A Frog

 

When I posted all my WIPs in September I didn’t mention that I wanted to frog three projects. One was a no brainer as it was a baby item that was too small. The other two were projects where I liked the yarn but not the finished items but I did not want to frog until I had made a decision about what I would make with the reclaimed yarn. And to that extent one project is going to remain as an unworn sweater.

One project I was unhappy with was the wrap I made from my Advent yarn in 2019/2020. In my effort to use all the yarn I had ended up with something that I would never wear but if I was going to make something else with the yarn, I still wanted something where I would use most of the yarn. At the end of November I came across a newly published crochet pattern that used a mini set to create a blanket. Bonus, the pattern was free until 1 December. Although I can’t really call it a bonus as it was pretty obvious that the pattern hadn’t been test crocheted. I came across an error very early on and decided to put a note on my project page about it. I was contacted by someone else about it and the maker went on to contact the designer who confirmed the error. The designer put an errata on the pattern page but did not contact any of the prior purchasers of the pattern, which is easy to do with a global email. I feel like the early makers were the test crocheters without knowing that’s what they were. And I’m glad I didn’t pay for the pattern. It is really easy to get test makers but I am guessing the designer wanted to get this pattern out before December and people started to receive their Advents/Countdown yarns.

One of the reasons I had put off frogging the original project was keeping track of the individual yarns and keeping them in order. When I decided to go ahead with this pattern, I literally just worked from the bind off, also as it is crochet I was able to work a colour per day. (OK, some days I was working catch up but I was never more than a day behind and did finish the main part on 24 December.

 

The pattern is made with 24 mini-skeins plus a yarn for a border. It wasn’t until I got to Day 24 that I realized that my set had 25 minis. So I decided to use the last one for the border. The border is two rows but I got just one row from a mini so I left it at that as I couldn’t find anything in my stash that worked well.

 

Yes, I am pleased with the end result. Although it is another blanket. It can be folded in half to make a triangular shawl if I want to wear it that way.

 

A Big Finish

This is another of my WIPs that I finally finished. Last year a group of us that meet regularly via Zoom decided to do a yarn swap. Actually, one person suggested it and organized it and a number of us jumped at the idea. The plan was to send 10 grams of yarn which represented you to each participant and we ended up with the equivalent of two skeins of fingering weight yarn each. I purchased two skeins of yarn at the Vista Fiber Festival so that I could send local yarn around the world.

The only problem that was encountered was that the US was not accepting any mail for Australia so our Australian participant had to wait until January for all her packages.

I opened a package a day from mid-December but did not start a project until I had opened them all as I wanted to see all the mini skeins to decide on the order I would work them – in the end that did not matter and you will see why in the completed project.

We all made different things. I knew that what I made had to use all the yarns and had to be something I would wear/use. A blanket seemed the best thing. I chose a crochet pattern and knew that I would have to add my own yarn to it. Well that was a disaster. Not in the execution as it came out nicely but in its size. Although I would be adding my own yarn to make a border, I would have had to add so much it would have taken away from the delight of the yarns sent. But I was still certain that a blanket was the best idea.

I chose a knitting pattern from a book I own and decided to hold the yarn quadrupled. You read that correctly, four strands of yarn. When I had frogged the original project I had wound the yarn into one big ball thinking I would use it that way but with this decision I had to wind each colour then wind again to get a double strand so that I could work from the inner and outer of the ball to get four strands. I used two greys I had in my stash for the outer circle and had to buy another skein of grey to be able to complete them all. The squares are joined with a yarn that I bought at the Fiber Fiesta at the same time as my swap yarn and the outer border is worked using the yarn I purchased at this year’s Fiber Fiesta with the thought that it would be used in this blanket. I am especially pleased with the cast off. For some squares I had more yarn than was needed so all these ends were used in a knotted bind off. I was even able to add in the Simpson’s yarn that had been sent as a bonus by one of the participants.

I am very happy with the finished item. It is soft and big enough as a lap blanket and each square is individual so you can really see each individual yarn. The blanket has been blocked a few times but due to the shape of each square and different yarns used, it is not going to lie absolutely flat and I am OK with that as I have a one-of-a-kind piece that brings so much joy.