My friend likes pink but Cascade Eco+ didn't come in any nice pinks. I found a lovely pink (listed as "Tutu" on Webs) in Cascade 220, but it's worsted weight. My LYS suggested knitting held double. Well, there's an idea.. knitting a lace blanket with two strands of yarn at once? I've never done that before and wasn't sure how well it would work. It could have been a straight road to insanity. I also needed to order the yarn since they didn't have enough. I had to go home to figure out how much I would need so the LYS loaned me a partial ball of Cascade 220 to play with.
Get this, I actually swatched. I hauled out my needles and swatched it held single and double to figure out what I liked best. I knew the original was done in Eco+, which is rated at 4/inch on 9's or 3.5/inch on 10's. I swatched to get the same gauge with Cascade 220. My results were 3.5/in on 9's or 3/in on 10's. It ended up being a decision between held double on 9's or 10's. The 9's made a squishier fabric, but if I do it again, I'll use 10's, mostly because a tight fabric made with two strands is a little resistant to blocking.
Holding it double was no problem at all. I used a center-pull ball, but pulled from the inside and outside at the same time. The yarn twisted around itself as it came off the outside and other than having twice as many loops on the needle, I couldn't tell. It also blocked very tightly, although I was worried the yarn overs might pull apart a little.
So, for those new to the joys of a Hemlock Ring, the original inspiration was Jared Flood's blog: http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/2007/08/hemlock-ring-blanket.html. I want to make almost everything he has knitted because he does such gorgeous work. The blanket it based on a doily pattern by the Canadian Spool Cotton Company found here: http://www.angelfire.com/folk/celtwich/KnitHemlockRing.html and on Ravelry at http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hemlock-ring-blanket. I changed the slip 1, knit 1, psso's to ssk's because I get loose loops over the front of my knitting when I do psso's. I really like how they turned out.
Needles: I started on size 9 dpn's. I stayed with them until about round 16. Then I switched to a US9 24" circulars. On round 38, I changed to a 40" cable and then on round 59, I changed to a 60" cable. KnitPicks Options don't let you connect cables and 60" is the longest they make. If I had done many more rounds, I would have had to get really creative with the needles. This wouldn't be a problem with a different yarn, but the 220 held double really filled my needles.
Yarn: Cascade 220 color 9477. I bought nine skeins based on yardage, but only used four and a half. I changed yarn at rounds 42, 62, 75, and 84.
Bind-off: Round 87 on the original pattern is the bind-off round. Those who do additional pattern repeats to make a wider blanket will have to work this row later on. It's a trip. For every four stitches "bound off" on the round below, you need to knit 18 stitches. It makes a lovely scalloped edge, but it requires knitting a few, turning the work, knitting back over what you just did, turning back and then binding off all the stitches you just made. Turning a blanket on 60" needles is a lot different than turning a little doily that is supposed to measure 15" in diameter when complete. Someone on the Yahoo KAL group suggested using a dpn, and that probably saved my sanity. I capped off the right end of my circular needle and kept the left needle active. Then I brought in a dpn to work the bind off. At worst, I had about eight stitches on my dpn at any time. It became my new right needle and was a lot easier to support since it didn't have half a blanket hanging off of it. Since I worked round 87 as it was, it only took a few hours. Someone knitting this with a lot of pattern repeats (I've seen them out to round 120) would take so much longer because there will be more stitches to bind off. This is another point where Cascade 220 held double scored big points with me. Most of the ones I've seen using 220 were knit single with more pattern repeats.
I worked the bind off itself with a single strand of 220. It uses a lot of yarn because of the number of stitches and I didn't want a big bulky scallop. I think it turned out perfectly and matches the texture of the blanket so much better than it would have held double. To do this, I cut the outer strand of yarn on the ball before I started the bind off and left enough to weave in. I knit the bind-off with the center strand of yarn.
Final dimensions:
Pre-blocking - 32" diameter
Blocking 1 - 39" diameter
Blocking 2 - 42" diameter
I pinned and steam blocked once to get the wad of bubble-gum that came off my needles to lay flat. I let it rest a while, took all the pins out and fired up the steamer again. While it heated, I pulled and stretched the blanket in all directions to relax the stitches a little. Then I steam blocked it again with a vengeance. I pulled and pinned it with no mercy and ended up with lovely stitch definition and a nice shape. I think it's always going to need a little rough treatment after it gets washed to get it back into shape. Cascade 220 isn't superwash though, so the washing itself has to be gentle or it will felt into a bath mat. That's why I chose steam for this first time.
This was such a fun project! I had to use my new dpn skills and learn how to use circs for the first time. I actually ordered circs just so I could make this. I learned to knit holding double and that Cascade 220 is squishy and lovely. Also, I learned some new circular lace stitches like the scallops that could come in handy on other projects. Two thumbs up!
Photos!
The wad of bubble-gum before blocking:
Pinned and steamed:
Ready to snuggle:
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