Crafting before 2025 kicks off!

After making it through the yoke and starting the short row shaping on my Melrose (check out the pattern, it's available now:  Ravelry: Melrose pattern by Sophie Lucente) test knit, I can experiment a bit this weekend.

It takes me about 21 minutes to complete a row of the Yuletide Blanket. I'll recalculate the number of rows needed as of the start of 2025. I've made a bit of progress and if I can get a couple of rows every few days, I think there is hope to get it done by next Christmas. Since there isn't any assembly and the finishing should be very simple, I'm not as concerned with the progress during the first half of the year. I'm using a 5 mm hook per the pattern and using my rainbow Furls hook.

With the Battenberg blanket, I have the first five days of the 2023 Advent Calendar from Jessie of Yarn Over New York. Can you guess the theme? It was a space theme and the colors are so fun! I'm using a 3.5 mm hook from my plastic interchangeable Tunisian crochet hook set.

Ok, here is the breakdown of time and counts.

• It took a little less than 5 minutes to wind the 10g mini skein
• 30 minutes to crochet one square with 5 rows
• 2 squares from each mini skein
• The squares measure 4" x 4" making the 12 x 15 squares a 4ft by 5ft blanket excluding any edging

I looked at my available yarn aside from the 24 advent and I also have the ten 20g skeins for the count down to 2024 from Jessie too! These will look pretty with this as well. So...to the math!

That means that I'm getting one square out of about 5g and I'll have 450g of the multicolor yarn, which would give me 92 multicolor squares and I'd need 92 of the solid squares with 70g for the edging. This would make a total of 186 squares. This doesn't divide super easily, but if I think of it as 12 x 15 (or 180 squares) as my starting point.

Next, I made the first of the 24 squares for the Yorkshire blanket. I was hoping to get one square out of 10g, but it looks like the first one took 12g. I'll need to use larger scraps than my 10g mini skeins. I have a couple of beautiful green hand dyed skeins that I was thinking of using as a backup too. There is a calendar with the pattern that shows how timeline worked from July to November of last year. I'd like to get the 24 squares completed in the first 4 months of the year and give myself lots of wiggle room for the assembly. Also, if I can make a few more before the start of the year, I'll be sitting well with the overall timing.

Kicking this off...again!

It's the day after Christmas, and what does a knitter/crocheter think about...what to make next year?!?!!

Ignoring my family/work/personal obligations, here is what I hope to craft for 2025:

• Three blankets (one for each of my kids)
• Finish my current test knit (short-sleeved Melrose Tee)
• Hooded scarves for my family (14 in total)
• Amigurumi Advent
• Table runner
• 4 seat covers
• 2 pairs of socks
• 2 pairs of mittens
• 2 hats
• 2 large dog sweaters

Aspirational list if there is time:

• Candy cane blanket for my sister-in-law
• Work through the patterns in the Close Knits by Laerke Bagger

What are your thoughts on the list above? Whether you know me personally or not, this list is super long. This won't be a light year in other respects, so I'll need to prioritize. The three blankets are for each of my kiddos and I have a nice start on one. All three blankets are crocheted. I have the patterns picked out and most of the yarn determined. Which is your favorite?

Yuletide Mosaic Blanket (this is the one that I started)

Ravelry: Yuletide Mosaic Blanket pattern by Hannah Cross

Yorkshire Crochet Along Blanket

Ravelry: Yorkshire Crochet Along Blanket pattern by Meema Makes

Battenberg Blanket

Ravelry: Battenberg Blanket pattern by Sandra Paul

The big question is how much I can make each week and then the time to do any assembly/finishing. The first blanket only has some knots on the sides for the fringe. There is a different optional edging, but I love the side fringe. The second blanket has final assembly and edging. The third blanket is join as you go with the solid color and edging.

Would you work on one blanket, or several at a time? I generally have a few projects going at a time. Given that each of these projects have their own quirks, I'll likely work all of them throughout the week. If I want to finish the blankets by the end of the year...how much do I need to complete.

Blanket 1:  180 rows (only 155 rows left) and finishing

Blanket 2:  24 squares, assembly, edging, and finishing

Blanket 3:  ??? ---> I need to see how much of a square that I get out of 10g of fingering weight yarn. I have 500g of solid yarn to combine the blanket. 

Blanket 1:  5 rows a week - with about 155 rows left - 31 weeks. This would take about 7 months. I'll time a few rows this week to see how much time this will really take.

Blanket 2:  2 squares per week, 4 weeks to assemble, and 2 weeks for edging and finishing - 18 weeks or 4 - 5 months

Blanket 3: More research needed! The sample in the photo has 1,020 squares (30 x 34 squares) with about 1600ish grams before the edging. I do plan to crochet larger squares and maybe I'll start with 48 - 96 squares.

Once I get more research completed, I'll be able to see how any other projects could fit in.

Happy crafting!!!