I finished the Hemlock Ring Blanket last weekend, but didn’t get around to blocking it until this weekend. I knew it would be pretty but OMG it’s gorgeous!
Because it’s knit in the round, it actually is naturally shaped like a hat (hence the photo of me wearing it as such) it also is all ripply because of the fan and feather pattern It looked a little like a sea creature.
Blocking is essential for a piece like this. I let it soak in water for a good hour, draining all the water out and refilling a couple of times. I squeezed out as much water as I could before laying the blanket on multiple towels and rolling it up… then stepping on the towel/blanket role to get even more water out. Next I used every straight pin in the house to pin it out on a blanket- starting at the center and carefully working my way out. I pinned out each loop on the edge getting the blanket just right. then I kicked the cats out of my bedroom, and laid it on the bed to dry. Now it lays nice and flat!
Oh wow, that is gorgeous! What kind of yarn did you use and how long did it take you? I want to make one for a friend.
It’s Cascade Eco. I used just over 2.5 skeins, it took about 3 or 4 weeks to finish, but in that time I had to back out 10 rows and I also had the “cat + yarn” emergency that I mentioned in an earlier post. So I guess in real knitting time it was actually more like 2.5-3 weeks. Its a real easy knit- the blocking is the most difficult I think (cause I hate to block!) You can find the pattern on Ravelry “Hemlock Ring Blanket” I joined a knit a long for it and I have some better charts and correction of an error in the pattern if you are interested.
here are two links- one to the original pattern which should be used in conjunction with the expanded fan and feather chart and one to a blog which specifies some corrections to the pattern.
Yep, it’s the 2 pattern thing plus the possible “error” has put me off this project, but I’ll take you up on the correction! That would be awesome. Does this mean I get to go yarn shopping? Wheee!!!
I LOVE this! Did it get super heavy by the end? I’ll bet the cast off took years!
🙂 it didn’t really get too heavy, the whole blanket is pretty light with the Cascade Eco Oh yeah, the cast off… it took a while!
[…] this morning. Truth be told, it looks like a wrinkly, blobby mess. If I hadn’t looked at other project pages for before and after photos of blocking, I would probably be freaking out right […]