In January 2014 my needles and I started on a journey of discovery. In March 2015 after thousands of stitches, miles of seaming, many adventures and delicious knitting experiences along the way, we called a halt. The great scarf / strip afghan experiment is finished and officially in use. Anyone got cable! is a finished object and a much loved family member. There are arguments about who gets to snuggle under in on the couch on in the recliner. It's actually rarely me (and I did knit it for myself...)
The lovely ladies in the Unofficial Women's Weekly Group on Ravelry are owed a giant hug for providing the motivation to create this beauty. We were encouraging each other to complete the various knitted afghans we were making. Many of us were doing variations on the classic, knit a square - make an afghan. However the sheer horror of the concept of all that sewing was a giant hurdle many were baulking at. So I thought, why not make strips instead of squares. Essentially I knit all my favourite cable and cable and lace
scarves that caught my eye recently and sewed them up into a lap
blanket for me. The genesis of the idea, the inspiration and the early stages of construction are described in more detail in this blog post (Anyone got cable! - A scarf-ghan).
This was a great strategy. There was a constant variety of patterns and yarn in little do-able chunks at a time. I didn't get bored in the middle of the process. Each scarf got a chance to tell its own story along the way. See also a series of scarves = afghan for the details of each scarf strip - e.g. patterns used. As a bonus most of them are free patterns.
On Good Friday we convinced the afghan to come and play in the Sunflowers and have its final beauty shots taken. The town I live in has two giant public art installations designed to brighten up some depressed and unused industrial areas of town. These photos were taken in a field that is a giant spiral maze of sunflowers. (You can read more about the project here - #getsunflowered).
I admit, I did wimp out of this without strictly finishing it completely. I haven't added a separate knitted edging. I toyed with both a sideways knitted garter stitch and an i-cord border (and had a go at both) but felt it didn't really need it enough to make me feel justified knitting it.
Here's the boy demonstrated how you can wrap yourself head to toe in the awesome snugness. He make the blanket look like a butterfly chrysalis.
I'd like to thank my children for frolicking in the sunflowers with me. I'm off to plan the next afghan adventure now. I don't think I quite have it out of my system. I might just snuggle here under my blanket while I knit the next one.
An afghan has quietly been creating itself along in the background all year this year. (Well, not exactly on its own, it has been relying on me to be quietly knitting along on the component scarves amongst all the other knitting this year).
We first met the afghan in all its glory in April - Anyone got cable! scarf-ghan though sneak peaks had made it into the blog before that.But I haven't really posted about it since then and lots of progress has been made. In fact its an almost functional couch blanket now.
It's time for round two. I have made 4 more scarves since.
Scarf number 5: Twisted ribbons
The fifth scarf is a hybrid cable and lace pattern which I started in early April. I started this using the two balls of cream coloured Panda Machinewash crepe I'd bought in an end of winter sell out. (Can't you see that this was a potentially disastrous move?) But the pattern just ate through the yardage and I inevitably ran out of yarn late April and
ordered some more. Whilst I was waiting I cast on scarf number six. (Can't have idle knitting needles, can you?)
Then of course the new yarn
didn’t match colourwise. I knitted about half a pattern repeat but it
offended my sensibilities. The colour change was that dramatic! So
frogged the lot on 1st June 2014. I bought two more balls and began again in
the new cream machinewash. This was now going to be the June strip!
That was
probably a little ambitious. Actually I cast this back on on the 22rd of
August! I was finishing up all the the other WIPs (Two jumpers for
various children being the biggest of them). And it was finally completed on 15th
September. The irony was that after blocking this ended up about 2
pattern repeats too long so in early October I frogged a bit of it and
redid the garter stitch edge so it fitted with the rest of the strips. This scarf should just be very happy that I am persistent in the face of adversity.
Scarf number 6: Bernadette cable scarf
I had a cold and everything else I was working on is
too complicated for my brain to cope with. Cables again - waving cables interlocking gently. This was me being productive whilst coping with the saga of scarf number five (see above). This was smooth sailing in comparison. And the yarn is a dream to knit. (Pity I think it's discontinued).
Pattern: Bernadette Cable Scarf by SmarieK Knits Needles: 4mm Yarn: Panda Woolblend Crepe 8 ply, Gray, 3 and a little bit 50g balls.
Scarf number 7: Eagle feathers
This one is based on Eagle Feathers - a free scarf pattern with a series of different patterned bands beginning with simple chevrons and morphing through to full feathers. I started with a provisional cast on
as it is worked out from each end. This was true stash busting. The yarn I used had a somewhat checkered past. I was reusing the yarn from Arundel
which I had frogged during the Ravellenics. I had some some fun (not!) unpicking the
provisional cast on and getting the correct amount of stitches to work
the other way. This was a really fun pattern to knit and I especially
love the feathers section on each of the edges. Unfortunately it ended up too long
after blocking. It’s always hard to judge just how much a lace pattern
will open up. So I took off one pattern repeat on each end and redid the moss
stitch borders.
Pattern:The Eagle Feathers Scarf by Margaret Kiprenko Needles: 4mm Yarn: Patons Australia Katie, Tan / mustard, 4 50 g balls
Scarf number 8: Beaumonde
Earlier this year I discovered the delights of dropping stitches on purpose (See Curly Wurly). I was eager to try this again. This was slated to be a cable scarf again. This pattern is a combination of cable and dropped stitches - the very definition of
fun. It’s awesome to drop stitches on purpose. The yarn is some cream 12% angora, 48% viscose and 40% acrylic in a
buttery cream colour I bought for $2 a ball in an end of season sale. So this something I actually bought purposely this year with this rug in mind.
Pattern: Beaumonde by SmarieK Knits. (She has an awesome collection of free cable scarf patterns available. This is the second one I have used as part of this scarf-ghan). Needles: 4mm Yarn: Moda Vera Messina, cream, 3.2 50g balls
I decided to bite the bullet at the beginning of December and sew what I had completed up in order to decide how many more scarves I needed to make to ge the width I want. This process took most of a week using my ususual evening knitting time to painstaking stitch the scarves together.
It's not quite as wide as I want it to be. I estimate I need two more scarves and one is already on the needles - a leafy lacy tendril on reverse stocking stitch. It's not too early to declare this project a massive sucess. Even at it's present size, it's a snuggly, cuddly useable couch rug. It stretches from my toes to my chest. Various family members have spent a fair bit of time trying to claim this for their own but it's mine, mine, you hear ..... (Cue evil laugh track here). However, I foresee me making variations on this theme for the next few years.... (My mum wants one, so does the hubby....)
Sometimes you have an idea that you know is going to be just awesome and fantastic fun to make but is going to take time to bring to completion. Anyone got Cable! is an ambitious long term project that I'm ready to unveil as a sneak peak now. I started this in January and it's likely to take me the whole year to complete.
So what is it? I call this a scarf-ghan. I was inspired by two free afghan patterns made modularly sewing up from long strips of knitting; Boy's Afghan by Ann V Gallentine and the Fisherman Sampler Afghan by Judy Gibson. I'm constantly finding gorgeous scarf patterns that my knitting needles itch to make. But much as I hate to admit it, a girl can have too many scarves. Why not knit all these gorgeous scarves, sew then up together and make a unique, one-of-a-kind lap blanket? A warm snuggly blankie is always useful.
This project is also a designated stash buster. I've been collecting / acquiring (possibly you could call it hoarding) an array of recycled pure wool from our local op shop for a couple of years now. This particular op shop seems to have a unseen mob of little old ladies who recycle old knitted garments into gorgeous balls of crinkle cut yarn. I've been collecting all the neutrals, a beautiful array of cream, eggshell, fawn, tan, mushroom and greys from silver through pearly gray to smoke.
This is a random sample of the selection of neutral coloured yarns I have.
January saw me start with a gorgeous Celtic cable scarf with the most complicated cable chart I've ever attempted. I also love this yarn. It's a gorgeous wool and mohair blend, a soft cream winter white with a smattering of small black fibres. This was a slow but satisfying knit.
Pattern:Everstar Scarf from Josie Mercier from Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2013.
In February I changed tack and went for a lace patterned scarf.
Pattern: Falling Water Scarf by Bonnie Sennott. This is a beautiful mock cable and lace pattern and it's free.
The second ball of yarn I used for this was having an exceptionally bad day. It was extremely dodgy
with multiple knots. At one stage the back of the scarf almost looked
like an Ood’s face with about 20 sets of ends in about 10 cm of
knitting. I sewed in ends as I went though and as long as I was careful about
hiding them by sewing them in vertically along the knit stitches in the
back, it looks good.
Cables again for March though I have to confess I started this in early February casting on and completing one repeat before putting it aside for most of the rest of the month.
Pattern:Pretzel Scarf by Margie Mitchell from Interweave Holiday Gifts 2013.
This one was not love at first sightI have to admit. It took me quite a while to warm up the beauty of this one and I wasn't fully sold on it till I was nearly finished. The pattern looks so much better in bulk so to speak.
This one is officially the April strip but I cast it on and completed it in the last week or so of March. Lace again.
This is almost the same lace pattern as my Tribute Socks. (See Knitting Gymnastics: Tribute Socks). It was great fun to knit this lace pattern again on a larger scale. It almost flowed off the needles.
April's second strip is a combination of lace and cable and a free pattern: Twisted Ribbons Scarf and Cowl by Kristi Holaas. Here is its progress so far hanging out in the yarn basket in my lounge room.
I'm really loving how all of these are looking together so far. This is going to be a very special rug.
In September 2013, one of my Ravelry groups that I play knitting in cyberspace with, challenged each other to produce a knitted wall hanging over a couple of months. We had a couple of sample patterns to inspire us. We all had a go but overall it stretched a few of us out of our comfort zone. Prolific knitters we certainly are. Creative thinkers outside the square maybe not so much.
But it sparked something in the back of my weird little brain that I think has enormous potential as: (a) a great way to stashbust some yarn, (b) a potential way to do something creative with that stack of swatches many knitters generate, (c) a cool way to sample stitch patterns you love but without having to commit to a full garment and (d) a unique and cheap way to creat original artwork to decorate your walls. I’ve had a number of ideas about how to do this percolating in the back
on my mind for quite a while and it seemed like a great opportunity to
finally stop thinking and start doing.
This I what I started with:
My idea all began with this fox square. The pattern for the fox picture comes from Knit Today issue 81 January 2013 and is is from a bag pattern called Urban Fox.
I’m pretty sure that this is the pattern that made me buy the magazine
originally. One of my eldest daughter’s friends is absolutely obsessed
with all things fox and I thought it would make a good present for her.
Turns out its going to be part of a piece of urban man cave decor.
So this is to go on the walls of my boy’s man cave to go with the
taxidermy stuffed animal heads he is creating. (There are a lot of
dismembered moose and deer stuffed toys in my house currently waiting
for the woodworkers to finish varnishing their plaques).
Then I decided to frame the fox with a series of strips and squares in the
cream/fawn wool of the background used for the fox. I took the
opportunity to play with some patterns that have caught my eye (or
appeal to the boy).
Strip 1: The leaf pattern used in the free scarf/stole/shawl pattern Physalis by Anna Kuduja. Knitted leaves are such fun to make.
Square 2: The Tardis from Bigger on the Inside from Knitty Spring + Summer 2012 by Kate Atherley. (The boy is a missive Doctor who fan).
Square 3: Lace pattern from Friday Night In Jacket by Amanda Jones from Simply Knitting Issue 102. I'm really having a bit of geometric lace phase at the moment.
And here's where the cool bit of the idea for this artwork really comes in. I decided that in order to make this a picture I wasn't going to go the traditional wall hanging route by adding a backing or edging and some sort of hanging rod to the top. I decided to use my knitted fabric to stretch over a purchased canvas.
So then I had to knit two long stocking stitch strips, one for each edge to
wrap around the picture frame. I also knitted a small section of
stocking stitch onto the top of the Tardis square to make this strip the
same length as the others.
Assembly: I bought a pre-stretched canvas frame from
our local Warehouse. (Cost $12 for three - they are about 55 cm high by
45 cm wide). I sewed all pieces together to make a large square. I blocked the
individual pieces before sewing them together. Steam pressed a few
stubborn seams flat. Stretched the knitted piece over the frame. On the long
edges it is long enough to wrap right around the frame and tuck under.
Enlisted help of the head of the household to staple the piece to the
frame around the back using a staple gun. Folded knitted piece carefully
at the corners and stitched in place along folds before stapling for
extra security. I’d show you the back but it’s messy. Added a string
across the frame about 1/3 way down for hanging.
So, I’m proud of this. Proof of concept established. I think this
would work great with swatches too. A million ideas dancing in my head (and I still have two more canvases). Stay tuned.
(Sorry about the wide variety of colours in these photos. The yarn I used to make this is the most frustrating wool to photograph even close to its true colour and it depends too on whether I photograph under artificial light or not. It's closest to creamish warm fawn with an undertone of grey).
