Charity Blankets

I decided to make a post with all my blankets for Crochet Blankets for Seniors. 

 Lionbrand "Homespun", garter stitch, corner to corner rectangle. I did the increases by starting each row K1, YO. For the decreases, it became K1, YO, sl1, k2tog, psso. It created a nice edge, so I didn't crochet a border.

 Collection of worsted weight yarns, and fun fur; corner to corner rectangle in garter stitch, simple single crochet border.

Three panel stockinette, made on bulky knitting machine. Joined on the knitting machine with a heart trim.  Worsted weight yarn. 

Three panels of 1x1 ribbing, made on a bulky knitting machine. It is very stretchy. Mystery coned yarns. 

Corner to corner rectangles in worsted weight yarns and a  single crochet border.

Corner to corner rectangle in worsted weight yarn and a single crochet border.

Zig Zag chevrons in worsted weight yarns. Side borders in garter stitch added after to get a bit more width.

Corner to corner rectangle in Bernat "Masala" on a cone, done in garter stitch.

 Granny stitch rectangle done in Bernat "Denim Style" with additional rows on the ends to get it to the right dimensions.

Corner to corner in garter stitch. Worsted weight yarns and several novelty yarns. Pinks, purples, white and black.

"Pipsqueak", two rows garter stitch alternating with 2 rows white worsted weight yarn. 

Corner 2 Corner crochet rectangle in worsted weight yarn. 

These crochet C2C blankets start out really fast, but once you get into the section with no increases, it really starts to feel like it will take forever. And they eat yarn.

Another C2C worsted weight blanket, in more manly colours. Much of my stash is more girly colours and since most yarn crafters are women, I'm sure I'm not the only one with this issue.

C2C crochet in worsted weight "fox", cream and black. 

The starting section of a C2C crochet blanket. I was having trouble getting into the pattern and you can see my mistakes on the top white row. 

I'm not a fan of knitting/crocheting blocks and sewing them together. I know it's convenient but it's just not my thing. It can get crazy with the stash blankets, carting around a bag of many small balls and a growing blanket. I enjoy these though, especially when I can use yarns from the stash, and supplement with just a ball or two of new yarn.  I think my next one will be a corner to corner crochet blanket again. Time to go stash diving!

For more details on the blankets, go to THIS LINK which will have all the posts about the blankets

Homespun Charity Blanket

I don't know why Lionbrand named this yarn "Homespun". My aunt used to spin her own wool, and it only looks like this when my cousin and I tried spinning. And it was never acrylic fiber!

I dug out all the blue Homespun I could find and got knitting. I had more than 400gr, so I thought that would be enough. As I got to the last section, it was becoming clear I did not have enough. I went back to my stash and found some small bobbins of the yarns. Kept knitting...even though I really knew it would not be enough. And my colour sections were getting thinner and thinner.

So, I swallowed my pride and headed to Michael's.

I ripped further back than where I had left off, so I could get rid of those small sections. I had run out of the greeny blue so I ripped back past the last section of that, so I could use that bobbin further towards the end.

This yarn has such a nice sheen, though it's not all that fun to knit. There is a binder thread which gives the yarn its texture, and it often gets caught on the needles. And, I'm not a huge fan of the feel of the yarn. But it does look spectacular.

Yarn In:  2238gr
Yarn Out:  519gr + 977gr = 1496gr
Balance:  742gr more IN than out
Costs: $15.33/23 days = $0.67/day

Colourful Charity Blanket

I've made a couple of these "bit of everything" blankets. Since my supply of basic, solid colour worsted weight yarn is actually dwindling quite quickly, I decided to add some textured, fun yarns. I've done blankets before with the fun fur, but there's still more to use up. However, when I dug into my "textured yarns" bin, so many of them said "Handwash". Quite often, for myself, this just means wash on the gentle cycle. These blankets go to institutional settings, so I have to be sure they'll survive industrial washing and drying.

I started this before Christmas by a couple days, and finished....I dunno. Two weeks ago? I've changed how I work the yarn ends in. I used to leave them and when done (or when I just needed a break from the actual knitting), I would duplicate stitch them into their matching colour. This keeps them really hidden, and very secure. But it's very time consuming. Now, I take the new yarn, and the old end, and knit about 4 stitches together. On the return row, knit back a few stitches with both, then continue with the end of the new yarn, knit a few stitches, and a few on the return row. This seems to be working very well and doesn't show too much with all these colours.

One of the yarns had these little sequins on it.  Texture, sparkle, colours. It's a crazy blanket and pretty much used up most of my suitable worsted weight yarns. I still have lots of variegated yarns and that new donation of yarns. I'll be knitting blankets for awhile yet!

Yarn In:  2238gr
Yarn Out:  599gr + 378gr = 977gr
Balance:  1261gr more IN than out
Costs: $15.33/22 days = $0.70/day

Charity Blanket

I've got some blankets to donate! I'll just do one for this post.

 This one uses yarn from the big donation. It weighs in at a whopping 573gr.  I know the pink/brown/cream yarn is Loops & Threads "Impeccable" (I think).

I made it on the SK155, three panels of 46 sts (I believe), at T5 with a gauge of 16st/4", 23 rows/4". I'm not 100% certain it really was T5. That's what I used, but sometimes the tension dial comes out of groove. 

To join the panels, I used the String of Hearts by Diana Sullivan. I think the edging looks very similar to her cable edging. I cast on 3 sts, knit 6 rows, pick up 3 stitches/rows starting with the edge st of the trim and place them on the hooks with the original 3 sts. Knit 6 rows.

 That lumpy part towards the bottom is where the end meets the start. Diana doesn't say how to do it.

 This blanket ended up a bit wider than the 35 or 36" it should have been. The panel joining did not exactly take away 1/2 a stitch on each side like seaming does. There's actually a gap between the panels.

 This might have been the join. It'll do for now.

 Another thing she doesn't explain is how to end the hearts. I did a few rows of  waste yarn, then when I was doing the edging, I ripped out the waste yarn and saw I needed to take out a few rows of the hearts.

If I had followed the advice I give others, I would have tried the edging on a swatch. Turns out picking up in each stitch was too many. Steam helped.

Adding a trim doesn't always mean the curl magically disappears. It still required a good steaming, and there is still a bit of rolling.
This blanket used a lot more yarn than I thought it would. I had the variegated from the donation, plus some from before. Of course it's a different dye lot. I interspersed it with the newer yarn. Carried the yarn up the side, or cut it when I wanted to do a large patch of one of the yarns. The beige and pink were also from the donation. Of course, the pink isn't an exact match. There never is exact matches for variegated yarns. I don't know why.

Yarn In:  2238gr
Yarn Out:  26gr + 573gr= 599gr
Balance:  1639gr more IN than out
Costs: $15.33/22 days = $0.70/day

I Bought Yarn

Yes, I had too. I've been working on this blanket:

 A corner to corner rectangle using 4 different Lionbrand Homespun colours. I have 14 stitches left, so about 11 rows. I ran out of one of the colours (the greenish blue) a little while ago. I went digging in my stash bins and found some little bobbins of the yarn, but they really didn't get me very far. I also think this is a smidge on the narrow side. Michaels had the bright blue, so I picked up a skein (170gr). I'm going to rip it back a bit to get rid of the small bits and encorporate the new yarn, rather than doing the last 11 rows all in one colour.

 I've been working on this blanket to donate to the local dialysis unit, in memory of my sister-in-law, who's favourite colour was purple. It took me forever to get the heart right--the right yarn, following the chart... I ripped it so many times. Then it finally took off. Until I ran out of yarn. I bought a 6 balls pack of it back in the late summer, up at my Mom's. There's a little general store type of place that sells Patons/Bernat yarns and seems to go to the Spinrite Tent Sale to stock up for their store.

It's a corner to corner crochet blanket. Maybe if it was knitted, it would have had enough yarn. It feels a bit stiff too. I've done a swatch on the SK155 in a tuck stitch, so I'm going to try that.

These are the yarns I bought. The pink has the same gauge as the Patons Shetland Chunky, but not the texture. I'll do the pink heart, maybe some pink edging too. It doesn't have to be a huge blanket. It just needs to be done. 

Yarn In:  1786gr + 452gr = 2238gr
Yarn Out:  26gr
Balance:  2212gr more IN than out
Costs: $15.33/21 days = $0.73/day

Tire Tracks

Or...when your underwear matches your t-shirt.

I don't sew a lot for Rob, except the Boxerwear and the occasional t-shirt. I bought dress pant pattern from Thread Theory, but haven't gotten to them yet. I was thinking of making him a dress shirt, but then he got a huge box from his BIL.  All really nice, expensive shirts. So t-shirts and underwear and all he needs from me LOL

I started with the shirt, picking up this fabric on a clearance sale. I think there was only 1m available. 

1. 

Then, December 2018, just after Christmas, maybe for Boxing Day, the Jeep fabric came up. There was only 1/2m available and I snagged it fast. I planned to make my Dad some more Boxerwear. Then a couple days after Christmas, he took a sudden turn for the worse and was admitted to the hospital. My fabric arrived on Jan 2, and instead of the Jeep fabric, they sent more of the tire tracks! I sent off an email and she said there was more and would send it. Two out of the first three orders from this company were wrong, though they were great about fixing the errors. 

What can't be fixed is the fading. The Jeep fabric faded pretty badly.  Rob says it's cause it's Jeep quality LOL.  The tire track fabric did fade some too but has more shades to begin with. Some of the other black based prints I've used for his Boxerwear have held up great! Those were bought in a destash though and I don't know the original source. 

Not the best picture, but oh well. It's been hard to find men's fabric that isn't video game, sports teams, or designed for boys. I want manly fabrics, not boy fabrics! 

Not Much of a Dent

The first thing I did after examining all the donated yarn was make a little teddy bear. I used to make these, and called them "Pocket Buddies". The Pattern is "Knitted Twin Bears: Bill and Ben" but I knit it in the round. There are a few issues with the pattern. It's not well written. If you need help, just holler.

I wasn't entirely sure of which part of the head was the nose and what part was the back. I believe I used the cast on as the back of the head

I'm not overly pleased with the ears. I think I did something different last time. 

 One detail that is rather vague is sewing up.  Because I did it in the round, I didn't have to worry about seaming the parts, but I had to figure out how the pieces go on. Looking at pictures on Ravelry, (and even my own previous versions), I couldn't tell exactly which end of the arm went on the shoulder. I opted for the skinny end.

I had intended to donate this guy to the Crocheted Blankets for Seniors group. They also collect knitted bears and dolls for Alzheimer's patients. However, he might be too small.


He weighs in at a whopping 26gr.

Yarn In:  1786gr
Yarn Out:  26gr
Balance:  1760gr more IN than out
Costs: $0

So...About That Yarn Donation

Right before New Year's Eve, I got offered a bag of yarn from Crochet Blankets for Seniors, to work up into more blankets. Great, because I was actually getting low in my supply of basic worsted weight yarns!

Wowszers. See that pink/beige/brown yarn at the centre bottom? That was actually on the top of the pile in the bag. There were two balls of it. I recognized it immediately as a yarn I've used in the past, and also here, and I love the colour combination. There is also some Patons "Decor" which I have a big bag of in my stash.

In total, there is 1786gr! That is more than I bought in 2018! So far, I've made a Pocket Buddy Bear, and I have a blanket on the knitting machine that is going to use up over 300grams. It feels really heavy. It is surprising how much yarn edges use up!

Yarn In:  1786gr
Yarn Out:  0gr
Balance:  1786gr more IN than out
Costs: $0

More Sunset Loungers

I never really liked the grey "lounge" pants I made earlier  I decided to make another pair using the Sunset Loungers pattern. I think I used the same fabric. For the waist, I used the fabric I used for the "Infinity Top" .

However...this fabric has extreme recovery, or maybe it's not enough stretch? The waistband ended up way too small. I didn't have enough to make another waistband, so I ripped it off and added a section. I should have split the band and centered the new panel at the back, but since I never tuck anything in, I figured it didn't matter and I just added it to the end, which mean that side seam doesn't line up (because I had already made the holes for the tie, which needed to stay centered at the front).

This might be hiked up a little much LOL

I don't usually wear my shirt like this but I was trying to show the waistband. They are much better than those other pants, but the kids say I'm not allowed to wear these outside of the house. I have caught my foot in the hem when going up/down the stairs a few times LOL. I have considered narrowing the leg a little, but well...I'm lazy.