Hiya everyone! I know it’s been a hot minute since I put anything up here that wasn’t timelapses or streaming videos. It’s been even longer, actually, that I’ve talked about any of the individual projects that I’ve been working on. It thought it was time that I fixed that.

 

About a year ago now, I decided that I finally wanted to try my hand at a log-cabin style blanket, after circling the idea for years (ever since I saw someone discussing it on a podcast AGES ago). It wasn’t until a few months ago, that I found the PERFECT pattern to try this new technique out on. I was flipping through “Once Upon A Knit: 28 Grimm and Glamorous Fairy-Tale Projects” (link goes to Amazon, where I bought the digital version) for the first time since I bought it years ago.

The pattern “Entwined Forest Throw” by Abigail Horsfall caught my eye immediately. It’s a log cabin-style blanket in mostly garter stitch until you reach the end. The premise of the pattern, is to do a certain number of rows in garter stitch with differing stitch counts as you go throughout 14 blocks. The last two blocks of the blanket are where the magic of the trees comes into play.

When I showed this pattern to Emptyeye, he said “Ooh! I like that one. Can I have one?” Since I love the boy THAT much, I asked him.. “What colors do you want?” He settled on Red and Green.

I had also seen this blanket in my favorite combination of Purple and White when I first saw it. Since I couldn’t make a decision as to WHICH version of the blanket I wanted to do, I didn’t. So… I now have two blankets of the same pattern on the go at once, and I don’t regret it ONE BIT. Lol.

I’ve been streaming me working on each of these blankets. Emptyeye’s (EE) blanket on Tuesdays and mine on Thursdays. I’ll be putting up monthly videos to sum up each month’s streaming progress.

I’ll also be documenting the progress of each one in a new post, so you can see the progress I have made on each one each month. I predict they will both take at LEAST 3 months. Wish me luck, ya’ll!!!

 

Okay. Let’s first talk about EE’s blanket. I called it “Green Tree” to make it easier to distinguish between the two blankets in my stream titles. I’ll do the same here as well, to help clear up any confusion… Mine will be “Purple Tree” from here on out too. So that everyone knows. Either way…. EEs blanket is the blanket I’m the furthest along right now, and probably will end up being the one I finish first. I joked with my viewers when I started it, that EE must REALLY want this blanket for Christmas, based on the colors he chose. Well… At first, he said he wanted the colors in the book, but those colors weren’t available on the company’s website anymore, especially in the quantities we needed for it. He said it was fine, then said can we just do red and green (honestly thinking that the brown color was red, but that’s another story… lol).

Here is what I’m using in “Green Tree.” Please note, the quantities of yarn, are what I bought the project, NOT what I’ll probably end up using…

4 Skeins of Caron One Pound in the “Kelley Green” colorway.

2 Skeins in the “Claret” colorway.

US 6 (4.0mm) Chaiogoo Red Lace Needles (60 inch cable)

 

I finally got started on the blanket (week 1) on 9/30, with a stream titled “Make Like A Tree… (Blanket A – Part 1).” That day, I got 3 blocks started, with the 3rd block being knit off stream.

Next stream (week 2) was titled “10/7: Working on my “Green Tree” Blanket Today and vibing with music. (Part 2).” This day, was another 3 blocks started, with the 6th block being finished off stream.

The third stream (week 3) was titled “10/14: Working on my “Green Tree” Blanket Today and vibing with music. (Part 3).” This day, I completed 1 full block and started the next.

From here on out, it started taking more and time to finish each block, as each row was longer.  [To those that have ever done blankets, ya’ll are like “Duh Silver. That’s how that works..” lol. You’re not wrong…]

To this end, I had to create a way of keeping track of how much I ACTUALLY worked on each week. Since I had copied/pasted the pattern into a word document for purposes of reading it REALLY quick on stream, I just added cells to separate it out by week. This ALSO helps with stitch counts every week too. I’m not even going to lie. Having all this data is making my heart sing too…

Anyway…Week 4, I injured myself. Of all things… I stabbed myself with my needles while working on the Purple blanket that week (I’ll tell that story later, I promise)… So, work on the blanket slowed down QUITE a bit while it healed…. I called this stream “10/21: Working on my “Green Tree” Blanket Today and vibing with music (Part 4). Might have to switch.”

 

Because I’m me, I created a timelapse of all of this progress, as well as a visual representation of the project breakdown in terms of numbers of stitches. It shows my progress through all of Weeks 1-4, and explains my process in a video form. This video went live on Tuesday morning. Hope you enjoy it!!!

For those that were having issues reading those images, here is that breakdown for you.

Block 1: 900 Stitches in 1:00:11

Block 2: 900 Stitches in 1:27:29

Block 3: 1,800 Stitches in 26:45 (On stream. No log off-stream. Sorry.)

Block 4: 1,800 Stitches in 1:57:28

Block 5: 1,350 Stitches in 1:19:52

Block 6: 4,500 Stitches in 26:39 (On stream. No log off-stream. Sorry.)

Block 7: 2,250 Stitches in 1:58:55

Block 8: 3,420 Stitches (over Week 3 & 4).

• Week 3, 900 stitches in 1:03:54.
• Week 4, 2,250 Stitches in 1:19:52

Total Stitches put into the blanket in Weeks 1 through 4: 16,920 Stitches.

 

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Okay. Let’s talk a little more about my version of the blanket. I’ve called my blanket “Purple Tree,” as I have mentioned above.

 

Here is what I’m using in “Purple Tree” Please note, the quantities of yarn, are what I bought the project, NOT what I’ll probably end up using…

4 Skeins of Caron One Pound in the “Deep Violet” colorway.

2 Skeins in the “White” colorway.

US 6 (4.0mm) Chaiogoo Red Lace Needles (60 inch cable)

 

I finally got started on the blanket (week 1) on 10/2, with a stream titled “10/2: Make Like A Tree… (Blanket B “Purple Tree”- Part 1) (also… Music is 18+ for sure….) .” That day, I got 3 blocks started, with the 3rd block being knit off stream.

Next stream (week 2) was titled “10/9: Working on my “Purple Tree” Blanket Today and vibing with music. (Part 2).” This day, was another 3 blocks started, with the 6th block being finished off stream.

The third stream (week 3) was titled “10/16: Working on my “Purple Tree” Blanket Today and vibing with music. (Part 3).” This day, I completed 1 full block and started the next.

From here on out, it started taking more and time to finish each block, as each row was longer.  [To those that have ever done blankets, ya’ll are like “Duh Silver. That’s how that works..” lol. You’re not wrong…]

To this end, I had to create a way of keeping track of how much I ACTUALLY worked on each week. Since I had copied/pasted the pattern into a word document for purposes of reading it REALLY quick on stream, I just added cells to separate it out by week.

Then… I injured myself. Of all things at the end of Week 3’s stream. I stabbed my pointer finger on my left hand with the needle in my right hand. As I promised, let me tell you what happened. I was honestly not paying SUPER attention while telling my viewers a story about how I had stolen EE’s Triscuits because he had plenty. I was gesticulating wildly and not paying attention to the stitches I was knitting. I went to guide the right needle down after completing a stitch, and the needle tip went right through several layers of skin. It REALLY hurt and drew blood. Which, essentially, made me stop stream almost IMMEDIATELY.

The short of it, was that I already had a callous that formed on my fingers from doing all the previous weeks’ work on the blanket. That, and I had already stabbed myself with a tapestry needle I was using to cross stitch the day before. So… It was a mixture of injuries (as well as the Universe biting back for me stealing the Triscuits, I’ll bet! lol). Work on the blanket slowed down QUITE a bit while it healed…. This meant that I had to cancel Stream 4. I tried to knit a few rows off-stream to test the healing that Thursday, and it didn’t really go well.

Because I’m me, I created a timelapse of all of this progress, as well as a visual representation of the project breakdown in terms of numbers of stitches. It shows my progress through all of Weeks 1-4, and explains my process in a video form. This video went live on Yesterday morning. Hope you enjoy it!!!

For those that were having issues reading those images, here is that breakdown for you.

Block 1: 900 Stitches in 1:08:39

Block 2: 900 Stitches in 1:04:25

Block 3: 1,800 Stitches in 54:55 (On stream. No log off-stream. Sorry.)

Block 4: 1,800 Stitches in 1:55:22

Block 5: 1,350 Stitches in 1:44:34

Block 6: 4,500 Stitches in 33:42 (On stream. No log off-stream. Sorry.)

Block 7: 2,250 Stitches in 2:07:09

Block 8: 540 Stitches (over Weeks 3 & 4)

• 360 Stitches in 47:40 (On stream)
• 180 Stitches (No log off-stream. Sorry.)

Total Stitches put into the blanket in Weeks 1 through 4: 14,040 Stitches

 

Hopefully, you enjoyed my introduction to these two blankets! I know the next parts won’t be as wordy as this one, but I wanted to let you know where ALOT of my knitting time has gone toward recently.

Until Next Time, Happy Crafting!

-Silver-