5 Suggestions for the Hemlock Ring Blanket-Finished Object!
My Hemlock Ring Blankie is finished. What a sense of accomplishment I feel. My husband is amazed that I’m willing to give it to our friends as a house gift for their relatively new cabin in the woods.
Unlike other lace pieces, I am not blocking this one using wires and pins. Instead, I am using an iron and wet cloths to steam it. I am concerned about the space and time required to allow the blanket to dry fully.
My suggestions for others setting out to make a Hemlock Ring Blankie are:
- Think about how big the piece will get. For most knitters, this means that it will not be a project that you carry around with you.
- Consider whether you want it to be one color or not. My color palette was determined for me. I had gotten 5 skeins of the handspun wool at a yarn swap. As a result, I needed a way to make the colors go together. The pattern lends itself to changing colors with each ring of the feather and fan repeats. You can use a larger variety of colors. My constraint was that the lavender colored yarn didn’t go with the red colored yarn if they were placed next to each other.
- Make sure that you have needles, either using multiple sets or a set of interchangeable ones to be big enough to hold the stitches. Otherwise, you wind up spending time moving the stitches.
- Test or swatch before starting to ensure that the center of your ring will lay flat when you’re finished with the piece.
- Have fun with it.
Here are some photos so that you can see how it turned out.
Submitted by Knitted-Yarns Editor-in-Chief