May 6, 2022

Squaring up! :) Such beautiful texture and details in this pattern!
It does get a wee bit tedious for me at times, but it has more to do with this particular yarn. It is beautiful, but it consists of several untwisted threads, making bead stitches and back bar stitches a little more difficult to pull off without splitting the threads. :)

May 6, 2022 PM

I’m on Rnd 32 which has a LOT of bead stitches. I’m not the greatest with that stitch, and even less so with this untwisted thread. They look kind of uneven, and leave a gap rather than filling the space like it would if I were using a heavier weight yarn. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so frogged and redid the first side a few times. Then I looked ahead in the pattern. The next few rounds have even more bead stitches.

Time to put this one away for today. I’ll mull it over while having a glass of wine. Hopefully I will conquer them tomorrow.

May 7, 2022

Rainy morning, with a pot of coffee at the ready! Persistence will be my word for today. Time to tackle these bead stitches. If it goes slow, it goes slow! I’m going to try an extra wrap to fill the space a little more, and wrap a bit looser as well in the hopes it will be easier to pull that last loop through and with less snagging. If it becomes tedious I’ll just put it down for a bit and work on another WIP for a while.

ETA: Slow and steady is the way to go, the extra wrap helps as expected. Also realized I should pull through 6 loops and then complete the stitch as a sc, sort of. That tends to hold the ‘bead’ in place.

Also is good to note that your last fptr of the corner will be in the first hdc (of 3), and your first fptr to start the next corner will be in the first hdc (of the next set of 3), for this 1st bead stitch round

May 8, 2022

OMG, so this has been quite the effort! And I’m patting myself on the back for it. I finally had gotten to almost the end of the first bead stitch round, and found a mistake two rounds earlier (an extra popcorn) and couldn’t find a work around that looked ok. I had to frog all the way back to Rnd 29 and do them all again! I’m not gonna lie, I came really close to tossing in the towel.

I finally caught back up and have done 2 of the bead stitch rounds, with one more to go. My bead stitches still look a bit sloppy, but way better than they did initially. I think it gives this piece some character :) I’m glad that I persisted, this is truly a lovely textural adventure.

May 9, 2022

Just started Rnd 40 - the beginning of a star stitch round. I don’t think I’ve used this stitch in a project before, so another ‘slow and steady’ set of rounds for me. It’s explained perfectly in the pattern and so far no troubles, it’ll be worth the effort.

May 12, 2022

The two bands of the star stitch rounds are now completed, and they look awesome. I’m pretty proud for being patient with myself and some of these stitches that I’m not great with. The detail and texture of this piece is simply marvelous, and well worth any extra efforts you may have to make

I’m also nearing the end of the first skein of this colorway. I peeked ahead in the pattern to see whether I should start the next skein from inside out or outside in… I just finished Rnd 45 and there is one more round of straight dc’s which I think I can finish up using this skein. The round after that starts some ‘shells’… I think I’ll start from the center out, and bring that deep rose color back in since it is starting a new stitch pattern.

ETA: Completed thru Rnd 46 and finished the skein with barely any to spare. Currently measures out to 24” by 24” (unblocked). Uploaded a bunch of pics…

May 15, 2022

These last 3 rounds have made some cute little flower buds nestled within their leaves. While very pretty, they are lost within this colorway sadly. If I do this pattern again, however… rosebuds they will be.

May 18, 2022

On Rnd 56 currently. Rnd 53 was the stopping point for a baby sized version, per the pattern. I took a pic, but it was night time, may upload later. Mine measured out to 28” by 28” then. I have 2 more skeins to go after this one, so I intend to go as far as I can with the pattern.

It’s funny, I will look at others project pics, or notes on occasion and one of them said, “this works up quick”. I’ve said that myself many times with various patterns, but not this one! I still think its the ‘untwisted threads’ that are slowing me down though, even with normal straight stitching. But it’s okay, I know it will be a beauty and I’m enjoying the process while learning/practicing a few new stitches. :)

May 19, 2022

Starting R57 this afternoon. I’ve got to say that I really like the way R55 and R56 were done using the dcfptr stitches. Many patterns start shells, then work solely IN each ‘spoke’ of it, which can sometimes leave bigger gaps than are visually pleasing. With this method there are no gaps, and it’s a visually full shell with some added texture. Very nice!
I did have some slight confusion starting this round because I had been using the fp part of the stitches for the fp part of the next round as directed on R55/56; and I wasn’t completely sure initially if the fphdc’s go around the whole stitch or not for R57. I’m banking on it being the whole stitch.

May 20, 2022

R58, more bead stitches! Hmm, I’m so not sure what’s happening here… I should be pretty good with these at this point, but - weirdly, I can’t seem to figure out what I did differently starting this round off… these bead stitches don’t look quite like my others. So strange, because I think I’m doing the same thing, lol. Maybe it’s the location of these or they are at a sharper angle this time? Who knows - I’m not going to fuss over it this time around though. I already know I’m in for a long, slow round. :)

Persistence will be my word once again!

May 21, 2022

On R62 now. After creating the detailed shells, it’s been in the process of squaring back up… looks like that’s nearly complete now. Very happy with how this beauty is coming along!

ETA: Need to start R64. It is straight hdc and forms the frame around the square. I’m near the end of this skein. Debating whether to play yarn chicken or start a new skein. I do think I’d rather this round be in the light color, will I have enough?

May 22, 2022

I lost at yarn chicken… I have one more side of hdc to do… I looked over the next couple rounds, and I think I will ‘steal’ some of the ‘outside’ of this next skein, not only to finish up the hdc’s, but to do the next round as well. I think bringing back the dark color will look best starting with R66, the colors will intersperse there.

(This frame of hdc’s (R64) would make a great stopping point for a lap throw - would have taken 2 full skeins of this yarn. I’m fairly certain I could have made the yarn work out by just tightening slightly up or not doing the extra wrap on my bean stitches)

May 23, 2022

Finished up R64 & R65 working from the outside of the 3rd skein. Continuing with R66 and re-starting from the center pull. This round calls for bpsc and a dtr working in the round below’s skipped stitch - my dtr’s were far too long for this, so I went with a triple instead. This isn’t too loose nor too tight with my tension.

May 24, 2022

Rnd 69 is slanting clusters; they look interesting, although I’m not quite sure about them as of yet. They seem rather ‘heavy’ at the moment…

May 29, 2022

Worked on another WIP for a few days. Today, I finished up those slanting shells and have begun the next round. The shells used up quite a bit of yarn and for the first time so far I had the gradient change in the middle of the round, 2 actually. :) I looked at a few others pics, and noticed that my shells look a bit different, I’m assuming due to the thinness of the threads. I did follow the pattern instructions exactly. Who knows, these look lovely.
With the piece growing in size now, I have to wonder if it will throw the gradient off. I don’t want this to have a ‘lopsided’ look to it. I have another full skein of this colorway… I could start color correcting and essentially combine these last two skeins if need be.
I think I will do a few more rounds to see how it looks, then decide from there.

June 1, 2022

Prior to starting R74 I laid the piece out. So far the color changes appear to be gradual enough to not throw it off or be visually disturbing. R74 is another set-up round for a round for more slanting clusters which are yarn intensive, hopefully it will continue to work out colorwise.

June 3, 2022

Ut oh, I’m nearly finished with this skein and I looked ahead - There are 91 rounds in total. There is no way that last skein will be enough to finish that many rounds. So I either order more of this yarn or I find a good stopping point.

June 26, 2022

Haven’t worked on this one in a few weeks. I’ve been working on 2 WIPs that involve blocks/joining and lots of ends to weave in. I’m going to have to grab it soon though, it’s so prettily laying there - tempting me.
But I am committed to finishing up WIPs that have been languishing far too long; in addition to doing a kit club afghan. I’m trying to push myself out of my comfort zone (like this pattern) and try my hand at more patterns that involve piecework.

July 1, 2022

On R75. I may have panicked too soon about the remaining yarn. Decided to see how far this one can take me; as I get closer to the end of the skein I can re-visit a stopping point or continue on with the last skein.

July 16, 2022

On R79, and this may use most of the remaining yarn in this skein. I completely forgot that I was perhaps looking for a stopping point before this happened, lol. BUT, I do have another full skein of this. What to do? I guess at this point we just finish this round and take a look at the rest of the pattern.

July 17, 2022

Finished R79, and believe I can manage R80 as well. And I’ve finally decided that I may as well ‘go for it’ and see if I can manage to complete the whole pattern. Will try to lay it out and measure before I add the last skein.

July 22, 2022

I only made it about halfway and had to attach the last skein. Because of that I had to start this one from the ‘outside’. I’m currently on R82 and I’m trying to decide if I want to continue or finish the round and re-attach starting from the ‘inside’. I’m leaning towards continuing because then my final rounds will be in the darker rose color.

July 28, 2022

I’ve been pretty busy, so only on R84 currently. The skein grows smaller pretty fast now and once again I’m concerned with being able to finish this up. All I can do is keep going and see how far it takes me. I do hope I can at least square it back up (new ‘humps’ forming now). However, I’ve looked on Hobbii and they do have more of this colorway. The price is not daunting, but the 9.99 shipping really takes it over the top. I’m not ordering it yet… lets see what happens.

July 30, 2022

Just started R85, there was a slight gradient change towards the end of R84. If I wasn’t in this ‘gonna run out’ mode, I would have fixed it to at least make the change in a corner rather than mid-side.
However, it is not looking like I will make it back to squaring this up. I really don’t want to order 1 skein with a large shipping tagged on, plus it would be way more yarn than I would need to finish.
I may take a peek around various sites to see if I can find a thin cotton yarn in a shade I could use to finish this up…

September 11, 2022

::low whistle:: On Rnd 88… still on last skein! Think I’ll make it to Rnd 92?? I’ll be floored if so.

September 12, 2022

I got about 1/2 way through R89 and the yarn has now made its final color change. I’m still not certain I’ll be able to finish. I did decide to do fpdc’s instead of fptr’s this round in an effort to save a bit of yarn. It looks fine.

September 16, 2022

1/2 way through R90 and it’s pretty clear that I won’t have enough of this yarn to completely finish the pattern. I know it will finish this round, doubt it’ll be enough for R91 as well. But, I ordered some Scheepje’s Cotton 8 in Fuschia. I’ve actually used that yarn and color before, and is similar to this last color. If anything, it may be a bit darker and hopefully only a slightly different but doable hue.
My back up plan, if this new yarn doesn’t work, is to frog back to the end of this round and do a final round of bpsc or bphdc that I’ll consider the ‘border’.

September 26, 2022

The thin cotton yarn I ordered arrived today. So, it’s definitely a deeper color, and it’s not the right hue… its ‘brighter’. And, I think it’s thinner than what I was using. I did get four 50g-skeins. However, It’s not exactly a bad match considering it will be used to complete the frame of the blanket, so I think it may actually look nice. One thing I’m considering to ‘introduce’ the color, is to do a candy stripe by alternating a dc of the original color, then a dc of the new color. Then do the last round in the new color. I think I may end up having to double up the new yarn to make it closer to the original, but am hopeful that I will have enough to do so.

October 1, 2022

The candy striping is a bit tedious, so I had to work on this on and off - but it does look good, and was a great way to bring this new color in for the ending round.
Won at yarn chicken, thank heaven and am about to start the final round!

October 3, 2022

Finished! It’s beautiful…