Granny Squares are done, but no blanket yet

The Cuttle Corner – September 20, 2023

Welcome to the fourth edition of The Cuttle Corner! I’ve crocheted over 200 granny squares, finished some handspun yarn, and started a cable knit cardigan.

If you missed last week’s post, you can take a look here.

Now, let’s get cozy!

What’s going on

It’s been a quiet week around here. My husband and I both had work, but other than that we’ve been home almost all week.

When I am home I love to spend time cooking in the kitchen. I have an ever-growing collection of cookbooks that I use regularly, but by far my favorite and most used cookbook author is Meera Sodha. All three of her cookbooks are amazing and I have made so many of her recipes.

This week we had an abundance of veggies from our farm share so I made the Kerlan Vegetable Istoo from her second book, Fresh India, using all the delicious produce from the farm. Eating this may have been the highlight of my week!

image of a blue bowl on a woven place mat with a fork on a blue napkin. In the bowl are pieces of potato, green bean, carrot, and kernels of yellow corn. There is a sauce over the vegetables with a yellow color.

There were potatoes, carrots, Romano beans, and corn fresh off the cob in a delicious coconut sauce with some spices.

But enough about cooking, on to the crafting!

What I’m working on this week

Spinning

This week’s spinning focus was finishing the heathered blue merino I’ve been spinning on my drop spindles.

I spun up the last of the wool into singles then made them into a two ply yarn using the andean plying technique.

a white person's hand with thin, single ply, blue yarn wrapped around the wrist, back of the hand and around the middle finger.

Even though it looks like I had a lot of yarn to ply, it all spun up quickly. I like to use my Kromski drop spindle for plying. It’s my biggest spindle. This means it spins fast, keeps going for a long time, and has plenty of room to hold all of my yarn.

I gave all three skeins of yarn a soak and a good thwack to set the twist. They are currently drying out to be ready to knit up into something cozy.

glass pyrex bowl filled with water and soap suds and blue yarn being placed in the water.

I’m not sure what kind of project to use this yarn for yet. One of the skeins of yarn turned out thicker than the other two. This yarn is about a sport weight while the other two are closer to a lace weight.

three skeins of blue handspun yarn resting across the back of a wood dining chair.

Crochet

The epic quest of crocheting seemingly endless granny squares for my Hygge Burst Granny Square Blanket has finally come to an end. In total I made 206 squares. I only needed to make 204 for my 12 x 17 blanket, but somehow I ended up with two extra squares.

This also means I have woven in 412 yarn ends. I’m very glad this phase of blanket-making is finally done, and I can move on to putting everything together.

I laid out all of my squares in a random way, trying to make sure I didn’t get too much of one color in any one spot.

close up of a grid of crochet granny squares in all colors laying on a wood floor.

Then I stacked up each row from right to left. To keep everything from getting mixed up before I can join them I rubberbanded each stack together and stuck a numbered scrap of paper on top of each stack.

seventeen stacks of crochet granny squares. each stack is rubber banded together with a small piece of paper with a number written on it on top of each stack of squares.

I will be crocheting all of these granny squares together. This will be a new technique for me and I am excited to give it a try!

Knitting

More progress was made on my Kildalton cardigan by Kate Davies that I am knitting with Josef & Anni yarn.

a closeup of grey wool knit into rows of rib stitch and a cable knit patter resting on a white cloth with floral pattern.

I’ve finished the bottom edge ribbing and have gotten into the gorgeous cable pattern that makes this cardigan so beautiful. I did mess up by not looking closely enough at the pattern chart for a couple of rows, but I was able to catch it and fix it without getting too far ahead. I think I have the pattern figured out now.

Until next time, keep cuttle-ing!

What are you working on? I’d love to hear about your projects in the comments below!