Tag Archives: blanket

Landon’s Sweet Baby Blanket – FREE PATTERN

Posted on April 27, 2013 by | Comments Off on Landon’s Sweet Baby Blanket – FREE PATTERN
Landon's Sweet Baby Blanket
Well, it's a good thing that I actually kept notes and wrote myself a basic pattern for the blanket I made for our family friend's baby named Landon, it seems he's gone viral overnight!  I posted his picture last night on the Midwest Yarn Facebook page upon receiving the appreciation photo - actually, my husband got it texted to him with a follow up saying that the picture was too cute and he might want to hide it from me (because I love baby pictures!).

So Landon's Sweet Baby Blanket is quite simple to do and it's a perfect weekend project to whip up if you have a short deadline like I did.



Gauge:
5 sts per in on US 6 or size to obtain gauge

What you'll need:

  • 40" US 6 Circular Needle or size to obtain gauge (I used a US 5 because I wanted my stitches to be tighter together - big or loose sts mean little fingers can get tangled up in there)
  • Five 50g balls of Main Color - Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo Color 157
  • Two 50g balls of Complimentary Color - Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo Color 169
Glossary:
MC: Main Color
CC: Complementary Color
slm: slip marker
pm: place marker

Instructions:
Cast on 140 sts in CC.  Work in garter st until blanket measures 2" from cast on edge.

Switch to MC.


Row 1: Work first row of letter chart, pm, k to end of row.
Row 2: Purl to marker, slm, work next row of chart.
Row 3: Work next row of chart, slm, k to end of row.
Repeat Rows 2 & 3 until letter chart is complete.
Continue in st st in MC until blanket measures 28" from cast on edge, ending on a WS row.
Switch to CC.
Work in garter st for 2". Bind off loosely.
To complete borders, pick up about 3 sts for every 4 rows along side of blanket. Work in garter st for 1/2". Bind off loosely. Repeat on other side.
Weave in ends. Lightly steam to block.


L - Chart

Feel free to request a copy of a chart for a different letter by emailing me at info@midwestyarn.com, I'll happily send it to you in JPEG format and post a copy here for everyone else.  

Also, if you make this blanket and are on Ravelry.com, make sure to link a project to this free pattern.  I'm interested to see finished projects from this pattern and to know how you like yours.  :)


Update
Here are the charts for the letters that have been requested:

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Reality

Posted on April 10, 2013 by | Comments Off on Reality

There was a question on Facebook this week about seconds. What do you do with your seconds?




So I've had a very busy two months. There was some weaving.

My latest wool blanket


 I was working hard to build up inventory for a new fiber festival in Virginia this month (Powhatan Festival of Fiber).  I took advantage of an opportunity to move from my old studio at LibertyTown

(here my loom is already missing...)

 to a bigger and brighter space that I will share with my painter friend Carol Phifer.





Of course.  It was also FINALLY time to move into our new old house!  So the Saturday before the house move I decided to throw out my back. 

 I have finally learned the lesson of Asking for Help.  Artist friends helped with the studio, neighbors helped move items we didn't want the movers to take, the UMW girls rugby club (Rent a Rugger) helped move my pottery studio gear from the shed behind our rental and my buddy  Beth (Artist in Residence Extraordinaire) and her fantastic significant other helped me move my kiln.

After a full day of movers loading the truck, then unloading the truck we were left with this.


and this



We are getting there.  But slowly as I am still being careful with The Back.


Medicine helps.


Which brings us back to the discussion concerning seconds.  During all this moving and rearranging I had a kiln load of pots turn out less then good.  Sellable?  Maybe. But not a good representation of my work for a new show.  Seconds? I struggled with the idea of selling some at the LibertyTown artist yard sale in two weeks....but I finally decided that I was not happy with them and did not want them in circulation.  No matter that many people might not see the flaws.

So out came the hammer.
And it felt good.  No regrets.  (The best sign that it was the right choice.)

And since there is no time to recreate that load and my back is still healing I had to make the decision to pull out of the April show.

I will spend the next weeks setting up my home studio, organizing the home weaving space and working to have the few problems in the new place fixed.

And icing.

It's all good.

Even if that little clay box can hold half a kiln load of pots.

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Snow!

Posted on January 24, 2013 by | Comments Off on Snow!

We finally had a little snow last night.  IF my shovel and broom weren't packed away somewhere it would be easy to clear walks and the car. But a MOP had to suffice....


(If you look closely you can see it leaning next to the door.)



Killer Bunny is our snow gauge.  (He's about 2 feet high.)

Tracey's talk of weaving pushed me to get to the studio and work on my latest wool blanket.  I work in stages to save my back.  It is nice to finish all the warping one day, so that you can walk in and just start weaving the next.....very satisfying.



It's going pretty quickly with this simple pattern.  I will probably be painting at the house but hope to finish  this over the weekend.  Greg is driving to Florida for a week of "work" so I will have only Layla to give me a schedule!

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Knitted: Pound of Love

Posted on September 28, 2012 by | Comments Off on Knitted: Pound of Love

Hey, remember this? I’m finished!

I’m not going to show off the whole blanket– it’s supposed to be a gift (and a surprise, at that!), after all– but I can confirm that it’s perfectly sized. Big enough so that you can curl up on the couch without your feet sticking out, but small enough to carry around on your shoulders. I know she’ll love it.

Pattern: Shale Baby Blanket by Jared Flood
Yarn: Lion Brand Pound of Love, 1 ball (that’s a little over 1000 yds!)
Needles: US sz. 9 Takumi circulars
Time Frame: February 1, 2011 – July 6, 2012
Ravelry: here


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Working On: Pound of Love

Posted on August 1, 2012 by | Comments Off on Working On: Pound of Love

Maybe two years ago, I bought an art book on experimental knitting, and, shortly afterwards, I decided to knit my Halloween costume that year.

That plan fizzled, but the $7 jumbo-skein of cornflower-blue acrylic, Lion Brand’s Pound of Love, lived on until the day I learned that my sister had washed her blanket in the washing machine.

Luckily, I had just the yarn, and I wanted to try out another blanket pattern:

However, it’s pretty slow going.


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