Pattern: Aria Blanket by Lucy at Attic24 (link to pattern on blog)
Started: September 10, 2021
Finished: squares completed and all joined: October 9, 2023; borders completed:
Made for: Síle aka Me (kit was a surprise gift from Sonia)
Yarn: Stylecraft Special DK (100% acrylic; 322yds/295m = 100g)
- 16.5g of "1852 Apple" (dyelot: 3135; started with 101g; finished with xg) = 53.1 yds
- 19g of "1082 Bluebell" (dyelot: 3452; started with 101g; finished with 82g) = 61.2 yds
- 15g of "1432 Wisteria" (dyelot: 9915; started with 101g; finished with xg) = 48.3yds
- 15g of "1725 Sage" (dyelot: 3406; started with 102g; finished with xg) = 48.3yds
- 12g of "1828 Boysenberry" (dyelot: 3299; started with 101g; finished with xg) = 38.6yds
- 57g of "1277 Violet" (dyelot: 2985; started with 102g; finished with 45g) = 183.54yds
- 13.5g of "1712 Lime" (dyelot: 3632; started with 102g; finished with xg) = 43.5yds
- 7.5g of "1083 Pomegranate" (dyelot: 2972; started with 101g; finished with xg) = 24.2yds
- 20g of "1019 Cloud Blue" (dyelot: 3440; started with 103g; finished with 83g) = 64.4yds
- 10.5g of "1855 Proper Purple" (dyelot: 3412; started with 101g; finished with xg) = 33.8g
- 21g of"1841 Cornish Blue" (dyelot: 3237; started with 104g; finished with 83g) = 67.6 yds
- 9g of "1723 Tomato" (dyelot: 3404; started with 105g; finished with 96g) = 29 yds
- 13g of "1842 Spearmint" (dyelot: 2934; started with 102g; finished with 89g) = 41.9 yds
- 12g of "1822 Pistachio" (dyelot: 3131; started with 100g; finished with xg) = 38.6yds
- 13.5g of "1709 Gold" (dyelot: 3289; started with 106g; finished with xg) = 43.5yds
- xxg of "1852 Apple" (dyelot: 10710; started with 102g; finished with zg) = lmno yds
- 50g of "1432 Wisteria" (dyelot: 10509; started with 98g; finished with 48g) = 161yds
- xxg of "1725 Sage" (dyelot: 10517; started with 102g; finished with zg) = lmno yds
- 43g of "1828 Boysenberry" (dyelot: 10527; started with 97g; finished with 54g) = 138.46yds
- xxg of "1712 Lime" (dyelot: 3632; started with 103g; finished with zg) = lmno yds
- xxg of "1083 Pomegranate" (dyelot: 2972; started with 102g; finished with zg) = lmno yds
- 51g of "1855 Proper Purple" (dyelot: 10740; started with 103g; finished with 52g) = 164.22yds
- xxg of "1822 Pistachio" (dyelot: 10080; started with 101g; finished with zg) = lmno yds
- xxg of "1709 Gold" (dyelot: 10399; started with 100g; finished with zg) = lmno yds
Hook size: 3.0mm
Notes & Photos:
Sept. 10: Hurricane Larry is on its way to Newfoundland! I need a semi-mindless project. Plus it's Square Dance Weekend at Ilvermorny. AND on top of that this lovely kit arrived yesterday; a complete and utter surprise from S :)
Oh! And K (aka Roomie Sis) is in St. John's!! I'm here with the cats, alone. Actually it isn't too bad so far. I have extra water in the fridge, plus in the bathtub. I have candles and my devices are charged in case of an outage. And I have food that doesn't require electricity to prepare/eat. I've got this.
And this lovely blanket kit! The yarn is sooooo soft! I would've sworn it is merino. Seriously; excellent quality. And the colors!! Oh my, you have to see the variety of colors! It's a bag of rainbows! Here's the two photos I took before I started weighing the skeins:
Aren't they glorious?? I love color lol Ok, enough fawning over the yarn, it's time to start. It's recommended to make a gauge square to keep to a size (4 inches or less) that you won't run out of yarn. The recommended hook is a 4.0mm, and since I'm not familiar with this yarn that's what I'm starting with.
Later: Um, well 4.0mm is not going to work. My square is 4.5 inches across instead of only 4 inches (or less!). So, going to re-do this with my 3.5mm hook. The mis-sized square:
Later (11:06pm): Closer but I still haven't got the cigar!!!! Oh my. Going down to 3.0mm! (My 3.25mm hook is mysteriously AWOL. I'm not even sure where it could be) And as always the mis-sized square:
On to the actual blanket!
Later (Sept 11 - 1:44am): First square done :) From inside out, Apple, Bluebell, & Wisteria
Later (Sept 11 - 4:03am): And that's another finished :) Square 2 is Sage, Boysenberry, & Violet:
Later (Sept 11 - 5:31am): I've added another square (which I think matches me with C in our little Staff make-along). I have a rhythm going with the pieces although I still need to check the instructions for the joining section. Square 3 is colors lime, pomegranate, & boysenberry. Here's the third square all joined up to the first two:
The blanket is 12 squares across and 12 down; 144 squares total. This could take awhile lol
Sept. 12: I've made and joined 3 more squares :) The first one s cloud blue, bluebell & proper purple. The second is violet, cloud blue & bluebell. The third is apple, proper purple & wisteria. And here's a photo of all 6 currently complete squares:
Oct. 18: I have 24 squares done now! 2 full rows! 18 done this SDW! :) Crappy weather is a great reason to stay in and stitch. Here's what the blanket is looking like now:
Nov. 19: The return of SDW, and it's a rainy ol' day :) Guess I'll just have to hunker down and get my "Meeting" underway ;)
Nov. 21: 6 squares for this dance :)
Dec. 4: 1 square for this month's dance. Too many other things need finishing this month, plus tonight's my speculaas baking night :)
Jan. 9/22: We've decided to have a weekly check in during our Friday Zoom chats where we'll each send the other two a photo of the last square we completed. This might motivate us to work on our blankets more often. So tonight I did 2 more squares, bringing me to 33/144. 3 more and I'm a quarter done.
Jan. 24/22: Submitted #34 for January SDW. Jakey broke me Saturday; weird crack/grinding sound in my back followed by odd cold breeze feeling in both legs and a lot of pain in 3 spots of my back :( So much for getting back into my heavies this month
Feb. 28/22: Another Square Dance Weekend and 2 more squares done. These are #37 and #38. Somehow I failed to record squares #35 and #36? 🤔 No clue how that happened. Here are 37 & 38:
March 21/22: Square 39 completed for this month's SDW. Not much but it's progress! Once I get Squish's sweater done I can put some extra time into this.
April 8/22: Nearly done my 1st square of the weekend :) This is square 40
April 11/22: Woot! Got 9 done to complete row 4 :) That's now 48/144 or one quarter :)
June 3/22: Another SDW is here! Time to make a dent in this blanket.
later: Got one square done. But then I had an unpleasant surprise. Sometime during our cleaning, Silver got upset and peed on the meshbag holding the yarn for this project. So I reached into the bag to get the balls for square 51 and noticed a weird crusty spot on one. A quick sniff told me what it was, and then I examined the bag and found the noticeable spot. In the end 9 balls were hit. 6 were spared.
I carefully removed the ball bands and thought I tied the bag up tight enough to wash them but upon taking them out of the washer, an absolute horror of tangled yarn was facing me. Needless to say, I can't face it right now. I want to cry thinking about it! This will remain at 50 squares for quite awhile until I sort out all that mess 😭
Square 50:
July 14/22: She said she did it but I was still surprised when I went to the mail today and there was a great big bundle from Wool Warehouse. Yup, my wonderful friend who gifted me the kit in the first place sent a second one so I can finish my blanket 🥹 I have the absolute best craft pals.
And it arrived right in time for this month's SDW. Serendipity! I won't have missed one on this project, although I also plan to make at least one square on my RGH as well.
I'm not quite sure how to go about estimating how much yarn has been used so far either, but I'll figure something out!
July 17/22 (6:07pm NDT): I've weighed the 6 not-tangled together skeins, and figured out how many squares have used each of them. I hope I can estimate from that how much I've used of the other colors. Then I can "close off" those lines and add in the new ones. This is going to be a tangle of its own. Oh well! It also means I'll have a yardage estimate on the first 50 squares so that's good. Off to math so I can get to crochet a square or two today!! The estimated numbers based on 1.5g/sq will be in bold type.
(6:49pm NDT): I've calculated that I've crocheted 576.4 yards in the existing 50 squares. Now to add the second balls of the various colors to my yarn list, weigh them and start crocheting again...
(7:56pm NDT): I've weighed the new yarn and organized it with the 6 good skeins from the original. Now to tackle square 51: Cornish blue, apple, and spearmint.
July 18/22 (9:01pm NDT): In spite of humidity and thunderstorm warnings and watches, I've completed squares 51-55 since my last update. That's enough dancing for this weekend lol New pic of the whole blanket:
September 9/22: (2:57am NDT): Square Dance Weekend has returned! Woot! I need 5 squares to finish row 5 on this beauty. 5 is the goal, anything else is pure gravy. Let's do this!...
September 11/22 (6pm NDT): What is it about SDW and September hurricanes? Last year it was Larry, this year it's Earl. Only rain and a bit of wind here thankfully. Oddly more than we got with Larry out this way. Storms are weird!
I can report 8 squares done so far :) Hoping to get a few more done but I've got a bit of a sinus thing happening giving me a headache and sore throat 🤧🤒 Will see my final tally tomorrow
September 12/22 (11:58pm NDT): Completed squares 56 to 68 😊 13 squares done this SDW, and here's how it's looking:
October 15/22 (5:43am NDT): SDW is back! I need 4 squares to finish row 6 and hit the halfway mark! And Sistwerp is off to Town in a couple hours so I'll have lots of crafting time this weekend :) 4 squares and a completed swatch for Ceol is my goal; we'll see how that goes!
October 17/22 (1:37am NDT): 4 squares done to finish the row 😊 Officially half done with this project!
And here's square 73:
December 5/22: Square 74 finished for the December SDW 😊
January 13/23 (2:35am NST): SDW has returned! My goal is to knock out 10 squares (75-84) to complete the current row. Will I get to 84 before Monday night? I've done it before lol
January 16/23 (11:11pm NST): 13 squares! I made squares 75-87 this weekend 😊 Here's where that puts me:
Oh and I need to put this pic here too. My blanket has been claimed and I almost didn't get to join in a few squares yesterday lol. That floofy face! Do you hear Jakey saying 'What you mean your blankie? Clearly is my blankie, Auntie!"
February 5/23 (7:10am NST): Just completed square 102! That makes 15 so far this weekend. Might get row 9 completed at this rate lol We shall see! 😉
February 6/23: (8:39pm NST): I've finished row 9 lol I think 21 squares is sufficient for one weekend so am stopping here to grab the photo. Only 3 more rows of squares left before the border!
March 3/23: SDW has returned and it's time to crochet some squares! I ended last time with square 108, so this weekend I'm aiming for 12 squares to get another full row in. That would give me 120 squares done, and 2 rows left to go 😊 Let's get at it!
March 6/23: 10 squares this weekend 😊 Not quite my goal but a decent amount of work. This is squares 109-118 done. And it's all coming together:
June 10/23 (6:38pm NDT): Haven't touched this in too long (rotator cuff injury flare up for ~ 6 weeks), but it's June's SDW and I'm ready to dance some squares! Starting where I left off in March, at square 119. No goal this month; I'm still trying to take things a bit easy with my arm. Off I go; to the dance!...
June 12/23 (10:36pm NDT): 4 squares this weekend; 119 through 122. I'm happy with that. Here's where that puts the blanket (excuse the state of the chair; only the cats sit on it):
That leaves 22 squares and the border to go; I think this will be done by year's end 😊
June 30/23 (1:16am NDT): SDW returns in 14 minutes! I won't be picking up my hook until daylight returns *yawn*. But I thought I'd take this chance to take stock: I need 10 squares to finish the current row, and 22 would complete the squares and leave me with the border to do.
July 3/23 (technically July 4th here; 12:33am NDT): I managed 5 squares this weekend :( Feeling very behind in everything right now. Here's how the blanket is looking:
July 27/23 (4:32am NDT): Tomorrow starts another SDW :) Can I knock out the final 17 squares?? I'm gonna damn well try!!
July 28/23 (1:44am NDT): Or ya know, I could look at the official calender and not jump the gun; SDW starts on August 18th *facepalm* *headdesk* *facepalm*
Aug 18/23 (3:56am NDT): Ok, this time it really is SDW! lol 17 squares to go; can I do it? We'll find out!
Aug 21/23 (3:16am NDT): Interesting development this weekend: I can't find my 3mm hook. The next closest I have is a 3.5mm. Normally this would be a lot looser than the rest of my squares. But(!) I've made a discovery. If I crochet "properly", that is holding the yarn with my left hand instead of my usual hybrid kni-chet (hook and yarn in my right hand throwing the yarn opposite to how I knit), my sts are a lot smaller :) I'm also a lot slower lol 2 squares so far for SDW; I hope I can get 3 more done to at least finish this row. It'll keep til daylight anyway
August 22/23 (1:28am NDT): 4 squares done amid power outages, kitty tummy troubles, and massive humidity spikes. 🥵 What a weekend! Here they are:
13 squares left to go!
Sept 8/23 (1:57am NDT): SDW is back! And I have 13 squares to go. How will I do this weekend? We shall see!
I will say it would be much easier if this high humidity and above seasonal temps would frig off. It shouldn't be 25°C with humidity at 2am in September! Not here on the island 🥵 I digress! It's time to square dance!
later (7:18pm NDT): Square 132 done; only one row left (12 squares)
Squares 133-136:
Oct. 6/23 (8:10pm NDT): SDW is running tomorrow through Tuesday this month. Nearly time to get out my hook and see if I can knock out the rest of these squares! Only 7 more needed! I failed to mark down when I did square 137 *facepalm*
Oct. 7/23 (6:32pm NDT): Finished square 138 :) Photo of 137 & 138:
6 to go!
Oct 9/23 (4:38am NDT): The final square has been attached!
Other than the borders, my Aria is done!! I was almost wondering if I'd ever get it finished lol. Whew! And now I need to get to bed. Not sure when I'll start tackling the borders but it certainly won't be tonight!
Feb 7/24 (10:53pm NST): I've begun the border!
The first rnd I'm using Boysenberry, as the pattern says. The pattern specifies 12 of the 15 colors so I plan to add in the other 3 in amongst the appropriate colors.
later (2/08/24 1:09am NST): Rnd 1 of the border finished (Boysenberry) 🧶
later (4:02am NST): Rnd 2 of the border finished (Proper Purple) 🧶
Feb 8, 2024 (11:55pm NST): Just finished rnd 4 of the border. I used Wisteria, which is one of the colors left out in the 12 rnd border the pattern is written with. I like how it looks with all 4 purple shades:
Next will be the blues, but first I need to weigh and calculate the yardage of the finished with colors and update above
No comments:
Post a Comment