Finally

I have completed the final square in my 2012 Debbie Abrahams Mystery Blanket.

In the time it has taken me to knit these squares I have bought and sold two homes, two of my siblings have got married and one has gone to university. This has definitely been a long term project.

Unfortunately finishing the squares does not mean I've finished the blanket - I still have to block, sew up and knit a border. I reckon a full finish by 2020.

There is a slight issue in that I'm not sure if I still like the blanket! But I am going to sew together the strips and see how I feel then. Plenty of mattress stitch in my future; I also have to sew up the first Xmas things.

What have I achieved this week?

Quite a lot is the answer, which is surprising considering we were away until Tuesday and I didn't take any crafty stuff with me, and then this week has been busy with post Xmas return to normality.

Anyway, I've finished my first Xmas thing (although not sewn it up) and cast on the next ... don't worry I'm not going to post any more blurry photos!

I've finished the binding on my first table runner

which is lucky as I'd like to give it to my mum this weekend.

I've also completed another square of the blanket (47/49 probably).

And I've put a bit more of a dent in the blocks for my sister's quilt.

From this

to this

with another good few just needing squaring up.

The not so good news is the sizeable pile (just visible at the top of the photo above) I sewed together without reminding myself of the method (this became obvious when I found a pile of "in progress at various stages" blocks).
I need to have a good look at them but I'm hoping I'll only have to undo part of a seam, worse case is one whole seam but they shouldn't take too long to put back together.

Sunday Progress - a little late but (almost) worth the wait

The less exciting news first. I have finished another patch on my knitted blanket.

This one seemed really quick as it was pretty much just 2 rows repeated 25 times. 

Only three more squares to go (unless I've managed to miss another patch somewhere along the line).

And now onto the star of the show...

The Xmas quilt is finished ... binding on, ends sewn in and tacks removed. Started over Xmas 2011 it's finally done for Xmas 2017!

With the finishes slowly building up I'm considering what other UFOs and unstarted projects to focus on next.

Sunday Progress

Having been away for a week I wasn't expecting to have much progress to report but an unexpected sewing night on Friday has significantly helped matters.

For the first time I used the sewing table set up in our new house.

The room is yet to be decorated and the furniture is likely to be changed but, with the addition of a lamp behind machine, I think this will be fine. And I can always go and use the dining room table!

So what got progressed? Well from my UFO list I actually finished the Kindle case...

I think this one is definitely the best yet, although there is a little bit of bulkiness inside which may be due to missing a pressing step or being too nervous when trimming the seams.  The only thing which is slightly irritating is the upside down hedgehogs on the flap. Ah well!

I also started my 47th ish block on the knitted blanket.

Not on my UFO to-do list, yet, is the 365 quilt blocks...

8 and 9 Jan completed, I think I will be joining the 2018 challenge too!

I'm now going to curl up with my binding sewing and see if I can achieve another finish this week.

Progress Update

So around a week off work spent decorating a large bedroom I have managed to make some progress on my UFOs, or at least some of them. I haven't done anything on the Kindle cover or the socks.

I am pleased with progress on the Xmas quilt, I'm over half way with the binding. I was a bit impatient to get this one finished so I bought some fabric called craft cotton for the binding. Regretting that a little now as I don't know why but it's stiffer than normal cotton so a bit awkward to manipulate but it seems to look okay sewn on so I'm persevering.

The knitted blanket is going well...

This should be the 46th square of 49, with the remaining ones being duplicates of the ones below it, nothing too tricky or time consuming there.
You may have noticed I said should be...while searching for this final strip I noticed that one strip is missing it's top square. Not too sure how this happened as I've been working through the books in order. Luckily it's a simple one so quickly sorted, just taking the shineout of finishing the above strip a little. Oh well!

Ready for Rio 2016...

...or in actual truth lagging behind from London 2012!

I started this sport themed blanket in 2012 as part of Debbie Abrahams mystery blanket that year and it's still going!  I'm now on the seventh (out of ten) set of instructions so I have broken the back of the work although the blanket's bunting-sequence border and the Swiss darning required are niggling at me.

I'd love to get this blanket finished this year as I have the yarn for another mega knitting project all ready to go.

And the Celebration Keeps On Going...

With the last mailing of the Debbie Abrahams Mystery Blanket we had it confirmed that the theme was "A Celebration of Sport" and I had it confirmed that I needed to get on with knitting my remaining blocks (especially as I had overcome my fear of intarsia).

This is my progress so far, less the block and a half strip which is currently on my needles and being knitted.

Admittedly this is before the final details have been added and no squares have been blocked, but I'm starting to really like this blank.  The finished blanket is 7x7 and with how tight I knit that is going to work out as a small lap blanket.

I have really enjoyed the challenge of making this, but I have decided not to sign up for next year's. Nothing against the concept, and I love Debbie's designs (I've had her books for years but never been brave enough to try anything) but I think my next long term knitting project may be something fair isle. Then again I could try finishing off the squares for an Aran blanket that my mum and I started ages ago. We'll see!

Mystery Blanket Update

I have been slowly working my way through Debbie Abraham's 2012 Mystery Blanket (a knitted one), and I mean slowly.  We received the patterns and yarn for the last squares at the beginning of this month and I'm now working my way towards them.

Finishing has been a little held up by my fear of the intarsia knitting technique.  Finally I've taken the plunge and completed my first ever intarsia square...

...which will eventually become a bicycle wheel.

A few more to go...

Slowly Slowly Knitty Blanket

Actually when I concentrate on the the blanket squares don't actually take too long to knit, it just seems recently that I start my concentrating after 10pm at night!


Even with that slight handicap I have completed 2 more squares this week...

...which makes 4 out of the 14 squares I currently have.  Another package of 5 squares is due at the start of next week.  


The orange square caused me more trouble than I was expecting but I like the finished effect.  I love the blue square, but as I have only recently learnt how to add beads to knitted work I'm a sucker for anything knitted with beads at the moment.

The Continuing Tale of the Mystery Blanket

I finally bit the bullet a few days ago and attempted my second square for the DA MB 2012.  The intarsia had been scaring me but the realisation that if I didn't get a move on this would quickly become a large, and expensive, UFO spurred me on.

I picked an easy intarsia square to start on and it quickly and satisfyingly came together well.  I then had a bit of a pause when faced with the challenge of how to pick up the stitches to start the orange square, but as you can see I have overcome this too.  The third square in this strip shouldn't cause me any pauses (fingers crossed!).


2 and a half squares out of 49 completed! (I don't actually have the materials or instructions for all 49 squares yet so its not quite as bad as it sounds)

New Major Knitting Project

Towards the end of last year, following a particularly enjoyable knitting course with Debbie Abrahams and heedless of the number of unstarted projects sat in my crafting storage, I signed up for Debbie's Mystery Blanket.

The first instalment arrived last weekend and I've so far resisted starting it, but I haven't been able to resist opening it and looking at the patterns and trying to get my head round the techniques.  It seems a little bizarre that we're using pure wool and wool cotton but I'll trust it works; Debbie's previous mystery blankets are gorgeous.


I have a feeling that I may have to try out a tension square this weekend, don't want to get behind! But the mittens must be finished first before any serious blanket knitting commences (we'll see how long this resolution lasts!).