Tag Archives: handknit blanket

I Just Cleaned up After “Breakfast”!

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Sunday, January 18, 2026

Things are looking up here on the health front! Finally! I had a shower today, made my own “breakfast” and then emptied the dishwasher and cleaned up the kitchen. This is the first such activity in about two weeks! Yay! My body is reminding me that I’ve been sick and I need to maintain a slower than usual pace, but I am happy to oblige because I finally feel like I’m getting better. The flu is not fun this year, folks. I hope you’re vaccinated and washing your hands a lot!!!

The last two weeks have afforded me a lot of knitting time and for the most part I’ve taken full advantage of it. Although, there have been hours of time spent just sitting and watching stupid stuff on TV. Yesterday I spent most of my knitting time working on the Gansey Afghan. I really am enjoying this project and more than I thought I would. I have made it past the forty inch mark and the final size is designed to be forty-eight inches. I think mine may be more because I’m going to try to use up all of the two balls of yarn I bought for the project. As I discovered, I have a ton of bits and bobs of left-over yarn and I haven’t used them for much. (More on this story later in this post.)

The Gansey Afghan is knitted with worsted weight yarn. I chose two balls of this dark sage-y green that was on sale at the LYS where I work. It’s Hayfield Aran with Wool and comes in 919 yard, 400 gram balls. That’s a lot of yarn. Mine was on sale so it’s was less than $60 to make the blanket. And the blanket is going to be a really good size. The pattern is several “stripes” of textured stitches divided by a 2-row reverse stockinette stitch pattern (the pattern is really more than just the two rows of reverse stockinette). It’s fun to watch the repeats turn out and it keeps the knitting interesting. I have mis-read the pattern in a couple of spots but I just kept on keeping on and have balanced the errors so they don’t stick out. I challenge you to try to figure out where the errors are. I think I’d like to make another one for my atelier next fall/winter in orange. I am loving orange these days. It would also look great in our bedroom or in our living room. We’ll see where it ends up or if it gets knitted at all. LOL. I have just finished the third repeat of the pattern and will knit one more which should use up almost all of the yarn. Fingers crossed.

I’ve not touched my husbands Christmas socks this week and I’ve only worked a little bit on my Ranunculcus sweater but I’ve already written about that. I have procured another beautiful yarn, however. I pre-ordered two hanks of Lola Bean Yarn Co’s DK weight yarn on the soy bean base. (100% merino). The colorway is “Good Trouble” and it’s a nod to the civil rights leader, John Lewis. Sales of this yarn benefitted a non-profit organization supporting civil rights but I don’t remember now which one it was. My yarn arrived this week and it’s gorgeous!!!

Lola Bean Yarn Co., DK weight Soy Bean base, colorway: Good Trouble

I’ve been texting back and forth with one of my Friday afternoon knitting students who also bought the yarn and I think we’re both going to attempt (and see how we like it) the Le Bandana pattern by Aimee Gille of La Bien Aimee. It’s a simple one-skein triangle shaped shawlette. I have a bit more yarn and will plan to make mine a bit bigger so that I use up all the yarn in the one project. (Do you see a theme here?) If I can’t return a full hank of leftover yarn, I want to use it all up!!!

Here’s the story I promised: This weekend one of my co-worker friends sent our triumvirate group the link to a pattern for the most adorable little stuffed rabbit. She’s wearing a dress, a cardigan and a headband and comes with a kitten. And she’s a free pattern. Did I say that she was adorable? See for yourself!

Well, I didn’t want to go buy more yarn if I have some that I can use so I pulled down my two bins of sport/dk weight yarn to have a look. TWO bins of leftover sport/dk yarns. This is what I pulled out of those two bins that I may want to use for the project. The bins are now back in their shelves but still mostly full … some with a sweater’s worth of yarn!) I may have a problem.

The good news is that I did find a wrapper-less gray yarn (at the front) that I hope will work for the bunny and plenty of other balls of yarn to make the garments, accessories and kitten out of. I also have enough to share with Carol if she needs it. I hope we will cast on this week. And I hope the bunny doesn’t hang out unclothed for years like my Dolores did. (I still have clothes to knit for Dolores.)

So, there you have it. I have so much knitting to do that I will leave you here and head off to my comfy chair and my knitting. The question is … do I wind up my Good Trouble and knit my shawlette or continue with the afghan in hopes of getting something finished? Stay tuned for my choice …

Gone knitting.

Before WIP Wednesday, a Couple of FOs

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Tuesday, November 18, 2025

It’s a glorious sunshiny day today and the house has been warmed by the sun to a nearly-too-warm 75 degrees at 9am. I can’t think of donning a sweater this morning, at least not downstairs. When we built this house, making it year-round-living-friendly, we had no idea how much passive solar heat we’d be getting but it’s incredible! The entire downstairs is warmed by the sun on days like this. Way past the temperature at which the heat is set.

I cast on a new project yesterday. I got a round and a half knitted before I had to run to work for a few hours and then got the balance of the ribbing done last night. As I was about to change the needles for the body of the hat, I decided that I’d like to knit a folded brim on this hat. I have a ton of yarn, way more than the pattern calls for, and I’d like to see how the fit and style change with a folded brim. SO … I have another couple of inches to knit in 1×1 ribbing before I head on to the chart. I am knitting the Alpine Bloom Hat in Juniper Moon Farms Patagonia Organic Merino. I’ve chosen two shades of grey – Anthracite, my main color, and Light Grey, as contrast color. I love to knit hats and have knit many for myself that end up being given away because I hate myself in hats. We’ll see how this one goes.

I have several other WIPs on the needles in various states of completion. I am about twenty inches of stockinette stitch into the Easy Folded Poncho that I’m knitting. This is a perfect project for those times when my brain is exhausted but my hands want to have yarn in them. It’s boring, frankly. But the color is wonderful and I hope I’ll love the poncho. I’m knitting this in Rowan Felted Tweed and I have to say that I do love this yarn. It’s particularly wonderful when paired with a silk mohair but this one is only the Felted Tweed and it’s lovely, too, on it’s own.

I have a Jamberry Cardigan on the needles for my granddaughter. I am now finished with the first sleeve and have started the second. It won’t take a lot of time to finish the sleeve but once I have knitted the button bands, there’s a bit of duplicate stitch before it’s complete. I love the way this sweater is knitting up and may use it as a basis for her 2026 Christmas sweater. But that’s a long way off. Let’s not go there.

While my FOs aren’t shown here at their finished state, you’ll just have to believe me. They’re finished. Off the needles. AND the little purple socks (they’re the second pair for Sylvie in this yarn and are quite a bit bigger than the first pair!) and the Musseburgh hat that I made as a sample for the store is also sent off to her. The hat wasn’t getting any attention at the shop and the yarn is no longer being sold wholesale so, off it goes to keep a little head warm! Yesterday I looked for alternative buttons for the little sweater that we’re sending to our grandson for Christmas. Hubby liked the ones I have at home better. Today I’ll sew them on and this gift will be finished and ready to wrap and send. Yay! I also finished the embroidered snowflakes on our granddaughter’s Christmas sweater and sent that off to New York City yesterday. That’s three FOs, ladies and gentlemen! Yay!

So, the remaining WIPs are the Jamberry cardi, Noah the horse, Easy Folded Poncho and now the Alpine Bloom hat. I’ve also had a request from my S-I-L for a baby blanket for her brother’s partner who is having her first grandchild in early December. I’ll buy yarn for that on Thursday when I’m at work and get it cast on. Now mind you, that’s my “active” WIP list. There are others in my atelier that I’m not going to mention here because it’s a little bit embarrassing. LOL.

I’ve been working to get another request from my eldest for the wee Sylvie – a yarny something to keep her hair clips and headbands on. She sent me a photo of a pinterest unicorn and that’s what I’m attempting to duplicate. I’ve got all the yarn cut and I’ve got a unicorn head template. I just have to cut the cardboard and put it together.

Hubby and I went for a drive to the local apple orchard and the garden center and I had to pick up some Paperwhite Narcissus bulbs and my annual Amaryllis bulb. I’ve gotten them all put into containers with pea gravel and water and now we wait to watch them grow. The Amaryllis is already sprouting leaves after 48 hours. I love watching bulbs grow and they add a nice pop of color to the winter in Maine.

I had a great mail day last weekend! I “had” to buy this one skein of self-striping sock yarn and add it to my stash. Must Stash Yarn does the most incredible self-striping colorways and I had a bit of trouble figuring out which ONE to buy. I ended up with this one and I’m so happy. I’ve also pre-ordered a couple of skeins from Lola Bean Yarn Company … I am looking forward to seeing that and playing with them both after the holidays are over.

Life is good here in the woods of Maine. We sure are feeling grateful for the place we live. With all the upsetting news lately, it’s good to be able to unplug and feel at peace at home.

Gone knitting.