Hemlock Ring Lap Blanket

Pattern: Hemlock Ring Doily (1942 vintage pattern), modified into a blanket by Jared Flood
Started: March 1, 2008
Completed: March 17, 2008
Materials: Cascade Ecological Wool, latte, 2 skeins
Needles: US 10 / 6.0 mm (40" circular)

At most recent count, I am one of 963 people making Jared's modification of the Hemlock Ring. That's on Ravelry alone! The current project count is here for any curious Ravelry users.

I like the pattern. I like the idea. I'm not completely smitten with my finished results. I opted to take it to a dry cleaner to be professionally steamed and blocked, but I don't think they blocked it quite as aggressively as it needs. There's still some rippling in the feather and fan section, and the edges are pretty frilly.



If I had the stamina for six to eight more rounds of increases, the finished piece would be closer to the size I fantasized wrapping myself in on cold days. While I wouldn't exactly call it tiny, it's definitely a lap blanket. To give you a sense of scale, I took a a full-on picture the likes of which I normally would never do. Here it is on my 54-inch diameter table:



See what I mean?

The fact that the center medallion didn't lose all its texture makes me really happy. I like the three dimensionality. Pics like this make me feel all warm and gooey inside:



Deep inside, I know I'm going to have another go at the blocking. I have a professional steamer, so I think I ought to be able to do at least a little good. I'll try to leave the texture in the center medallion and just straighten out the feather-and-fan section.

I do like it! It's warm, and it looks lovely on the back of our comfy chair upstairs!



I'm curious how many more people will make this pattern with the modification. I'm not sure the project really merits all the interest. I'm not sure I'd make it again.

If I had to take a guess at what, exactly, draws so many of us to it, I think it's a sense of being part of something larger than ourselves. We've all seen and knit lace patterns before. There's a comfortable, conventional way we go about it. We use delicate yarn. Doilies are doilies. Shawls are shawls... and so on. But Jared repurposed the doily. He defamiliarized the familiar — made it strange. In theatre, thanks to Bertolt Brecht, we call this kind of defamiliarization Verfremsdung Effekt. And in making the familiar strange, Jared caused us all to start looking at things differently. What other pattern types might we work with a radically different fiber weight than is called for? Are there other doilies that can be expanded endlessly?

It's not enough to simply see the results of Jared's experiment. We need to try it, too, so we can learn the same lessons Jared learned but in our own hands. So we can carry that knowledge, through our fingers, into our own experiments.

The experiment itself may not produce the results we desire, but it's a worthy experiment. It's a learning process, not just the fetishization of someone else's cool project. Jared creates learning opportunities with many of his projects. Just think of all the sweaters being turned into cardigans these days thanks to the influence of his modified Urban Aran.

I think we pick up his projects because they give us new ways of seeing and knowing through the craft of knitting. Well, that and the guy has killer taste!

As for my final take on this particular pattern, the flower attracts me the most. I plan to design a project sometime in the future that makes use of the central medallion in another way, perhaps setting it into a square rather than continuing in-the-round. The wheels are turning... !

Neverending Bind-Off... [cue music] ahh ahh ahh

My plan to finish the Hemlock Ring last week and post pictures of the finished object over the weekend were thwarted by an anxiety-ridden job interview with all its related madness, a 17-hour post-interview sleep marathon, and a neverending bind-off. In my heart and soul, my priorities are straight. They really are. But in reality, I must finish the dissertation and secure gainful employment for any hope of repaying the horrifying mountain of student loans I've amassed since starting my PhD.

In lieu of a finished Hemlock, here's my WIP update. I've learned some things while binding off that someone might find useful.


I had grand visions of making mine a 7-footer like others I've seen who've posted off-the-charts extensions. I worked my way through Jared's chart but ended up stopping without going to the Extreme Hemlock chart. (A good chart is on Ravelry here: 3rd discussion post by MissPrint.) I knew I wouldn't be able to hold many more stitches on the needles, and I didn't want to crack into the third skein of wool if I wasn't going to use a goodly portion of it.


For the last 5 sections of the pattern chart, I made a minor modification, completing 5 rows of straight knitting between the pattern rows rather than 4. By the time I neared the end, it took me 30-40 minutes for a single row.

I finished my last round and started binding off around 10pm last night and expected to have the blanket off the needles around midnight. I expected the bind-off process to take about 2 hours. Boy was I mistaken! Since there are 17 (+bind offs) stitches to make for every 4 stitches on the needles, it's taking considerably more than that. By the time 1am rolled around, I had only managed to work my way around 5 of the 8 major fan segments — a little more than half way!

Understatement: I've still got quite a bit to do.


One trick I found really useful in the bind-off was removing the right-hand needle tip from my 40" circular and putting on the cable cap. (I'm using KnitPicks Options interchangeable needles. If you're not familiar with them, see my previous post here. The end cap is that purplish-colored thing in the picture.) This way I didn't have to turn the entire weight of the blanket back and forth as I was making the edge loops. Took a lot of pressure off my hands as well as the needles -- and I had been worried about the weight snapping the connection between the needles and cables. And I really appreciated the fact that it opened up the bound-off edge more for me to admire while I worked.

This is the first I've been able to get a real sense of what the blanket will look like.


See that glimmer in the lower-right area? That's the needle. I've already bound off the visible portion of the throw in this image, but the back half is still on the needle.

Not sure yet where I'm going to block it. I'd use the bed, but something tells me it'll need more than a day.


Until now, it's been an ever-growing amorphous blob that looked, alternately, like a giant Rastafarian hat and a wad o' pizza dough ready for tossing. Glad to be past that stage!

Locking in

Made the transition to Jared’s chart last night. Easy-peasy. Each row starts and ends at the mid-way point of the chart. Much more straight knitting from here on out.

Some people recommend placing stitch markers at the beginning of each repeat, then counting sections before moving on so they don’t get too far before discovering errors. That makes good sense, especially for less experienced knitters. At present, I’m only marking the beginning of the row because I’d rather internalize the pattern and work intuitively if I can. Judging from Jared’s chart, that ought to be do-able. We’ll see.

The Cascade Ecological Wool (used for this project and the Eco Urban Aran Cardi) may just be my favorite yarn. I love the way it works and feels. I’m thinking about trying it out in one of the Eco Plus colors. Have to come up with a pattern for that – or maybe I’ll do another one of these throws!



I love how mushy the center medallion is now and will be sad to see it blocked out. Well… sad and excited.

Tossing my Hemlock in the Ring

I've been itching to try the Hemlock Ring vintage doily with the modifications made by Jared to turn it into a blanket. It's been nearly 20 years since I knit anything resembling a blanket or afghan. (The last was a blue lace afghan for my sister, a Christmas present I made while I was an undergrad.) The only thing preventing me from casting on months ago was that I wanted to finish the Urban Aran for J. When I went out to buy the zipper for the Urban Aran, I grabbed yarn for the Hemlock. It really couldn't wait: The store was down to its last 3 skeins of Cascade Ecological Wool in latte, and I didn't want to miss them -- especially given that I don't know how long it would take to order more. Bird in the hand...



Isn't it pretty in its simplicity? I love how big and square the hand-pull gets!

Decided to start with magic ring on 40” US10s and shift to full-out circular when possible. That happened around row 40. There’s a lot of bandwidth out there devoted to getting people through tricky rows and/or correcting errors. I haven’t had any problems with the pattern as written to indicate that someone couldn’t get through it without all the help. Row 35 is fine as written as long as you are conceptualizing the sections/repeats. If you’re simply knitting stitch-by-stitch and not visualizing the big picture, you’ll have trouble no matter what. It’s like learning a new language and making the shift from thinking word-by-word to thinking in sentences.

So far so good!

Eco Urban Aran Cardi

The first time I saw this sweater on Brooklyntweed, I knew I had to make it.


After nearly two decades together, I still had never knit anything for J. About 15 years ago, I started a cabled vest, but I hated the yarn and the pattern, so it hibernated for years. This fall I pulled it out — at the urging of my sister — to finish it. I thought I'd do it on the sly so J wouldn't know, then give it to him as a surprise for Christmas. Of course, he ended up seeing it (read: I ended up showing him), and although he was pleased I was thinking of him, he decided he didn't quite like that vest anymore. WHEW!!! Freed me up to move on to bigger and better things... and the Urban Aran Cardigan seduced me with its siren song.


This sweater is a major hit! J wears it frequently, and we get lots of compliments and questions about it. The (male and female) staff at Village Yarn & Tea in Shoreline really liked it, too. I find myself coveting it, but I have to resist: the sleeves fit Joseph perfectly but are about 1-1/2 inches too long for me (at least, that’s my lame-o excuse for not wearing it just yet!). I may have to make another one of these for myself. Perhaps...


Pattern: Urban Aran by Patons (as modified by Brooklyntweed)
Started: November 27, 2007 (while watching Charlie Brown's Christmas and the Dancing with the Stars finale)
Completed: February 24, 2008
Materials: Cascade Ecological Wool in beige, 3 skeins; 26" dual-pull zipper
Needles: US 9 / 5.5 mm (collar), US 10 / 6.0 mm (ribbing), US 10½ / 6.5 mm (body & sleeves)

The Cascade Ecological Wool really suits this pattern. I had some trouble getting gauge, so I knit much much much more loosely than I ever would normally – but when I tried going a needle size up, my rows were off. I opted to make one size larger than I otherwise would have done (in order to get width for each piece) but knitting to length per the smaller size. It was nerve-wracking to figure it all out, but I’m glad I stuck with it. It’s definitely worth it for how great the sweater looks in this yarn – and it’s so nice and squishy, too!


I have a good bit of yarn left, but I definitely needed to purchase 3 skeins.

For the front split, the medium size indicated a 100-stitch cast on. Because I added a p2, slip 1 border to each edge, I cast on 53. Worked both sides of the front simultaneously.

I could have knit the fronts and back as one piece, but I decided not to. I had some concerns about what that might mean if I made any mistakes. Didn't want to be ripping back both sides' worth of knitting if I didn't have to. Good thing I didn't, because I made a major mistake with the front: I knit the entire thing like the back — all the way up to the shoulder seams. That's right... didn't do the neck shaping. Would have been such a bummer to have had to rip the back out along with the fronts!

The other tricky thing with this pattern was getting the ribbing established above the diagonal cables. Every few repeats, the pattern has you beginning the purls on the wrong side, where you would normally be knitting stitches even as they appear. You can correct this easily enough by laddering down on the next row if you missed one. Still, a bit of a pain with this pattern, as it required you to pay close attention — every now and then — in a pattern that is otherwise intuitive.


2/19/08: Blocked the front and back so I could knit the collar and finish the sleeves. See that skein of yarn attached to the right-front (as you'd wear it) panel? I needed it to finish the sleeves but didn't want to break yarn on the front panel before knitting the collar because of the slip/knit edge. So… blocked these bits with the sleeves half-knit.


2/20/08: Spent the afternoon planning my collar modifications so the collar would fit more snug and straight than the original pattern. I looked very carefully at two sites, Brooklyntweed and Streets and Yo's, culling every last bit of info out of them that I could. This was the biggest nail-biter of the entire sweater, so you can imagine my relief when I finished, tried it on J, and discovered I'd nailed it!

Here are the details on my collar modifications so the next person doesn’t have to re-invent:

First, remember that I hadn't broken the yarn when I finished the right-front side? This was an important move. I picked up stitches for the collar using that working yarn, starting from the right front and working my way around the back and down the left front. The pattern has you starting on the left-front shoulder seam, so it's not going to help you much here!

I picked up stitches as follows: the right-side held stitches, 17 from the right front to the right shoulder seam, 4 from the shoulder seam to the stitches on the back-neck holder, 28 from the holder, 4 from there to the left shoulder seam, and 17 down the left front. Yes, we're picking up fewer stitches than the pattern requires. I really didn't want the collar to stretch down to J's shoulder like happens on some versions I've seen.

One of my primary concerns was making sure the Panel A pattern was surrounded by purl stitches. Plotting this was the trickiest part because I was also trying to build in some other strategic decreases within the collar so it would stand up and snug in better. So... I'll give the stitch order starting from the right-front (just after Panel A) and ending at the middle of the back. This is how they look from the outside of the garment:

PPPKKPPPKKPPPKKPPP[shoulder seam is here]PKKPPPKKPPKKPPKKP.

That's just for picking up. Once you've got all those stitches on the needle, you're going to want to do your first set of decreases on the 1st round (which is the wrong side). To represent this, I'll type the pick-up'd stitch pattern again (you're going to have to do the wrong-side reversal mentally — I need to keep the pattern as for the right side for consistency's sake), this time putting parentheses around the stitches you knit together:

P(PP)KKP(PP)KKP(PP)KKP(PP)PKKP(PP)KKPPKKPPKKP

Now remember that you're working back-and-forth to do the collar, not in the round. When you finish this first round, with decreases, you'll knit back, following the stitches as they appear.

For row three, knit even again. For row four, do one additional decrease at the shoulder seam. Here's the entire structure one last time, showing all pick-up stitches, the row 1 decreases in parentheses, and the row 4 decreases in brackets:

P(PP)KKP(PP)KKP(PP)KKP[(PP)P]KKP(PP)KKPPKKPPKKP

The rows are as follows:
• pick-up row (RS)
• R1: decrease row (WS)
• R2: knit and purl according to stitches (RS)
• R3: knit and purl according to stitches (WS)
• R4: decrease row (RS)

As I said, this is just one half of the entire sequence. It includes the stitches from the back holder but does not include the stitches from the front holder since you're working those in whatever row of Panel A you left off on. I opted to continue Panel A long enough to have two strands of the cable pattern complete their movement. I did not repeat rows 5-8 again to make the third strand. Instead, I established the K2P2 rib to fit the pattern and match the rest of the collar.

The pattern calls for a 5" collar. I did that. This is pretty tall—you may want to try it on as you go to get the best length for you.

I recommend putting an anchor-line of crochet stitches in at the back neck (wrong side) so it doesn't start to stretch and puff out. If I do this pattern again, I will probably tweak the collar to allow for some decreases within the back-neck, too.

2/24/08: Spent the day sewing seams and installing the zipper. I went with a dual-pull zipper so the bottom doesn't get all stretched out. I've done lots of zippers on sewn garments, but never on knitted garments. I kept thinking I needed to make sure the front edges completely covered the zipper when it was closed. Just couldn't make it happen, though. In the end, I think it might be best that the zipper shows a little bit even when closed — gives it a slightly more masculine look.

I had really hoped to get the thing done early enough for J to wear it in the film he was shooting that evening. Unfortunately, I missed goal by about an hour. Would have been cool to land this sweater in the movie!