One thing I noticed if you’re more of a beginner/amateur lace knitter like me, if you’re using stitch markers to mark the beginnings/ends of repeats, you may run into issues with SSKs/K2TOGs on the chart ending up right up against your markers. I thought for sure I had miscounted when really what I had to do was remove the marker, do the decrease, then put the marker back on my right needle. I was so glad not to have to frog or tink back very much when I figured that out.

I would like to give a shout out to the folks at abundant-yarn.com. I’ve been ordering a few balls of Lana Grande at a time (as I need them). I couldn’t help but notice I was the only one ordering my colorway and when the stock was down to the last two I asked if they would be getting more in soon as I was definitely not even close to finishing the blanket. I got a response back in twenty minutes! Not only were they ordering more but they place orders with Cascade every week and if I ever had a pressing need for anything from Cascade to let them know and I could order through them! I just ordered those last two balls of Wild Orchid on Friday and got them Monday (!) with a handwritten note on my invoice that said they would be ordering more soon and hoped to get the same lot # (because they knew I’m working on a big project). They definitely take good care of their customers :)

6 July, 2012
CO 127 because I like my blankets big and squishy! Definitely digging this yarn so far, I’m almost finished one ball and have gotten through CO + 6 setup rows + 7 chart rows = 14 rows with the long-tail CO. My initial math told me I’d need 13 balls total, and based on what I’ve worked so far that’s still true even with the additional repeat. I will probably buy a 14th just to be on the safe side, especially because of the extra stitches.

20 July, 2012
Not quite the progress I had hoped to have made by now, but I needed to buy more yarn. I just finished chart row 23, still in my first repeat, and only have a few inches left on my second ball, so pretty consistent with my first ball. Having just bought 3 more balls, we’ll see how far I get before I determine if I need 13 or 14 total.

28 July, 2012
About to finish ball #3 midway through row 11 on repeat #2.

18 August, 2012
Finished the second repeat today after just starting the 5th ball (started ball 5 on row 27). Hoping to knit on my lunch break and make more progress. Ordered more yarn that should definitely be here before I need it.

20 September, 2012
Just finished the 5th repeat! One more repeat to go then I start the finishing part! Got a bunch of time to knit this week and made TONS of progress. Will get more time next week and I should finish up!!!

30 September, 2012
Blocked and ends woven in! So proud of myself for finishing a month before the wedding! Ended up 5 rows short to keep from ordering a 14th ball of yarn all by itself (or driving an hour+ to the nearest LYS that sells Lana Grande). I did 6 repeats then rows 1-12 (instead of up to row 14) of the chart, then did 3 rows of seed stitch (instead of 6). I would have liked to get one more row of seed stitch but I needed enough yarn to BO. In retrospect I would have just skipped the additional 12 rows of the chart and did the seed stitch and BO, but I did also want to use up all of the yarn. I don’t think the recipients will notice (or care) lol. Finally, I kept track of when I started what ball of yarn (definitely would have made it with only 13 if I hadn’t had the extra horizontal repeat).

#6 - didn’t write it down apparently!?!?!
#7 - Repeat 4, Row 1
#8 - Repeat 4, Row 16
#9 - Repeat 5, Row 2
#10 - Repeat 5, almost Row 17 (like a few stitches away from it)
#11 - Repeat 6, Row 3
#12 - Repeat 6, Row 17
#13 - Row 3 of the 1-14 after the chart.