The Completed Interlocking Ribs Counterpane!

The Specs

Finished Size: 60” x 77“

Which needed 8.5 lbs. of hand spun Falkland bulky weight singles and took more hours than I bothered to count!

My last post covered sewing up the center blanket units and knitting up the 4 cable and seed stitch borders.  Since then, I’ve sewn the borders on and edged the entire thing in Applied I-cord.

Here’s pics of how I decided to deal with the disparity between the seed stitch cable edges and the main body edges, which varies from knit and purl rib sections to BO knit stitch sections.

These photos were taken on my bed, atop a hand spun, indigo dyed, and handwoven blanket, and my “Golden Ferns Counterpane” design, which was in “101 Knitting-To-Go Projects”, 2001.

Now, I could have counted exactly how many stitches were along the main body sides and the lengths of cable edging, so to determine an exact ratio between the two, for sewing up, but I’m not that retentive!  

 Instead, I tried to divide the number of cable crossings into more or less even sections, and basted the 2 pieces together using a tapestry needle and a smooth (non-wool) yarn.  I found I needed to stretch the denser seed stitch edge when basting across the wide BO knit sections, but stretch the knit and purl rib sections, when basting along them.

This worked well enough.  As I pulled out the basting for each small section, I counted how many seed stitches there were and how many body stitches they would be sewn to, then adjusted the sewing-up ratio to suit.

The Applied I-cord was one of the easier parts of the entire process.  As I was using the same yarn for the I-cord as for the afghan, I didn’t need to add a yarn over on each row, which is done, when using a different color, so to avoid a color blip showing.

In all, the entire afghan was easy to work, so not only does it look modern, but once you work one repeat of the main afghan unit, you don’t need to refer to the book again.  Same goes for the cable borders, which are easy peasy.

As it’s heavy (8.5 lbs.), to block it, I laid an extra blanket on the queen bed, laid out the afghan and spritzed it with water, to dampen, but not soak it, then pulled here and there, to make the afghan square up as best it could, considering that the body patterns do ebb and flow.  

The last touch was the duplicate stitching on the 4 corner stockinette squares.  I used Lamb’s pride Worsted, held double, in Oatmeal, so that the stitching would be seen but not overwhelm.  Bride and groom’s initials on the upper 2 corners, a heart, and the year on the lower 2 corners.

I need to find a very large gift box.  Large shipping boxes we have, as I save the boxes that anything large comes in, knowing they will be useful one day.  

I *may* take a brief respite from knitting.  Then again, I may not!  More sewing for the house needs doing, and my floor loom has been sitting empty for well over a year, and I want to get this stash of t-shirt yarn woven up into small area rugs.  

Hand spinning is also an ongoing activity, at least until I send my flyer out to a woodworker sometime this summer to get it fitted with a higher speed whorl.  My wheel is a Country Craftsman, vintage, and no longer made.  It’s a wonderful wheel, but only has 10:1 and 13:1 ratios, which isn’t nearly fast enough to spin the singles for a 2-ply worsted to aran wt. yarn, without treading like the dickens for an hour, then a half hour to ply it.  It’s way too tiring!

More closeups!

Onward!

Dawn