Pattern: Iona by Lucy Hague (link to Pattern Page on her website)
Knitting Started: January 18, 2021
Finished: May 28, 2022
Made for: Síle aka me
Yarns: Bernat Premium (100% acrylic; 360yds = 198g)
- 63.6 g of "Fresh Green" = 115.6 yds
- 54g of "58541 Sky Blue" = 98.2 yds
- 31g of "58556 Iced Aqua" = 56.4 yds
- 16g of "Pink" and "Natural" = 29.1 yds
Needle size: 4.0mm/ US 6
Notes & photos:
May 20, 2020: Iona's an island and so is Newfoundland, so this isn't that much of a stretch, is it?
Here's my plan:
I'm going to the squares representing the daily weather where I live. I'll use temperature rangesof 5°C. The daily high will be the knot color. The daily low will be the background color. If those numbers fall in the same range, I'll use a decided upon neutral for the knot.
Temps in Celsius (color code from spreadsheet) yarn color
below -20 (K) ---
-19 to -15 (J) Pink/Natural
-14 to -10 (I) Iced Aqua
-9 to -5 (H) Fresh Green
-4 to 0 (G) Sky Blue
1 to 5 (F)
6 to 10 (E)
11 to 15 (D)
16 to 20 (C)
21 to 25 (B)
26 and above (A)
high & low in same range (knot): gray
spacing squares: gray knots on black squares
first tally conducted Sept 4, covering dates Jan 1 to Sept 3
Note: according to the pattern, it takes 30 yds of knot color and 26 yds of background color to make a square using fingering weight yarn
Sept. 4, 2020: One thing I notice with this pattern: the start with the 1-into-7 is really tight, so going to need larger needles than normal for the yarn weight for at least the first 3 rnds, so 6 knitted rnds (3 charted + 3 set-up); maybe the whole thing needs to be done on larger needles? 🤔
Ok, so looking over other projects has given me some really good tips, keeping the 1-into-7 loose being the major one; also pointy needles are good. And I notice that one needle size up from the recommended is standard, so I'll give it a whirl with 3.5mm dpns. Jan 1 had a high in F and a low in H so I'll need to sort out my colors and then do a swatch/test square. 366 squares is going to be a task and a half! lol
That's my other thing to figure out: dimensions/placement of squares. What is a good way to place 366 squares?? -> I have come up with the idea to use black squares with gray knots as "month breaks" and filler pieces along the bottom. This gives me an arrangement of 12 squares x 32; so 384 total. Yikes! lol I do go for the darndest things, don't I? Now to locate a washable yarn with a minimum range of 11 visibly different colors + gray and black (I'm envisioning the gray as a lighter/silvery shade so it contrasts nicely with everything.
Sept. 5, 2020: After boggling my mind with yardage yesterday, and the year not being over, I wonder if I could maybe do a weekly average square instead; figure out the average high and low for every 7 days, and make squares accordingly. Time to play with my spreadsheet.
Ok, much better. A total of 63 squares 😊 7x9 squares; right now that's 15 balls of yarn. Time to check colors.
January 17, 2021: Finally getting around to starting this. I decided to go with the 7 day average high & low square. As I'll be using worsted weight yarn, the squares will be quite large so 7x9 squares should be a good size.
spacing squares - 10
January 1-7: -1/-7 = G/H (Jan 18-19) (G = (18.15g) 33 yds; H = (16.99g) 30.9 yds)
January 8-14: -2/-14 = G/I (Feb 6-7) (G = (17.875g) 32.5 yds; I = (16.01g) 29.1 yds)
January 15-21: -5/-16 = H/J (April 17) (H = (18g) 32.7 yds; J = (16g) 29.1 yds)
January 22-28: -1/-13 = G/I (April 19-20) (G = (18g) 32.7 yds; I = (15g) 27.3 yds)
Jan 29-Feb 4: -1/-10 = G/I
February 5-11: -2/-10 = G/I
February 12-18: -4/-14 = G/I
February 19-25: 0/-13 = G/I
Feb 26-March 3: -1/-10 = G/I
March 4-10: -1/-10 = G/I
March 11-17: 0/-10 = G/I
March 18-24: 2/-9 = F/H
March 25-31: 2/-4 = F/G
April 1-7: 3/-3 = F/G
April 8-14: 6/-3 = E/G
April 15-21: 5/-4 = F/G
April 22-28: 7/-3 = E/G
April 29-May 5: 9/0 = E/G
May 6-12: 8/0 = E/G
May 13-19: 7/-1 = E/G
May 20-26: 16/0 = C/G
May 27-June 2: 19/8 = C/E
June 3-9: 14/6 = D/E
June 10-16: 19/5 = C/E
June 17-23: 20/8 = C/E
June 24-30: 24/14 = B/D
July 1-7: 18/7 = C/E
July 8-14: 21/10 = B/E
July 15-21: 23/9 = B/E
July 22-28: 23/12 = B/D
July 29-Aug 4: 21/12 = B/D
August 5-11: 28/14 = A/D
August 12-18: 24/11 = B/D
August 19-25: 23/11 = B/D
Aug 26-Sept 1: 18/8 = C/E
September 2-8: 22/10 = B/E
September 9-15: 19/7 = C/E
September 16-22: 15/4 = D/F
September 23-29: 20/9 = C/E
Sept 30-Oct 6: 17/8 = C/E
October 7-13: 13/2 = D/F
October 14-20: 16/5 = C/F
October 21-27: 10/0 = E/G
Oct 28-Nov 3: 6/-2 = E/G
November 4-10: 6/-3 = E/G
November 11-17: 8/0 = E/G
November 18-24: 5/-5 = F/H
Nov 25-Dec 1: 5/-2 = F/G
December 2-8: 9/2 = E/F
December 9-15: 1/-3 = F/G
December 16-22: 2/-5 = F/H
December 23-29: 5/-4 = F/G
December 30 & 31: 2/-7 = F/H
This means I don't need color K, and only small amounts of A and J, but wowzers do I ever need F and G! We spent a lot of time with temps between -4 & +5 in 2020. When a square is knit I will remove the bolding and add a photo... that would be a lot of photos. Hmm, will have to rethink that part.
Jan. 18, 2021: first square just before switching to a circ
Jan. 19, 2021: Too late to be included in the SDW for January but I'll be ready for February's!
Woot! One down, 62 to go! I really like it though. After the first 3-4 rnds it becomes much less tricky and settles into an enjoyable cable knit. I always thought the cables were on a bed of reverse stockinette, but it's actually garter st, which gives a lovely squishiness to the piece.
Feb. 5, 2021: Square Dance Weekend is here again 😊 I'm hoping to catch up a bit with my squares. Hmm, I'm 4 behind, 3 of which are G/I, as is this week's square. The other is H/J; the only bit of J I need to use in he entire project too. Ok, let's see where I get to this weekend...
Feb. 7, 2021: Dang, only managed 1 square and I don't think I'll get a second one in before SDW ends.
April 16, 2021: SDW returns! And hopefully a third square for this project! Onwards!
April 17, 2021: Finished the third square :)
April 20, 2021: This one was 8 rnds and the cast off shy of counting for the April SDW; oh well, I still have twice the number of squares done compared to Friday. Almost done with January! Only 3 months late lol
September 9, 2021: I'm so far behind on this. I love the squares but the project needs to be in timeout until I'm caught up with other things.
May 28, 2022: Being honest here, I'm not going to finish this sadly. I will revisit the temperature blanket concept at some point, I'm sure. But this project needs to be declared done or frogged because it's not going anywhere.
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