opera and girasole
On Saturday Henry and I went to a really neat behind-the-scenes Family Day event at the Opera! We got to go on stage and see their Don Quixote sets up close, listened to little talks by their costumer and conductor and stage manager (all women, by the way), saw a demonstration of the science of the human voice and, best of all, were treated to a little up-close-and-personal performance of Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, accompanied by piano. The singers were marvelous. What a treat!
Last night Henry and I went to Chloe’s house to watch the Oscars, and I finished Mom’s Girasole Blanket!
Here it is, blocking on our queen-size bed. It’s about 6 1/2 feet across!
Close up. It’s not really this gray.
Pattern: Jared Flood’s “Girasole” (The pattern costs $6.50 and is worth every penny. It’s extremely well-written.)
Yarn: 18 balls of Knitpicks’ Wool of the Andes in “Winter Night” (18 was not enough to work the pattern as written. Keep reading.)
Needles: Knitpicks Harmony circs size 9
This was a really fun project. The first few charts worked up really quickly, and the whole thing was well-planned and well-written, and the result is just fabulous.
I actually thought I’d finish last weekend, but I ran out of yarn with just a few feet of edging left to go. This color is out of stock at knitpicks, so I ripped back all the edging and the second rep of chart G, and that gave me enough to finish. There’s only a tiny bit of yarn left. If I were to knit this again with the same yarn, I’d buy 21 balls to be safe. The finished and blocked blanket is 6 1/2 feet in diameter, which makes it about 20 feet in circumference. Whew! I loved making it except for the edging, which of course I had to work twice (that’s nearly 40 feet of edging). That did get a bit tiresome :) The edging ruffles quite a bit, so next time I might try working two stitches together at every K2togE (that is, work together two stitches from the blanket with the one stitch from the edging)
Category: Blog, Handmade 7 comments »
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:08 pm
You did an amazing job. It’s beautiful!
February 26th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
That is a museum piece. Good grief, Kara, it’s unbelievable! You knocked it out of the park.
By the way, I wear my stole to church a lot and I invariably get compliments. There is an older woman named Mary who quilts and knits and she loves to look at the fine work you did and always comments on it. I am so proud when I get to say my sister made it for me.
February 26th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
I never thought I’d be speechless about a blanket, but…… wow. That’s absolutely incredible! And the blue is perfect.
February 27th, 2009 at 7:17 am
What a stunning blanket!! I’ll have to add that one to my queue.
February 27th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Thanks, ladies :)
February 27th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
My darling niece- your blog is the best ever. I don’t have enough exclamation points to tell you how I love this blanket, and Henry’s hat and on and on. Like Kathy, people are blown away when I wear my beautiful stole. Wow. I’m working on a baby blanket right now – it’s so fun – a sampler of stitches. I went to the opera last weekend too – saw Thais and wept with joy.
April 18th, 2011 at 5:36 pm
I’m working on it right now- yours is gorgeous! My inspiration!!!