21 April 2020
I started making this today using some Stylecraft Bellissima which is double knitting rather than Aran weight so it’ll be a bit lighter. I’ve had the yarn in my stash for a while, I bought one ball of most of the colours when it first came out.

I’ve done stranded colourwork before but I think this may be my first intarsia project. I don’t think I have equivalent colours of everything so colour-wise I’ll be winging it.

I’m just getting to grips with making the first block. The pattern is clear, you have to jump around a teeny bit but so far so good, I’m following it OK and I am really enjoying myself, it’s such a fun project.

First photo tomorrow probably.

23rd April 2020
Been in touch with Julie at the Wool Zone in Oakham about some more colours which she has in stock, she’s doing mail order during the lockdown, brilliant!

24th April 2020
New colours ordered and I’ve found a great tutorial from Edie Eckman on how to do Entarsia in garter stitch, I just wanted to check I was doing it right before I had done much more.
Here’s the link in case anyone else needs it

25 April 2020
I realised after watching the tutorial above that I’ve been handling my twists when colour changing on the wrong side row incorrectly so I frogged what I’ve done so far (took photos first!) and now my block looks a lot better.

2 May 2020

Little boxes on the hillside ….
There’s a pink one and a green one
And a blue one and a yellow …

9 May 2020
I’m having to get more organised with planning my colours for next few houses. I have two strips of ten completed so far. I’m not doing a photo cos I have one house the same body colour right underneath each other! I don’t want to sew them together without at least another strip to break them up. I’m using double knit weight yarn rather than aran. I’ve worked out I need 40 inches each for the windows, 30 inches each for the bits under the windows, 95 inches for the door. I make a butterfly bobbin (thanks to Edie again for tutorial on how to do that) for the door but the shorter lengths don’t need it. Far less tangling … and hopefully no more repeats!

17 May 2020
Another cautionary tale … I haven’t allowed enough yarn to stitch the strips together. 10 inches is enough to join the sky inbetween houses but I need to allow 18 inches (to be safe) for joining the strips. I wish I hadn’t already done 3 strips with short measures! READ THE BLIMMIN’ PATTERN, SUE!! Argh!!

9 June 2020
Steady progress being maintained. I’m working on my sixth strip now. A couple of my colours are running low (they weren’t full balls to start with). A couple of my colours are running short so I’ve worked out I need 310 inches of yarn to make a “the body” (area C1) of a house so I don’t start one and not have enough yarn to finish it.

15 June 2020
Sixth strip finished but not sewn onto the rest of the blanket yet. Each strip (DK weight) uses 105g of yarn. I have 422g left so that’s plenty for 4 more strips so I’ll end up with a 10 x 10 blanket - perfect for the Futon in the craft room where it will probably live.

I’m running short of Mellow Yellow and Sugar Snap which I love. I’ll get one more ball of each of those and hope I have enough yarn for the border as well. I’ll do a weigh in before and after the border so I can let others know howmuch to allow in DK.

I’ve started working the two triangles of the sky together to reduce the amount of sewing involved.

I pick up and knit the stitches on each side of the roof in two different colours using one short DPN for each side. I then turn and knit the roof on one set of needles, doing the decreases at either end exactly as before but twist the yarn colour change exactly the same as on the other intarsia blocks and thus save myself some sewing, it looks far neater than my stitched together strips. I’m not good at sewing so this is a big plus for me!

15 August 2020
I have just started my ninth row.

The weather has been a little too hot to make blankets so I’ve had a bit of a rest from this project. Now it’s a little cooler, I’m happy to pick it back up again. I really want to finish this before the end of 2020.

It has been a remarkable few months. Lockdown restrictions are gradually being eased but we have no idea if this virus will have a second wave of infections that will hold us in its grip for a second time. I remain hopeful, alert and still safe at home for the time being, the only freedom I have availed myself of is a haircut and one visit to a yarn shop.

4 September 2020
I started the border yesterday after nine rows, I don’t have enough colours left to give enough variety and I think it’s big enough already. My 60cm circular needle isn’t quite long enough for all the stitches and the cable keeps coming off the needle bit; I’ve ordered a longer one.

Schools went back this week. Local lockdowns are going up and coming down again all over the place. None has been in Lincolnshire yet but I’m still being ultra cautious. Track and trace doesn’t seem to be working and testing is a shambles with people having to travel miles.

I had one friend/neighbour over in the garden twice but not seen any of my family in person yet though we’re in touch using other methods.

My husband and I are looking forward to our postponed week at the seaside a little later this month. I may even have this finished by then. :-)

10 September, 2020
I keep breaking cable needles on the border. The first one was just a cheap pair of bamboo ones which I bought as a job lot on Ebay, many different sizes as a set for a very low price quite some time ago. It was just a plastic cable pushed over the bamboo needle so when it broke, I just thought oh well, you get what you pay for. It may be possible to glue it back in but I’m not sure what glue to use on a combo of wood and plastic.

I ordered two more cable needles, the first was by Pony, fixed circular needles, aluminium 100cm long, it was easily long enough to cope with the border stitches but it barely lasted 6 rows before the cable also came off one of the needles. I won’t be buying any more Pony items if this is indicative of their quality.

Fortunately, I purchased another as a back up at the same time, let’s hope the Addi Fixed Circular Knitting Needles 120cm will last a bit longer …. at least til I finish this blanket. I am half way through the third side so fingers crossed!

The news is full of a slow but incessant rise in Covid-19 cases, I really hope we shall still be OK to go on our week’s holiday to the Northumberland coast. I suppose all the time people continue to die of this awful disease, I should just be grateful my husband and I are still healthy.

Wed, 4th November 2020
I’m so glad we managed to get to Northumberland for a week in September. My blanket is finished, right before a second National lockdown in England is about to begin. It’s a great reminder that we really are Safe at Home