September 25, 2021

Gauge was inaccurate and pattern is unbalanced.
I made my own size. Finished size should be about 50”x50”, from my own gauge calculations.

Cast on 150 (knitted cast on)
Garter 20 rows
Next row: increase 35 stitches during pattern
Garter 10 stitches, pattern 16 times, balance 5 stitches, garter 10 stitches
Complete 20-row pattern stitch 10 times, plus one more half repeat (10 rows)
Do one garter short row on each end once every repeat.
Next row: decrease 35 stitches during pattern
Garter 20 rows
(Surprisingly stretchy bind off)

Also, I switched the garter to use purls instead of knits because with my style of knitting that just turned out better.

September 28, 2021

I don’t have enough yarn. My yarn shop doesn’t have more. I will probably order some online that will be the wrong dye lot. I am pretty sad about it.

October 3, 2021

I finished 9.5 repeats with the ten balls. 3 more balls will arrive on Tuesday and I can finish. I frogged one swatch to reclaim the yarn, but I will test the new dye lot on the other swatch to decide how different it is. I will either make it short and switch yarns at the garter edge or make it longish/square and have a line where the dye lot changes on the blanket.

October 5, 2021

More yarn arrived yesterday. It is the same color, or close enough, that dye lot shouldn’t matter. Whew. I finished one of the 3 balls and it is looking like I will get 11.5 repeats of the yarn before finishing the border.

October 7, 2021

I bound off, washed it in the washer on delicate, and dried for 15 minutes in the dryer (on delicate) before laying out to dry completely.
It is nice. Time to work on packaging.

October 8, 2021

I finished the border. I did the super stretchy bind off. And then I washed it in the machine, dried it for 15 minutes in the dryer, then laid it out overnight. Tonight I folded it up and tied it with a ribbon and added a card with information. I am pretty happy with it. I will do another.

Notice that the increases and decreases at the top and bottom of the garter top/bottom edges, as well as periodic short rows in the garter side edges, made the garter section fit around the outside of the center pattern better. It took a little extra time to do the gauge swatches and then do the math, but in the end, I didn’t have to stretch the edges out of their natural size during blocking to make the blanket lie flat and not flare in places.