Stitching Saturday: The new blanket, finished

In keeping with my usual mode of doing things, I finished my knitted chevron blanket in record time, and moved on so quickly that I didn't bother updating you here.

So I thought I'd walk you through the end of my project after the fact! :) Up above you see what all the ends looked like when I was finished knitting...



This photo was slightly more picturesque, but you get the idea, TONS of ends to weave in. It wasn't so bad - I worked steadily at it for a full evening in front of the TV, and I was done.

So here's the finished blanket!



As you can see, the edges curl in a little. If I was feeling obsessive, I'd have blocked it. I decided to wait for my first wash, after which I'll block it, and see how much the size changes.

Overall, I was very happy with this free pattern and the colors I chose - I think the chevrons look tidier than some patterns I have seen, and once I memorized the pattern, it was a breeze to stitch. I will say, however, that if you make a mistake, it seems next to impossible to go back and fix it. So, I'd suggest good concentration and precision for this one.

My finished size was 20 in wide, 42 in long. I knit this using size 8 circular needles and remnants of Love This Yarn from my Log Cabin project.

Stitching Saturday: New blanket time

So I guess it's just not possible for me to NOT have a blanket in my ready knitting rotation. It's so comforting to lay a half-knit blanket on your lap and feel purposeful while watching way too much Hulu. :)

Up above is my newest blanket - from a free pattern by Espace Tricot here. I've been wanting to do another chevron blanket, ever since my chevron baby blanket last year. This was just a bit harder, but not at all a problem after all the weekly knit stitches I've been practicing. I am winging it with the colors and stripes - I dug through my remnants from the Log cabin blanket and chose some nice bright shades I liked together, and stuck with the first 5 I knitted up.

I  spent most of my Memorial day holiday knitting this up while it rained cats and dogs outside:






Yup, that was all done in one day.  I do wish I'd knitted this a bit wider, but it'll be a nice throw to have on hand, not too heavy or too large.

Here's the progress I made this week, while watching a fair amount of Hulu as it continues to rain here...



And what am I watching while I knit, you may ask? Oh, I know you didn't ask, but whatever, I'll tell you anyway.

Oh my God, Korean Drama. It took me awhile to get into it - I watched my first Kdrama about 3 years ago after Netflix suggested it to me - Boys Over Flowers - and I was amused, but still pretty "meh" about it. I tried another drama after that, also suggested by Netflix - My Princess, and I was just annoyed by it.

Fast-forward 3 years later when in a bored moment I take another Netflix suggestion- Fated To Love You:

That show is like crack, I tell you. Go ahead and judge me. I judge me. It is predictable, silly, weird, but somehow still moving and emotional. The thing about Kdrama is that for all that you're laughing at it and mocking it, there come these odd moments when you realize you're in love with it, and then there's no going back.

After that, I moved onto Coffee Prince, and I was permanently hooked. Coffee Prince is still my favorite in terms of music and a sense of "reality" that you don't quite get in the other shows (but that's not necessarily a bad thing). Mostly I am fascinated with the language, the culture, and comparing and contrasting the ideals in these shows, and what I've experienced in American (and Mexican-American) culture. I am always a sucker for language and culture.

It's also bizarre to me that every person I expose these shows to also gets permanently hooked. South Korea, what are you putting in your shows? We can't stop watching them!



Then, I watched the Korean film Sunny, and was in love with all the characters and wacky events. It helped of course that there was the 80's music I grew up on, and bad perms, girl gangs, and sweatshirts. But I have to say I was taken aback at how incredibly badass these tiny girls are. I thought my own Mexican-American peeps cornered the market on girl gang badass-ery. But no. It appears we have to share. The bizarrely hilarious fight scene with the girls and the riot police is my favorite action sequence, ever.

So, for now, I'm knitting my way through all the Korean shows I find. Anyone else out there discovered/ been hooked on Kdrama? :)

Stitching Saturday: Finished Baby Blanket

Yup, there it is - my finished Chevron Baby Blanket (free pattern from Purl Soho) - I really like how this blanket came together! As you can see I did thin stripes of ivory, light pink, darker pink, light green, and turquoise in Love This Yarn. I went with thin stripes so I could use up leftover bits of yarn - that's all very well but it meant LOTS of ends to weave in.

The texture is a bit thick and nubbly, but not unpleasant - it would probably feel amazing underfoot in a sturdy cotton - I might try that soon. The only thing I'm not impressed with is how I bound it off - I followed the directions, took it apart, and tried it again, then decided just to leave it and not let it bug me. But if you study it closely, you can see the peaks on the bottom, where I bound off, are not as pleasantly pointy as they are on the top. I bet blocking might help with that, but again, I love it and I won't let it worry me.

I washed and dried it and handed it off to my work friend yesterday, and she seemed to really love it. She says her husband's a shutterbug, so I may even see a few photos with baby on it - yay! Now I need another lap blanket to knit up - this was fun!

My playlist for this blanket was an interesting mix of (fittingly) Call The Midwife - really an excellent show, you should definitely check it out and (not so fittingly) Game of Thrones, which was really just a compilation of guttural sounds (every time I hear a gush or splash, I don't look up), awkward sex scenes, and male on female or male on male brutality. I have tried to get into Game of Thrones, but aside from admiring the author's ability to create a universe of complex characters, I can't get into the constant brutality. The books start off ok, and get more and more graphic and strangely, boring. But I will keep going, if only to see Daenerys rock their world. Her, Arya, Brienne, the costumes, and the dragons are pretty much the only thing that keeps me going.

Stitching Saturday: blanket knitting progress

Yes, I've been very remiss in posting my crafting photos. I know it's been a whirlwind of cat posts lately. :) Anyhow, up above is the proof I am steadily crafting - here is the blanket I started at the end of last summer, that lay on my lap most of the unusually cold winter as I plugged away, knitting row after row of garter stitches.

There are colors I am more happy with, and others I am less happy with, but I find that the larger it gets, the less picky I am about how one color looks next to another. The beauty of something so varied is that your eye tends to blend it all together, anyway. I've gotten LOTS of compliments on the colors in this one.

It's also gotten so large it is hard to photograph - it covers the width of my full bed completely at this point. I think I'd still like to make it bigger - maybe Queen size. It's been great fun.



Here's a chevron baby blanket that's taken up the past week and a half of my knitting (pattern from Purl Soho). I'd say I'm about halfway done. It's a gift for an office mate, and I took it to her shower so she could approve the color choices. They got pretty rave reviews there, so overall I'm feeling a lot happier about my color choices, which is where I've always felt iffiest in knitting. :)

I love the chunky texture - it's the same Love This Yarn I'm using on the Log Cabin blanket, but I've knit it here with size 9 needles. I'd be tempted to knit up another version in a cotton yarn as a bath mat, because I bet it would feel awesomely squishy under your feet, but we'll see about that. I try to keep a balance with knitting and physical activity, as I put on a few pounds this winter I've been going to the gym to shake off. :)

Hope all is well with you and you are happily crafting! Anyone else knitting up blankets?