Let there be tassels

On August 16, 2022August 12, 2022 By CarynIn Craft

I am not a fan of tassels. Yes, they look nice all laid out and arranged, but mostly they tangle and catch on things. But I’m fairly sure that Grandma followed pattern instructions and would have put the tassels on. And I have a whole extra skein since I used scraps to sew the borders. So it seems the blanket is meant to have tassels. (It really was a deliberate choice to start the last three sentences with conjunctions. This was a difficult decision and each step needed the full stop.)

I started making the tassels from the outside of the skein, then the inside of the skein turned out to be kinked, so some of the tassels were smooth, and some were wrinkly. Steamer to the rescue.

Tassels steamed straight before doing the second knot

As per the instructions, I made a second row of knots, then trimmed the ends.

It is done. I’ll do the final reveal on tomorrow’s blog, with a summary of the whole project.

Sewing on borders

On August 15, 2022 By CarynIn Craft

Time to sew the borders on Grandma’s blanket! I laid the center field and borders out on the king bed, and set up a stool so I could sit and sew. As an extra precaution, I used quilting pins to secure the borders to the middle at regular intervals.

Blanket laid out on the bed for sewing on borders

I used a mattress stitch, but with the border over lapping the center, by picking up stitches under the border edge and from the top of the center field. This hid the curled edge of the middle, but showed off the neat edge of the border.

Izzy tried to get her tail into the stitching, but luckily I am adept at sewing around cats. She has been waiting for months to lay on this blanket. She made the most of it.

I did wash the blanket and dried it in the dryer (deep breath, it is acrylic yarn, it can take it), to get most of the cat hair off.

I still have a whole skein of yarn. Hm.

Glad I tested

On August 14, 2022 By CarynIn Craft

My plan was to do a knitted i-cord seam to connect the border to the center field of Grandma’s blanket. Before delving in, I made a swatch of stockinette stitch and tried out the seam method by joining the sides of the test fabric. I’m glad I tried it on scrap yarn first. I don’t like it at all. The seam ends up thick and bulky and not very elastic.

Test swatch with knitted i-cord binding and free knitted i-cord.

So I guess I will sew the seams. I don’t mind sewing, so it isn’t a hardship, but matching up everything can be quite daunting.

Water garden

On August 13, 2022August 10, 2022 By CarynIn Cats, Garden

My mint and strawberry patch fell to a field of grass. It was watered regularly, but maybe it was the heat, or that the trees over grew the area and there is more shade than I thought. Either way, I finally decided to pull the grass in the “cool” of the morning (if you can call 80 degrees at 7am cool). The water bowls I put out in the sprinkler area were doing well providing wildlife and cats with water, so I put another bowl with rocks out (so the frogs and bees have landing areas), and turned over a few terra cotta pots to provide moist frog cover. It isn’t any kind of work of art (yet), but it is functional and has potential.

Mr Tom getting a drink from the in-progress water garden

Brain itch

On August 12, 2022August 12, 2022 By CarynIn Craft

I know Grandma’s blanket isn’t done yet, but I had to scratch a brain itch. I have an idea for a brioche knit using vertical stripes of color, and I just had to start a prototype. This is scrap cotton yarn (yup, when I’ve done my experiments, it will go in the washcloth bin).

Start of a four-color vertical stripe brioche knit test

That the colors match my knitting bag is complete serendipity.

Critters and Craft

Month: August 2022