A long, long time ago...
Isn't that how a lot of stories start, or was is a song?
OK, so as part of my UFO challenge I pulled out my squares that I knit many, many years ago when I took a class at Serenity Knits.
I was knitting on another UFO blanket (Girasole by Jared Flood, started in 2010 while taking a class at UK Knit Camp in Scotland, but I digress...) and I ran out of yarn and picked up another project.
But I missed the warmth of the blanket on my lap while knitting, so I decided to pull out the squares, and over a weekend I finished putting it together.
When I showed my Knitting Therapy Class ladies the finished project, a few asked about the pattern and so I decided to put it in the blog.
The original pattern came from the book Craft Activism
and is called Fussy Cuts Blanket. Each block can be started with a different size square, but they all end up with the same amount of stitches on the border. All you need is a multiple of 6 stitches and 6 rows.
There are many ways of knitting a Log Cabin Blanket and if you search Ravelry there are over 200 patterns for blankets, garments, shawls, hats and even socks.
Here is a link to a free tutorial: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/learn-to-knit-a-log-cabin-blanket.
You can use many different colours (stash busting your left overs) or you can use a variegated yarn and every square comes out different.
For my blanket I used Noro Cash Island, colour 2 and Noro Aya, colour 16 for the centres and Cascade 220 Superwash in colours 1947 and 859 for the borders.
I left all my stitches "live" on ribbons as you can see in the picture below.
Here are my steps for finishing this blanket:
Step 1 :
Lay out the squares in a pleasing manner to you.
Step 2: Clip them together with small hair clips from the dollar store. They come in very handy for holding knitted items together.
Step 3: Using smaller needles than you knit the blanket with and at least 40" long cable, pick up the stitches along two lines, right across 4 squares (my blanket is a 4x4). If you choose a different size blanket size adjust accordingly.
Step 4: Work a Three-Needle-Bind-Off with a bigger needle than what you knitted the squares with. You want the bind off nice and stretchy.
I just found this tutorial on a nicer way of working this bind off: https://www.interweave.com/article/knitting/finessing-the-three-needle-bind-off/
Steps 5 and 6: Work the next parallel line to the one you just joined as in steps 3 and 4.
In the picture below you can see that all the vertical seams have been joined and all the horizontal seams are still open and held together with the hair clips.
Steps 7 -9: Join the horizontal lines following steps 3 and 4.
I had heard that there were holes where the 4 corners of the squares met, but I found that working the Three-Needle-Bind -Off across the previous bound off edge pulled everything together quite nicely. There are also ends left to weave in that can be used to "tidy up" any gaps between the squares.
Here are all the seams joined and just the outside stitches left on ribbons. Beau is looking bored...
Step 10: Pick up all the stitches along one outside edge with the smaller needle.
Remember to start knitting with the same size needle as the squares were knit in!
On the first row you will need to pick up and knit 3 stitches between each square to close the gap.
Work as many rows in garter stitch as you like or have yarn for.
I worked 2 ridges (4 rows) in teal, 2 ridges in purple, 2 ridges in teal, 4 ridges in purple. Remember to bind off loosely!!!
Step 11: Work the parallel edge to the one you just worked the same way.
Step 12 and 13: Work the two remaining edges the same way as the first two or make them different. (I had more purple left so I just kept on knitting.)
This was a great fall knitting project and UFO #41
Smokey enjoyed it too!
