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The secret wedding present is revealed! After not being able to discuss my knitting for a while, I’m so excited to share my experience with a wonderful pattern written by an amazing designer – Girasole by Jared Flood (aka Brooklyntweed). Here’s the finished project all laid out and in the hands of Eric and Emily. This pattern was wonderful, intuitive and I would knit it over and over again. (Um, yes, I know it’s huge. It’s actually about 9″ in diameter. This could explain the issue discussed in the next paragraph.)
I honestly loved knitting this blanket, the whole project went smoothly, with the only issue being the amount of yarn I had. I used the yarn the pattern called for – Cascade pastaza. This yarn is a beautiful wool/llama mix with a delightful weight. I ordered an extra skein of the yarn just to be safe (you don’t want to run out on such an important project) and reveled in my forethought (“what an experienced knitter I am, I ordered more than enough yarn and I’ll end up with extra for a hat or something”). Well, it turned out that I was being slightly overconfident and I ran out of my extra yarn a little more than halfway through the knitted on edging. Hmm . . . I’m slightly embarrassed to say that my heart was racing until I was able to log in to Webs and buy another hank. Once it arrived, I quickly finished up the edging and then did a happy dance celebrating the completion of the most massive project I’ve ever attempted. Oh, and not to give you a heart attack, but this is how much yarn I had left after casting off:
What follows is a picture essay on my project as it progressed (I took photos after completing each chart, which was sometimes at night, so I apologize for poor picture quality).
Chart A:
Chart B:
Chart C:
Chart D (we’re at 640 sts per round at this point folks!):
Chart E (oooh, it’s growing!):
Chart F:
Chart G (quite a mess of yarn at this point, huh?):
Starting the edging:
And now for the finale . . .
Goodbye Girasole! I loved our time together, but now I want you to go and warm the household of one of my best friends, Emily, and my new friend, Eric. Keep them warm throughout the years of their happy marriage (and also, try not to itch Emily too much).
Just beautiful! No other words. :)
Thanks K! That really means a lot to me!
Beautiful! I really like seeing the in-progress photos! I’m still astounded by how big and beautiful it is when I look at it every day!
I just started on the Girasole blanket and was searching the new for others and came across your blog. Its so pretty. How many skiens did you have to use and what size needles did you use?? Im making mine in acrylic because my BFF wanted it. She has breast cancer so it had to be something to throw in the washer. Plan on making another Girasole for me after this one in the cascade.
Thanks for your comments! I used 16 skeins of the Cascade Pastaza and a US10 circular needle. I’m a pretty loose knitter, though, and I didn’t check my gauge, so it ended up being almost 9″ across (which explains the two extra skeins). Good luck to you and your friend!
That is the best wedding present ever! What a wonderful gift!
What a beautiful blanket. And what a lucky friend. Isn’t Jared amazing in the stuff that he creates? I would love to make this some day.
Thanks for the beautiful photos and inspiration. I bought the pattern yesterday…. I don’t have a friend who can knit this for me, so I think I’ll have to do it myself….I stumbled upon your website through SouleMama and I am glad I) did! Also, thanks for clarifications about yardage and quantities: I am a loose knitter too and I don’t live in the USA so if I decide to get Cascade Pastaza while in NH I ‘ll have to stock it, just in case….
I did a double take in your comment section… thought for a second I’d left a comment already and forgotten I’d done so!!
Anyway, I came over to your site via soulemama (As did your other francesca comment… creepy!!) and wanted to thank you for the ever so awesome sweater pattern and compliment your amazing work — wow, your friend is extremely blessed. Between this and the silk capelet — amazing!! Thanks for sharing!
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