you knitting these days??

Patience, Grasshopper.

Let me be honest: resting is pretty boring.

I’d much, much rather be knitting. Even in the summer. Every evening. In all my spare moments.

BUT, I’m trying to be grateful for even little snippets if I can get them. Two or three rows in a day, instead of twelve or thirteen. Mostly I’m still resting, keeping my brains busy with work (so much work) and reading.

I am slowly, sloooowly giving myself a little bit of time with the needles. Just a row or two, and then back to wrist rest.

I’ve been working my one or two rows on a project that has been hibernating for a while – the pattern is Kieran Foley’s Cold Mountain (I’m making the Chevrons variation), and the yarn is Juniper Moon Findley in Greengage. There’s a really first rate photo of the shawl pattern on Kieran’s page, here. (You can see I’m about 1/3 through it.) I last wrote about it on the Juniper Moon blog a looong time ago.

The colour reads more gold in these photos, but it’s my favourite goldy-green.

The pattern is free, and has three different charts to follow. Sections of each chart are worked a given number of times, so there’s lots of detail to pay attention to.

So far, I’ve finished one of the charts, and have just moved on to the second. I pulled this project out to be my “tiny baby steps back to knitting” project, because there are lots of different stitches to be worked. Lace is a bit more diverse than garter stitch, (hopefully) giving my hands less of a chance to get irritated by repetition.

The downside to lace knitting? Before it’s blocked, it looks a bit of a mess.

Even if you stretch it out!

A row or two is better than none, right? I’ll keep being patient.

Greens galore! (aka blanket update)

Guess what! Garter chevron stripe blanket update! :D

A sneak peak is enough, right?

A little bit more?

TA DA!

In all it’s three-stripes-and-four-colours-done-so-far glory! Um, yes. It’s still making me super happy. Squishy and drapey and garterey and GREEN! For real.

Getting to start a new colour in any striped project is always especially exciting for me. The first of the darker greens!

Even though it’s starting to get a little bit warm where I am, our summers are pretty mild, and working on this blanket in the cool evenings or shadier afternoons is still totally pleasant.

I’m inching along! This is the last full stripe, which is also pretty exciting. Once this colour is finished (which won’t be a for a while), I’ll be knitting two triangles to fill in the bottom corners. I love this pattern! (It’s the Heirloom Chevron Throw by Jocelyn Tunney :) )

Besides this garterey goodness, I’ve been working on another blanket project, too… (you can probably guess which one). Are you into blanket knitting? I am a teeny bit obsessed :)

Inch by Inch, Row by Row…

… I’m going to make this blanket grow :)

I’m still taking things very carefully, knitting-wise. I think I’ve finally reconciled myself to the need to check in with a medical person about my frequently resurgent RSI/muscle-achy-terribleness (technical term ;) ), because even though I’m trying to minimize my keyboard time and other repetitive activities, I can still feel the twingey pain coming on pretty quickly.

Despite all of that, a row or two each day is happening! Just so that my hands don’t forget knitting altogether, and because it’s good for my mental health.

I’m inching along on the medium green stripe, and still LOVING how this blanket looks.

It also FEELS pretty wonderful. Squishy and drapey at the same time, just enough warmth but not too much.

I can definitely see more of these blankets in my future! A perfect relaxing project for an evening at home, with the bonuses of fun opportunities to play with colour and (obviously) an amazing blanket at the end :) Even though a wool blanket seems pretty seasonally inappropriate, I’m glad this is what’s on my needles.

What are you knitting these days? I’d love to hear about it!

Garter Chevron Blanket – halfway catchup!

I was looking through some photos from the last two weeks, and realized that I DO have new photos of my garter chevron blanket to share, even though I’m still on knitting hiatus, for now, while my wrists and forearms heal up from overuse.

I actually made a bunch of progress on this project in a short span of time — which is part of how I messed up my stupid wrists in the first place! I had a couple of days in a row where I had to spent 5+ hours sitting quietly, waiting for things. PERFECT for knitting, right? Except, it’s not a good idea to knit garter stitch (knit knit knit knit with no purls or other stitches) for the whole 5 hours with no breaks.

Although I regret it now, because it’s meant such a dumb hiatus, I did get quite a lot knit.

I finished the third colour/second stripe! This was the first really truly green stripe, in a colourway called “granny smith.” I’m still really loving how this is coming out – I know the colours wouldn’t be for everyone, but they’re very me :)

This next stripe is the only non-Cascade yarn. This 3rd stripe/4th colour is Classic Wool from Patons, in a bright medium green called “clover leaf”. Why different yarn? For the most practical reason ever: this yarn in this colour happened to be on super sale at my LYS. It fit into the colour scheme was economical to boot!

I’m super excited about how this blanket is shaping up! I think I’m firmly in “knitted blanket junkie” territory, now.

Yellow to Gold to Granny Smith

I took my garter stitch chevron blanket out for coffee and a donut this week! That right there, friends, is an earl grey donut. It was FAN. TASTIC :)

Also, Miss New Zealand thinks this blanket is hers, already. She’s generally a big fan of squishy knitted fabric, and this is no exception. If I’m not quick to put it away, this is what happens:

Can I show you some actual progress instead of just snacks and cats? YES! Ta da!

I’ve modified from the original pattern a little bit. Instead of working 50 rows per stripe, I’m doing 60 (30 garter ridges). I just wanted to use up more yarn and have a wider stripe than I had at 50 rows.

I like how it’s looking so far! Up next: apple green. I think the colourway is actually called “granny smith”.

Even though most of the time it’s squashed into a blob in my lap, it’s starting to be pretty substantial size-wise!

Can I bust out this stripe in a week or less? (Probably. My other activities this week will be deadline-dissertation-chapter-writing [ugh], deadline-TA-grading [ugh], and feeling grumpy and sad about my still far far away spouse [a million ughs]. That stuff means more knitting.)

Spring Startitis?

Is it spring where you are?

It’s definitely spring where I am. Our winters are extremely mild (to my dismay… hush, you people with harsher winters, I know you hate them, but I genuinely miss snow!) I think it snowed one day this year? Maybe? It didn’t stay on the ground, just melted right away. And now, it’s definitely spring. Flowers are blooming, birds are singing – one landed on our balcony today, and my cat nearly had a heart attack, she was so excited!

The last week or so, I’ve been feeling a strong urge – and one I don’t feel very often… the urge to cast on LOTS of new projects! Usually I’m a finishing things kind of person. I like to have only a small number of things on the go, so I can experience the pleasure of finishing regularly. So wanting to cast on more than one thing at once is unusual for me! Nevertheless, my brain has been buzzing with ideas for new knits to start, even though it’s spring, and not exactly the right season for lots of warm woolies. (I know there’s spring knitting, too – goldy green lace and bright colours in lightweight yarns, and I have those going on already.)

Despite my urges, I’ve so far limited myself to just one new project: a totally non-seasonal worsted weight wool BLANKET! If you’ve been reading for a while, you’ll know that I really like knitted blankets. I’ve had the pattern I’m using for this one queued for a while (it’s free!!) – the Heirloom Chevron Throw, by Jocelyn Tunney/Fancy Tiger Crafts.

I’ve been contemplating colour options for what feels like forever, but finally settled on some version of a mostly (barf!) green gradient or ombré look. My pathetic paint mockup:

And here are the super pretty yarns I ended up with!

All are Cascade 220 or 220 Heathers, except the middlemost green (the one that’s in a ball, not a skein, in the photos), which is Patons Classic Wool Worsted.

I’m REALLY excited about this project, and I think the finished blanket is going to look super perfect with my living room decor (okay okay… at this stage in my life, I don’t really have decor under control, but I do have throw pillows, and green placemats/coasters/okay green everything shut it). These colours are all over the place at my place! Evidence from the kitchen:

Matchy matchy living room!

I have all the yarn wound up and ready to go :) Hurray! (Bonus Shepherd Hoodie cameo!)

 

I think I’m going to call it the (Barf) Green Is Best Blanket :)

Knitted Goods are Needed

Things are, predictably, busy this month. But yarn is still a constant for me, which is a VERY good thing. Because it’s been unusually cold the last week; knitted goods are needed!

I’ve been wearing wooly owls,

And knitting with the brightest green,

And starting a sock for a beloved with cold feet.

Hope your knitted goods are keeping you toasty and cheery, too :)

More blanket, this time with GREEN!!!

So, green is the best. It’s my favourite.

And now my garter blanket has a green stripe!!!

Even though I loved how the blanket looked with just warm colours, I’m LOVING that I get to move on to happy rich greens and cool blues now, too.

This particular green that you’re seeing is leftover from last year’s Juniper Moon Fiber Farm spring CSA share, dyed in the one of a kind and totally perfect Ojai colourway.

There’s just something about greens that makes my heart go pitter pat :)

And I DID find a rich, deep, emerald green to follow up the Ojai with!!

I really think they look lovely side by side.

 

Squishy, cozy, cheerful garter stitch, you are the best :)