Posted on 16 Comments

Ahead of schedule

58/365: Blanket-making leftovers

Guess what this is.

This is the unused yarn that I have after hooking the last stitch on Aidan’s hexagon blanket.

Wait, did I just say last stitch, as in, the blanket is finished?

Indeed I did. And I’m about 3 weeks ahead of schedule!

55/365: Crochet day

Last time we talked about it, I had a small handful of full-size hexagons to finish, and eight half-hexes – a task I allowed myself a week to complete. But, see, Saturday was a very social and busy day for me, and after one of those kinds of days, I – introvert that I am – tend to need a peaceful day in my PJs, doing quiet things. This particular peaceful Sunday resulted in me finishing 95% of the week’s crochet in one day.

Whoa.

And that got me thinking… If I could do that in one day, maybe I could do the other two weeks’ worth of work in two more days. And if I could finish the blanket in a matter of three days, I could actually give it to Aidan for his birthday!

26 blanket 01

This explains why you may not have seen much of me around the internet this week. Monday and Tuesday were heavy on the crochet, and light on anything else. Seriously. I hunkered down with that blanket so intently, that my hands were cramping up and I had “yarn burn” and a deep groove on my left index finger.

That was some hard-core hooking.

Er, well, you know what I mean.

By the time Aidan came home from school on Tuesday (which was his actual birthday), I was almost finished.

I was so close, I decided to gift it to him anyway.

There were only two places that needed work. The border has five rows, and I had completed 4.25 of them. Also, there was this:

57/365: Shaggy!

In my haste to get the whole thing crocheted, I skipped the end weaving on the zig-zaggy sides.

It was ok, though, I hid all of the ends, and folded the blanket so that the side where all five border rows were complete was showing, and when I presented it to Aidan, it actually looked like I had finished it.

26 blanket 02

26 ac 13 02

I think he likes it.

Last night I completed the border row, and I’m now working on all of those annoying little ends. It should be good and properly finished within a few days. Whew!

I want to continue the weekly pace of the crochet-along. Next Monday, I’ll show you how to do the half hexagons, the following week we will square up the zig-zaggy sides with partial hexagons, and the last week we’ll do the border and block the blanket. Also that last week I hope to have the eBook pattern/tutorial ready so you can purchase that if you like.

27 blanketI am very happy with this. And I am excited that I was able to go from, “I wonder how I can make a hexagon blanket that doesn’t have all of that uneven zig-zaggy stuff” to actually having a perfectly squared-off hexagon blanket to toss over a chair and keep my newly-minted teenager’s lap warm and cozy.

Hooray for finished objects! 🙂

 

 

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Posted on 16 Comments

16 thoughts on “Ahead of schedule

  1. I love it! You did an amazing job and I’m sure he loves it!!

    1. Thank you! And yes, he does. It’s one of the benefits of involving him in the design process – you’re pretty much assured of success!

  2. Lisa, that looks just lovely n ubber cute!!! I wish i have yr stamina to take up such a project!!!

    1. I didn’t used to think I had this kind of stamina, but when you break it up in to manageable parts, it’s really not bad at all! I went a little crazy these last few days, but before that I worked only 1 or 2 hours a day on it. Usually, that was while I was watching TV at night so it went quickly.

  3. Lisa, what a wonderful, wonderful gift! I’ve been following its making process and hope to get to making one myself. Your blanket is simply adorable, I love the colours and the way hexagons go together.

    1. Thank you, Ita! I hope you do get to make one, and if you do I would love to see it 🙂

  4. Whoa, you’ve been busy! It looks great, and I’ll bet it made it even more special that you were able to give it to him on his birthday. 🙂

    1. I think maybe it was 🙂 I meant for it to be a lap blanket to use in the family room, but he asked to take it to bed last night.

  5. YAY! it looks like he absolutely loves it. well done mom, well done!

    1. Thanks 🙂 He definitely likes it!

  6. It turned out so great. But oh those ends!

    1. Oh, I know! I was totally dreading those ends, but I forced myself to work on them last night, and they were actually not as bad as they looked. I managed to finish them all in one night. So now the blanket is totally and completely done. Whew!

  7. Lisa congrats! I saw the photo on instragram last night and was just so impressed that you’re done already!

    I’m on row 5 so it looks like I need to get moving!

  8. Love it! Congratulations on finishing it. I really like it squared off like you did. It makes it so much more awesome in my mind!!! And I’m so glad he likes it.

  9. […] Then Boring Office Guy got his granny hexagons. […]

  10. […] minute I finished Aidan’s blanket, I started this sweater for me. There are a lot of “firsts” for me in this sweater. For […]

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