Done and Done!

Well, we pulled it off. The quilt got done; it looked beautiful; and it was a surprise.


I want to take this space to thank everyone who participated with such enthusiasm and energy in creating this special gift for Kyle and Courtney. This was truly a team effort - just look at the list of contributors! Thanks for coming on board with my slightly crazy idea and making it such a beautiful reality.


May they have many long years of warmth and snuggles under this token of love.

The Wedding Blanket: The Making Of

So as you know, a lot of people worked really hard to get the quilt put together. Soooo many people knit squares and stitched squares together, and this is who and how it all worked:

The Thursday before the wedding we met up at the Ramada in downtown Vancouver to start gathering squares together and deciding on what the layout would be. (We had an excellent stay at the Ramada, but the rooms were very small. Especially with several adults and a quilt-in-progress sharing the space.) We knew there were another 15 or so squares to come, so we were aware it might change a bit, but we were able to start sewing some of the squares together. We also realized that we would need a couple of other squares, so Marg started knitting again.

Of course, lots of people had been knitting, and some of them were not who you'd expect. Here are Jeffy and Neva working on their team square back in Kingston...


...and of course, the famous picture of Keith knitting at the graduation ceremony on Wednesday.


Apparently at the rehearsal dinner, Kyle was looking through the pics from grad on Tory's camera and saw this one. "Dad was knitting?!" he said. For a moment, we thought the jig was up, but Katelyn nonchalantly said that she had been doing some knitting and that Keith wanted to learn, and they thought they'd better take a picture. Luckily that seemed to be enough for Kyle, though he was a bit distraught to think that grad was that boring.

Friday morning, assembly began in earnest.

An early layout:


Last minute knitting by Jean...


...Marg working on the last square...


...Tory stitching...


...and Ewan supervising.


Donna arrived to show off her mad sewing skillz...


...and Don did the most important job, so that we could all use both of our hands for construction.


Sewing up continued throughout the afternoon, and Kathy's squares arrived at the hotel that evening. Kathy had called in reinforcements in the form of her Auntie Elsie, age 86, who helped get both Kathy and Hayley on track...



...and Kathy used her drive in the van to the wedding very productively.


Squares were stealthily handed over at the barbecue at Jericho Beach, and Jean finished up her family's unfinished squares while at the airport waiting for Brenda, Eddie and John's delayed flight. After dinner out with Don, Marg finished sewing the neutrals together, leaving us with just a little more than half of the quilt to finish up Saturday morning.

Saturday Jeffy and Don were put in charge of child care and Mom and I really turned on the juice with the stitching. There was a brief moment of panic when we could only find one wool needle; the housekeeping staff had moved it, but luckily it was found and we could both work at the same time. We took a break to have our hair done with Tory, Katelyn, Neva and Jean, and received the last of the squares at the salon, only hours before the wedding. It was our goal to be done by 3pm, and we beat that time by half an hour. It got folded up and wrapped, and we were ready to rock.

We were pretty pleased with how it turned out.



(If you're at all interested in seeing a schematic of who made what square on the blanket, you can click here. Props to Jeffy for creating the digital version of the quilt.)

Making the Links

I finished up the last couple of my squares: a gold-coloured honeycomb stitch and a two-tone red heart. (The pattern for the heart was done by Jeffy.) After I finished these squares, I realized that I had already knit with this yarn before, and in fact that I had knit something for Kyle with these yarns.

Back when Kyle started at Queen's, I made him a pair of Tricolour Mitts (for the non-Queen's among you, that's red, gold and blue). Apparently I had leftovers of all three yarns, because they all got used in the quilt:

Red - the heart part of the two-tone heart square
Gold - the honeycomb stitch square
Blue - the dark blue square with the thick cable down the middle

Although completely unintentional, I kind of like that there's this continuity.

More Updates

So, we're making good progress. We've got over half of the squares we were hoping to have done. At this point, I think it's unlikely we'll get 88 squares, but given the number we've got completed (47) and the number I know are in progress (at least 6) I think we should easily be able to get 55 squares done. This would give us a final quilt of 5 x 11 squares or 40" x 88". While this isn't really big enough for two people, it would still make a good-sized blanket, and my hope is that those who wish can continue to make some squares to be added on later. I suspect even Courtney may be interested in making some squares and sewing them on!

Here are some updates from others:

From Kathy:

"I have finished 3 squares, but would like to add at least one more, if time permits. And, as much as I continue to be inspired/awed by the squares posted, I am afraid that mine will remain rather simple, not necessarily totally square or smooth (thank you Katie for joining me on that) but created with heart!"

From Jean:

"So....here are some more for publication on the blog spot. Top ones are mine....8 of those combined, bottom right is Tory's....3 of those, and bottom left crocheted one is from Kerry....one of those.
Donna D. has 10 +. I asked her to keep on knitting so she should have more and will be a big help in putting them together if you'd like. She's already asking if she should bring needles etc.

Cheryl B. has done 4.

Katie and I continue to knit and Tory will too once we're together in Van.

Count down is on."

Two weeks to go! ACK!

Still plugging away at the squares... I've finished another two:

This is a modified linen stitch using two different colours of wool (Mission Falls 1840 in Purple and Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Navy). It's hard to see the colours in this picture but they're there. One neat thing about this square is that it looks interesting from either side.

This pattern is called "Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks" and is based on a star stitch. (I found this pattern on Ravelry.) I love how it has turned out, and I hope Kyle and Courtney have many years of holding hands and feeding ducks ahead of them. The wool is Canadian (Fleece Artist from Nova Scotia) and I thought it turned out really well in this pattern.

Katelyn has also finished her second square (same Fleece Artist yarn as mine):



I thought I'd show off Mom's 8 squares here as well:



Looking forward to seeing all of the completed squares in about 10 days!

And Another Two Bite the Dust

Stocking Stitch
Noro "Kureyon" Yarn (100% Wool)
4.5mm needles
I thought this self-striping yarn would be stripey-er and that this square would turn out very interesting and arty. I guess it's still kind of interesting, though less stripey than anticipated. I knit a small band vertically and then picked up stitches along the side and continued knitting to make a square.

Sand Wind Cable Pattern
Briggs & Little "Heritage" Yarn (100% Wool)
44 sts on 5mm needles
I love this cable pattern -- I think it looks like waves or sand dunes or something very organic and lovely.

Katelyn's First Square

From Katelyn:

"I am very excited to announce that I have completed my first square. Don't worry Kathy, I think I've changed the standards a little bit. You will notice that a put a little pattern in it. As much I would like to say that that was intentional- it had more to do with the fact that I got confused with what were knits and what were purls. But my second square is looking funky and nice and tight. Now that I've got this ball rolling (no pun intended) I think we'll definitely be able to meet our goal!"

I'll add here that Katelyn used Crystal Palace "Kaya" yarn (100% wool) in a stocking stitch (with a few rows of purl stitches) over 30(ish) sts on 6.5mm needles.

The Knit Goes On...

Mom emailed me this week to let me know that she has finished her eighth square. I've also completed another two:

Braided Cable
Briggs & Little "Heritage" in purple (100% wool)
46 sts on 4.5mm needles

This cable pattern is one I've used in hats before, and I quite like it. The two braids beside each other, winding towards and away from each other, makes me think of that quote: "True love does not consist in gazing into each other's eyes, but looking forward in the same direction." I wish I knew who said that because I really like it.

Stocking Stitch
King Cole "Waves" (acrylic & wool)
23 sts on 7mm needles

I fell in love with this yarn twice: once when I saw it in the store, and again while I was knitting with it. The colours are a bit softer than they appear here. I have big plans to knit with this yarn again sometime -- hopefully making something for myself!

Katelyn has also started knitting and has finished at least one square, but I'll see if she wants to say anything about it before I post it.

Kathy's Post

From Kathy:

"Yikes! Okay, these posted squares are nothing but beautiful, which is totally intimidating to the non-knitter I am. Eventually I did finish my first square, after starting help from Jean on the phone, then had to pull in my 84 year old Auntie to help cast off and reshape. Now, I have to admit that my squares (2 so far) are not TOTALLY perfect, much less the artistic creations I am seeing on the website! Hopefully there will be others out there contributing, so my squares, while made with love, won't look as lost in all the art!"

More Progress!

Mom just let me know she has almost finished her seventh square for the quilt. What a knitting machine! Way to rock it, Mom!

At this rate, we'll be able to give them a lovely, big quilt. Can't wait to see how they all work together!

Jean's Update

Here's an update from Jean:

"I've got 6 done, Tory did 3 while she and I were together for her recovery and I know my friend Donna D. from across the lake has crocheted 2 and my girlfriend Kathy has at least started hers....she phoned in a panic as it kept growing ...I had to tell her that what starts as 8" when you cast on does not stay as 8". Her 60 stitches should have been more like 30.

So that's the progress report from this end. Am really enjoying it."

#4 Done!

Mom has finished her second square, using the same yarn as the first. She says:

"I have done my second square for the quilt. I am doing a popcorn stitch. 4 stitches of seed stitch and then several popcorn stitches which nicely come in groups of 4 and then 4 more seed stitches. It works beautifully with my 32 stitch square."

Two more down

Here are two squares I've managed to finish for the quilt:


Large Woven Cable stitch (from Cables & Arans), done in 100% wool from Nova Scotia. 40 sts on 4.5mm needles.


Seed stitch/knit/purl combo to make a sunset picture, done in Louet "Bonnie" Yarn (wool/silk blend). 37 sts on 5.5mm needles. I had a hard time getting a pic to accurately reflect the square, but this one wasn't too bad, so I chose to post it.

First Square Done!

Mom emailed me to let me know that she's finished her fist square for the wedding blanket. She used a wool/acrylic blend in a medium blue colour, and knit a cable pattern on 5.5mm needles. So at least one is done!

Please email me once any other blocks are done and I'll post the progress up here. I think ideally we're looking for about 88 blocks for a quilt of 64" x 88". Feel free to send pictures of your blocks as well -- then we can see what everyone is doing!

Welcome!

This blog is a place for anyone who's helping to make Kyle and Courtney's wedding blanket to offer ideas, share pictures and patterns, tell stories, and get information.

The Background:

Given that Kyle and Courtney are going to Prince George, and that they will need to be warm there, and that Courtney loves yarn, I thought we might make a collective knitted/crocheted blanket as part of a wedding gift. If we each make a number of squares out of whatever yarn we'd like, we can then piece them all together like a quilt. Then each of us will have contributed towards the blanket but no-one is saddled with making the whole thing. And my sense is that they'd be cool with an eclectic mix of yarns and styles, which means that we could just choose stuff we think they'd like and go from there. Plus I think the handmade element would go a long way with them. And when Jeffy and I got married, his aunt crocheted us an afghan which we have used non-stop, and still gets put on beds to add extra warmth or gets cuddled under on lazy days around here. (Not that there are many of those any more. But still. It was a great gift.) The original email I sent out about this idea got lots of positive response, and we decided to go ahead with it! And so did you, if you're reading this.

The Nitty-Gritty:

* This blanket is a SuperSecretSurprise for Kyle and Courtney which will hopefully be done for their wedding in May.
* Anyone is welcome to participate.
* Squares for the blanket should be 8".
* Squares can be knitted or crocheted in any pattern, so long as they're 8".
* Any yarn can be used, though I think it would be best to avoid very fine or very chunky weights.
* My suggestion would be to choose yarns that have at least some wool content for the warmth factor.
* Squares should be done by Wed, May 20th so they can be pieced together before the wedding.

If you know of anyone who'd be interested in contributing, please pass this blog site along. If you want to contribute to the blog, you can email stuff (photos, stories, patterns, accomplishments, etc) to cherylATparsons-sheldrakeDOTcom and I will post it on your behalf. This blog will also be a place to keep track of who's participating, and will serve as a kind of diary for Kyle and Courtney to read once they've received their blanket.

I'm very excited about this project! Feedback is always welcome. Thanks so much for participating!