Last time you saw Girasole, it had just been started.
My, how it has grown!
If I had to write another one of those “What Does Summer Mean To You” essays for grade school, I’d now say baseball and knitting blankets.
Blankets?
I know, the last thing on most knitters’ list of summer projects is a big heavy blanket. (And trust me, Pastaza makes for a heavy blanket). But happily, we’re under the Pacific Ocean’s influence, which gives us cool evenings.
As a matter of fact, my poor neighbors planned a fantastic Fourth of July party one year. They knocked themselves out getting their yard ready for dinner and dancing outside under the stars. Dinner was catered. The band was the best you could hire… We knew we were in trouble when we all donned overcoats and sweaters at 6:00 in the evening, just for the drive over. By 8:00, everyone, bundled up as we were, was shivering and heading for home. I felt so bad for our hosts! You just never know about California.
But I digress…
My husband loves watching baseball, and I love to keep him company and pretend I love watching baseball too. A big project like the Girasole blanket is just right for long innings. And it’s warmth is welcome by the time the cool evenings come around. Its repetitive nature offers enough serenity to counteract errors, foul balls and disconcerting calls by umpires.
As with my Mitered Square Afghan , the goal is to complete the blanket by the end of the World Series.
I’ll bet you could knit a lot faster if you took off that mitt! 😀
Oh, I do love your sense of humor. Thanks for giving us all a giggle!
I’m going to knit this someday! I have loved the pattern ever since Jared showed it to us on his blog. Yours is very pretty in the color you selected!
Hi Rebecca. Seeing your projects on Ravelry and your blog, I think you’d enjoy making Girasole. I’m already plotting another, maybe in the shawl size next time.
I loved knitting this. It went really fast until I got to the edging. It hibernated for several months. I picked it up later and forced myself to “get er done”. It is really nice. I knitted it with the Jamieson’s Spinthrift so it is much smaller. The next one will be bigger yarn.
Congratulations on your Girasole. Do you have a photo of it posted anywhere?
I’ve been hearing about that edging from other people, too. I feel intimidated by that, and also the blocking. I’m already planning on what furniture I’m going to have to sell off, just to make room to block the thing. It’s going to be huge.
Well….I did it….I started Girasole. I swatched in the Pastaza and thought it would be a much heavier blanket than I want. I want a lap-quilt size so I indulged in ordering some Hebridean yarn from Virtual Yarns in Scotland. I’m excited to get it in. I had a little bit left over from my Oregon Vest and picked a color similar to yours….swatched with that…..can’t WAIT for it to cross that Atlantic Ocean!
Hurray, Rebecca! You are so right, the Pastaza is a heavy blanket. I’m excited about your yarn crossing the ocean too! I’ll look forward to hearing about your progress!