Preliminary plans:

I have one year to make this.
I would like to make this pattern bigger and in one piece, preferably using some yarn my Mother-in-law gave me.

Decided on three cable panels and four heart panels plus border. This should be close to a king size 76“ wide by 80“ long; the length can always be adjusted, also can be shorter.

I will need more yarn and will knit up strips and then sew after all. That way I can knit the four heart strips up in Mum‘s yarn. I will knit them two at a time twice, then finish with a lifeline, also start with provisional cast on. That way I won’t need to pick up stitches. ALSO in two of the panels I will knit the side borders right on ( if I have enough yarn from the original batch “O.C.”) or even with the yarn I have to purchase additionally. That way I will only need to do six seams between the seven panels.

Border will be a five inch border in seed stitch.

I will need to buy more and see that it is available in the UK. Fate is in my favor and I will be traveling there in Two months. So I can order it and have it delivered to my sister-in-law.

So, now I have a PLAN and I can start with the heart panels already.

August 13 (374 days to W-Day and while they are in England). Start on two heart panels. One ball is 305g, the other 398g. I will keep going until I have used up roughly half, keeping in mind that it will need to line up with the cable pattern.
Got three rows done today…off to a good start.
I also ordered the additional yarn today which was on sale, so shipping to the USA was practically free and I don’t have to worry about fitting the yarn in my suitcase.

Thursday 8.15. I finished one chain of heart repeat and I also decided to push back my “finish by date” to December 2020, their first Christmas together instead of their wedding day, but I have not totally decided on that yet.

Tuesday 8.27.: ROW COUNT: I did the math today and noticed that the panels don’t have the same number of rows. There is a difference of 4 rows between the chain of hearts panels(20x15+12=312) and the lovers knots panels (64x4+52=308.
I wonder how to accommodate for that. How did some knitters manage to knit this in one with the difference in row count?
I am thinking to repeat rows 1 and 2 in the beginning of the panel and rows 63 and 64 at the end of the Lovers Knot Panel.

September 9 : I decided to do 18 repeats plus 12 rows on the heart panels. That will come to 372 rows.
I will add one more repeat on the Lovers Knot Panels which will make it 5 repeats total plus the 52 rows which also comes to 372 rows total. This way it will be a little longer.
Yes, it’s more work, but more useful, too, since my son is 6 foot 4 inches tall.

I almost completed the first two heart panels and I finally figured out how to stop them from twisting: I fold up the panel and clip it together with a large stitch holder. ( see picture)

September 18.: The first two heart panels are completed. Used up 307 g for them. So, 307 g for 26,040 stitches. My total stitch count for the blanket will be 147,744 stitches and I should get that done with about 1,800g yarn. Since I have 2,300g I have plenty of yarn.

November 12.: Finished with all the heart panels including the left and right seed stitch borders.

December 28.: Finished the first of three Lovers Knots panels (5 pattern repeats plus 52 rows). This will be the middle panel. It is done in the original yarn from Mum, so the three middle panels are all done in the yarn from her.

January 1, 2020: it occurred to me today, that perhaps I could “ write “ the wedding date and names of the couple in the bottom border using cables. I could design, but did some research first , because “ why reinvent the wheel”? Someone pointed out this designer to me who already has several patterns with cabled lettering: Bekah Knits.
Or I may do the writing simply like in this sweater:

March 21: Exactly five months before the wedding and I finished knitting all seven panels including the side borders.
Blocking them first and taking a wee bit of a break from this project before starting to seam.

April 2: Started seaming today after a bit of a break. I decided on a decorative crochet zip seam. I deliberately let the edges overlap for the seam to get more of a welt, three dimensional seam. It’s coming out pretty.
I debated whether or not I should count out rows on both panels to make sure I am staying on track, but decided against it for now. Since all panels have the same number of rows, I should be OK.
And it is Ok, and more than that, it looks really good with a virtually invisible seam. It looks so good that I made a video to show and share just how I seamed these panels. Click here to view Decorative Seaming.

Total of 686g left before doing the top and bottom borders.

Upper and lower borders
When putting back the life sts for the top and bottom borders, I work a double center decrease at each panel seam. Remember, I had the panels overlap plus I have the extra loop from the crochet chain ( readily available at the top and easily added on the bottom). This way I make sure that the border does not pucker and it looks smooth, flowing into the next two stst rows before picking up the seed stitch pattern for 30 rows, then bind off using I-cord bind off with #9 needle.
April 24: I have a definite flare in the border. I was thinking that I may be able to stretch out the cables , but that may not be the right way to go.
I may have to redo the upper border, which is not the worst thing. I do want it to look nice.
I found a helpful article on Interweave Knits on how to calculate the stitch count for the border above cables.
How to avoid border flare.
4.27. Tackling this today. While putting in a lifeline I kept thinking “ how could I have been so stupid?!”
I triple checked what I need to do to get it right.

1. I looked at the pattern and it says pick up 173 sts over 217. That is four for every five.
2. I calculated how many sts per panel this would be. On the heart panels 35-7=28. On the Lovers Knot panels 56-11.2=44.8
3. I measured my gauge over the seed stitch 14 sts=4”. The Heart panel is 8” wide, so 28 sts is right. The Lovers Knot panel is 12.5 inches wide. 43.75 would be correct; I will go with 44 sts.
4. I pinned some panels to deduct 7 sts on a heart panel and 12 on a Lovers Knot panel and it looks right, nice and smooth. Now on to unraveling, getting the sts back on a needle and working a decrease row ( k3, k2tog) over the panels, leaving the seed stitch side borders untouched. Once I have done that I will see how the pattern flows into the side borders. I can always add or subtract a stitch to make it work for the continuity of the seed stitch.

I still did not like the way the transition between panels and border looked, so I undid three rows back to the panel stitches again and asked some wise knitters why it looks so odd.
This was the main advice ( by Kathleen Kelm):
Do your decreases to get rid of the cable flare right at the cable; do your other decreases at regular intervals.
I also found this very useful video by Suzanne Bryan on how to deal with cable flare and how to pinch / right cross or left cross a four stitch cable to a point by switching the position of the second and third stitch before working the 2tog. Here is the video: Dealing with cable flare.
I also went right into the seed stitch pattern without a knit row between and it looks more pleasing.
5.8. I finished the upper border with a I-cord bind off on a US# 8 needle. The tension etc is perfect

May 13, 2020: 100 days to the wedding and to the day nine months after I started and all of the knitting is done. When I cut the yarn that final time after completing the bottom border, it felt like cutting the umbilical cord and giving birth to this blanket.
I still have to weave in the ends and block it.

May 14: The count-down to the wedding is down to double digits, 99 days, and I wove in all of the ends.

May 26: Blocked.

May 28: Dry and I sewed in a label, took final pictures on our king sized bed and folded into a beautiful storage linen bag a friend of a friend sewed up especially for this blanket.
Put away in a safe place until August.