How I backed the Lizard Ridge

I had a few questions come up about this, so I thought I would address it.  The original Lizard Ridge pattern did not call for a backing.  The blanket was just supposed to be seamed.  After looking at the back of the blanket, I didn’t care for the look of the seaming and garter stitch fabric on the back.  I just really prefer a more finished look, especially for the amount of time and money spent on this piece.

 First of all the choice of fabric to back the blanket is extremely important.  I chose a light weight polar fleece, because it had similar degree of stretch as the knitted blanket did.  Also, fleece is 60″ wide and the blanket was 54″.  I wanted to make sure that I didn’t have to piece the back side to make something big enough. 

 Had I chosen a woven (non-stretchy) fabric I would have had a miserable time trying to match up the the edges because the knit fabric would stretch out.  I layed the fleece out on the floor, making sure that it was particularly smooth, if just slightly stretched.  I layed the blanket on top of the fleece, and smoothed it and stretched it taught.  I trimmed the excess fleece away making two matching layers. 

After getting my two layers set.  I took large safety pins and pinned through both layers of fabric at the corner of each square to keep things from shifting around.  I took the yarn that I intended to use as edging and also used it to whip stitch each layer together.  I kept the stitches approximately 1/4″ apart.  The most difficult part of this was getting the yarn through the very tight weave of the polar fleece.  In order to get the needle through the fleece easier I used a rubber jar lid gripper to get a good grip on the needle.

In the pictures you can also see that I tied the blanket, rather like a quilt.  I tied through to the back of the blanket so I wouldn’t have visible ties on front.   Each tie is at the corner of each square, and trimmed to about a 1/2 inch on the back of the blanket.  The tie is hidden on the front, so it doesn’t distract.

In order to pick up the stitches for the crochet border I used the whip stitching as a guideline to pick them up evenly.

If there are anymore questions on backing, please let me know.  I will be happy to answer any additional questions.

 

Lizard Ridge Finished!

After a years worth of work, a lot money the Lizard Ridge is finally finished.  I absolutely love how it turned out. 

 I did end up backing it.  I found a lightweight polar fleece that matched the edging yarn exactly and stitched it to the back.  I chose fleece because the stretch was similar to the stretch of the knitted fabric.  Sewing together two different fabrics with different degrees of stretch is a real mess, but because these were so similar, I just slapped one on top of the other and whip stitched around the edge.  The beauty of this is that the whip stitching is completely hidden on the front by the crocheted edging.  I did end up tieing it as you would a quilt, but I tied it on the back rather than the front. 

 Without further ado, here are pictures of the finished blanket.

~Finally Finished~

 

Lizard’s on the home stretch

Well I am finally on the home stretch for my Lizard Ridge blanket.  Here is the final arrangement I decided on for the squares:

 

and another view with my chosen color for the border.

I’m about 2/3 of the way through seaming the squares together, and will then begin the crochet border.  I have seen several alternative borders on other people’s versions of this blanket…..but I am thinking that I like the rippled border that the pattern called for.  It mimics the ripples in the blanket, I think.  My goal is to have this finished by the end of the month.  It really will only take a few good days of work…..but I am working now, and that is taking more time. 

 So far I am really enjoying my job.  I am essentially the fashion sewing specialist at a local independent fabric store.  I will not be naming the name publically, but suffice to say, its a nice job with really good benefits considering that its part time retail work.  The best part is getting to pet the fabric and yarn!

I hope to present you with finished blanket pictures soon.

 ~Kirsten

 

Knitting Progress

Well, I have started my new job……It’s going very well.  It seems straightforward so far.

In knitting news, I have no news on the Lizard Ridge.  I still need to get some yarn for seaming and border.  But I should have it soon……then the fun begins.  The final arrangement of squares is not yet finzalized, so still a bit of work to be done there.

 The Monkey sock has been expanded!  I have finished all the lace repeats on the leg, and begun the heel.  Slightly out of focus…..but here is the idea, with a close up of the lace pattern below.

I also have started the French Market Bag from Knitty. This was a nice mindless airport project. Also useful for knitting nights because I can actually chat and keep up with the pattern.  I’m using Paton’s Soy Wool Stripes in the Natural Plum Colorway.

I scored a great deal on this yarn at Michael’s while it was on sale for $3.85 a skein.  I can’t find much better for feltable yarn.

My last little project was something that my sister and I worked on in Denver.  We each made a couple of these for ourselves.  Her’s are gifts for a friend who is moving away, mine are for toting knitting around.  The sock bags were made using this tutorial. I have made similar bags in the past with no pattern, so this wasn’t a huge challenge for me, and I could have done it without the pattern. But, it is much easier when you are actually given the dimensions ahead of time.

Here’s a shot with my knitting tucked inside:

These little bags are so simple, they only take me about an hour to make them.  I used two fat quarter squares of cotton fabric, a 9″ zipper, some interfacing and matching thread.  Only about $5.00 worth of materials, if I buy them at the fabric store.  The beauty of these are I have a lot of scraps of fabric and a stash of zippers that will let me crank one of these out anytime.

Coming Soon:  Pyramid Bags!  In the meantime happy knitting and sewing

 

Of Viruses and Lizards

Sorry for going AWOL on you all.   My long delay in posting was caused in part by a nasty computer virus that took the computer out of commission for a week.  But I put that time to good use…..  By finishing my Lizard Ridge squares!

I was able to borrow a friend’s floor to lay out my squares…..my biggest open space wasn’t quite  big enough.  She even had her hubby vaccum for me….Thanks Allan and Tana

 I am really excited about the possibilities for the blanket.  I’m not sure there is a wrong way that this can be layed out, and its even a little hard to tell the difference between some of the arrangements that have been created.  I have 4 extra squares, which are a start to my sister’s blanket.  It was really nice to have a few spares to switch out, because there were certainly a few that didn’t really fit the color schemes that I have come up with.

Posts may be a little sparser, although they haven’t been terribly regular lately.  I am off to Denver to visit my sis for a week.  But I have also landed a job at one of our local indepedent fabric stores.  Don’t worry, I will still post pictures of my projects…..I have plenty upcoming ideas

 Happy Knitting!

 

Ridging Along

After a long hiatus, here are some new pictures of the Lizard Ridge squares.  I am up to 20 squares now, with 15 more to go to get the extra large blanket my hubby requested.  I think I have enough yarn now to finish it off entirely with several extra squares to boot.  That way I can switch any out that just look too strange with the rest of them.

 

Lickety Split Lizard

Well after a short hiatus to make my sister’s Birthday present, I have more lizard ridge progress to show off.  This square was made this afternoon. This brings me to a total of 13 squares so far:

 

I have been experimenting with different color switches.  I have tried knitting alternately from the outside and inside of the skein, but sometimes that just doesn’t get quite as much contrast as I want for this project.  I have also tried knitting every ripple from a different skein of yarn, which does look nice, but I want some more variety still.  The other method I have tried, which I used for the latest ball, was to take alternately from two separate balls, but make sure to keep proceed in the same order through the ball, preserving the gradual shift in colors within each ripple, but since each ripple is from a different skein it still gives a better contrast.

I am thinking that I will try to make sure I make several squares with each technique to ensure that none of the squares look out of place.  I also think that mixing up the methods will allow me a little more control in insuring that none of the colors is under-represented.

 

Leaping Lizards

Here are some pictures of my in-progress Lizard Ridge squares.  The knitting is fairly easy.  The most complicated technique thus far is wrapping and turning, which creates the ripple and gives the squares their characteristic egg-crate appearance.

 The kureyon is interesting to work with…..I keep finding all sorts of grass and little bits of stuff in the yarn.  Additionally, it is also spun rather unevenly, ranging from barely twisted to so tight that it its barely the diameter of a thread.  That makes it a little challenging, but so far it has worked out fine.

 

  Each square is approximately 3/4 ball of Noro Kureyon.  Since there is quite a bit leftover after each square…..So I have been using the leftover yarn to make my own colorways.  The colors are a little more shocking, but sprinkled throughout the afghan they should look pretty good.