Modular Knitted Throw

Earlier in the year I knitted a modular knitted throw which was predominantly blue and white.  While I was knitting it – I thought that I could knit it in another colour way – using bright or even garish colours.   I have lots of odd balls left over from various projects.

I have made a start on it.  There is no planning – I am just picking the colours for the next square as I go along.  The only 2 “rules” I use – is firstly to spread the colours out across the throw and secondly to use strongly contrasting colours next to each other so that the stripes stand out.  As with the previous version – I intend that every square will be different.

The result so far reminds me of one of the first things I ever knitted – which was a blanket knitted in garter stitch stripes.  I only knitted some of the blocks, my mother, grandmother and aunt knitted the others.  In those days I wouldn’t have believed that I could ever knit a whole throw on my own in a couple of weeks.    I should manage to do it – if I carry on knitting in front of the sport on TV.

Garter Stitch Triangle Wrap by Pat Strong

 

After the complexity of the floral cushion this garter stitch wrap is very easy.  I have knitted it before – at the end of last year.  The last time I actually visited a yarn store was in March 2020 and I bought a couple of skeins of Manos Del Uruguay Alegria in a shade numbered A9741. 

It is 75% superwash merino and 25% polyamide.  There is 425 metres (445 yards) in a skein.  When I bought it – I intended to use both skeins for the same project – but now I have decided to just use one skein for this wrap and use a contrast yarn which is an olive green colour.  I am not sure exactly what this yarn is – I found it in my stash!  I had obviously intended to use it for something else but I can’t remember what.   I have said this pattern is easy and it is – but I think I would find it much harder if I just used one colour because I would get confused about which row I was on.  With 2 colours – you always increase in one colour (so every fourth row) and then the same with the decreases.  This means you can avoid using a row tally.

The only reason that this wrap is not finished yet is because I haven’t been doing much knitting this month so far.  I may get more done now that there is a lot of football on TV. 

Floral Cushion Finally Finished

This week I have finally finished sewing up my floral cushion.  As I said in my last post.  I made a basic cushion cover to sew the flowers onto.  I used 4 shades on the front – but you can’t see them now it is covered in flowers.  It could have been knitted in one colour, but I didn’t have enough of any one of the colours – so using a few different ones seemed the best solution.    The back is completely different.  The basic cushion cover pattern is taken from the book “Finishing Techniques for Hand Knitters” by Jane Crowfoot. 

When I had finished the basic cover, I sewed together the flowers and pinned them on.  I had made 30 but decided that I needed to make 3 more.   I then sewed them on and lastly sewed in the ends.  Just sewing in the ends took a couple of evenings.

I think I am happy with the end result.  It is how I intended it to look.  I handed over to my boss on Tuesday.  I think she liked it.  She said that she couldn’t stop looking at it – so I think that means she did. 

Even before I had handed the cushion over – I had cast on another shawl!  It is easy with no difficult decisions to make. 

Floral Cushion

During the last lockdown I was having a conversation with my boss about knitting and crochet and she told me that she liked a crocheted cushion but it was very expensive.  I decided to have a go at making one.  The original was a knitted cushion covered with crocheted flowers and is actually probably well worth the expensive price tag due to the amount of work involved. 

My version is not crocheted – I don’t do crochet unless it can’t be avoided.  I have decided to make a knitted version.  At the moment I am working on the flowers.

It took me some time to decide how to knit a suitable flower and then how to make the centre.  I wanted to have 6 petals because flowers with 6 petals fit together better than those with an odd number of petals.  I had hoped to sew a flower together and then photograph it for this blog but  I don’t seem to work like that.  I have knitted a lot of petals and centres – but so far I have not sewn any of them together.

As I have no idea how many flowers I need to make – I have laid some out on a cushion.  I think I will need at least 30.

When I have knitted all of the flowers – I will then have to make a cushion cover to sew them onto.  I have a rough idea of how I am going to make it – but I may change my mind.   I think it will take a couple more weeks to get this cushion finished and then I will get back to my partly knitted shawls and throws.

Odd Squares Throw - Finished Version

 

During my review of the year in February – I included a photo of some of the squares that I had knitted for this throw.  I basically knitted 6” squares in lots of different colours of double knitting. I then arranged them on my bed – and sewed them together into strips and then joined the strips together. 

I had thought about putting an edge on the throw but I tried it and the edge pulled the knitting too tight.  I am not entirely happy with the throw – it looks OK and it is OK when flat but the squares are not made from the same yarn and although I knitted more rows or less rows to try to make them all the same size – the yarn still behaves differently - for example some squares are more “stretchy” than others.

Note to self – next time I knit a throw – knit it in one piece!  This is harder while you are knitting because it needs to be planned in advance but there is no sewing up. 

I am actually still knitting my Afternoon Tea throw which is made up of individual squares but they will be easier to fit together because they are all made from the same yarn.

I am going to have a break from throws – although I do like knitting them.  I have a jumper and a cushion to knit during the next 2 weeks while the snooker is on.

Shirt Fabric Throw - Finished Version

 

Last week I finished off this throw.  It didn’t take very long to put a simple garter stitch edging on it.  Sewing in the ends took a bit longer. 

I am happy with the end result – it is all man-made double knitting yarn – so it will be easy to wash.  I used 5mm needles which makes the finished knitting more light-weight.  Each square is made up of 61sts (30 = 1 = 30).  There are 8 different striped patterns and no squares are the same.   The throw is 8 squares long and 6 squares wide.

While I was knitting I was thinking about other colourways and other striped patterns which I had not used because I was restricted by the amount of yarn I had. 

This week I have been working on the throw which is made up of 96 individual squares.   This is much harder than the throw I have just finished and when I have finished – I have all that joining to look forward to.

Shirt Fabric Throw

 

Instead of writing blog posts – I have been knitting in front of old detective programmes.  A few years ago I saw a fabric quilt by Kaffe Fassett made out of shirt material – and thought “I could knit that”.  I know that he would appreciate me using that idea and knitting something instead.  In fact he has probably done it.  Anyway I had a lot of golf ball sized balls of blue yarn  - left over from knitting tea cosies.  They are too large to throw away – but too small to do much with.  I collected them all together in a bag with some larger balls of blue, cream and white.

At the beginning of 2020 – I tidied up and I put the bag inside a suitcase and promptly forgot about it – otherwise I may have knitted this throw last year.  A month or so ago – I opened the suitcase and found the bag and decided that it was time I knitted this yarn into the throw that I had imagined when I collected it together.

When I started knitting – I changed my mind.  I had originally intended to knit full-squares that need a seam to complete them or squares of different sizes to accommodate the small balls of yarn – but instead I decided on simple modular squares which are all the same size (30 + 1 + 30 = 61 stitches).  There are 8 different combinations of stripes and so far no square is the same.

I have taken some photos of some of the squares that I have knitted.  I am now on what I think may be the last column of squares.  When I have done the last 8 squares – I will spread it out and see whether the throw needs another column.   When I have knitted all the squares – I will add a simple border.  This is a really easy design.  It has no sewing up – although I will have quite a few ends to darn in and it will have taken about a fortnight to knit.    I can then get back to knitting the central section of the shawl that I have been working on.  I have got half-way with a diamond lace pattern but it is very boring and requires more concentration that I am prepared to give it at the moment.