01-09-2017

Only the second row and something is wrong. I see a link for errata, but it leads nowhere. None of the “helpful” projects say anything relevant to my issue, but one of the forum posts mention it, without really solving the problem.

I’m beat and over it for tonight. Maybe fresh eyes tomorrow will yield results.

01-10-2017

Best I can figure, Row 2 starts with a ch3 that is meant to count as a dc, and the dc2tog is meant to start on the second stitch. When I did that, everything worked out correctly for row 2. We’ll see how it affects row 3.

After working row 3, I’m now convinced that row 2 was meant to start with either a dc or the ch3 counting as a dc. However, in row 3, the first ch1 does not count as a stitch.

Post-Completion

After figuring out all the stuff in my previous notes, things went fairly smoothly. The pattern is easy to memorize, which is great when you’re making something larger. And due to the color blocks, it was easy to keep up with my progress without having to count every row. The only issue I had was apparently I worked on it one too many times while sleepy, and had to rip out and make corrections several times. It may be easy to memorize, but it’s not completely mindless. You do have to pay attention to what you’re doing because a mistake won’t necessarily make itself known until you’re about 3 rows past it.

I did something I’ve never done before with this throw. I tried some of the yarn-softening methods I’ve seen circulating. Only, I kind of did my own variation of the method. I didn’t have anything large enough in which to hand-wash the blanket, and I didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of using my kitchen sink or bathtub (slightly germophobic). I’d read where someone suggested using the spin cycle on a washing machine to get all the water out, so I decided just to do it all in the washing machine.

After filling the machine to medium water level, I hand-massaged shampoo into the blanket. Which, I might add, is not terribly easy to do with an agitator in your face. I also read someone say that it isn’t the shampoo and conditioner people use that makes the yarn soft, but the physical manipulation/agitation of the fibers that loosened them into submission. So in an effort to be thorough, I used the most delicate agitation cycle setting I had on the washing machine to provide more agitation, and to further massage the shampoo in and get it well throughout the blanket. Then I did at least two rinse cycles (whatever it took to get all of the bubbles out). I repeated this process with conditioner. (I used the cheap stuff for shampoo and conditioner).

After I was satisfied that the blanket was clean and well-rinsed, I put it in the dryer on the lowest heat setting and tossed in a dryer sheet for good measure. The blanket came out noticeably softer by a huge margin! Due to the agitation, there was a little bit of fuzzing, so I used a fabric shaver and gave it a once-over. It doesn’t have that crisp, brand-new, hot-off-the-hook look, but I think the trade off is worth it in this case. I’ll be selective about when/if I do this in the future, but for now I’m thrilled with how soft the end result is. :)

07-24-2017

It’s been several months now, and I’m glad I made this well in advance of Nikki’s wedding and showers. I’m not sure whether it was the shampoo/conditioner or the dryer sheet, but something with a fragrance completely saturated the blanket with a strong scent. I don’t think Nikki is sensitive to fragrance, but I didn’t really care for the scent lingering in the blanket. I left it on top of a rarely-used recliner in hopes of airing it out a bit over time. I could have made a stronger effort, but as I had plenty of time, I figured it would be fine there.

I was mostly right about that. Airing out for a while is just what it needed, although if you get close and sniff, you can still smell a trace of it. At least it isn’t strong now. I’m making a pillow cover to go with the blanket, so we’ll see what happens with that. I’m not planning to use shampoo, conditioner, or a dryer sheet with it, but I haven’t decided for sure what I’m doing with it yet.