Silas' Knitted Farmland: the big reveal!

I finished the Farmland...finally! And just in time for Silas' birthday, which is today, in fact. In the end, I'm very happy with how it turned out. It's not perfect, mind you. The many different yarns of varying textures, gauges, etc., were not always easy to piece together. And I'm still planning on adding a flannel background to make it more durable (it's holding up well so far, but it's only day 1). But, I love it, and more importantly, as you can see below, Silas loves it.
This pattern was inspired by another knitting, blogging mama, who had started a farmland of her own a while back (which, sadly, has since been frogged). Once I had the idea, I just sort of ran with it, making things up as I went along, and trying to incorporate as many stitch patterns as possible, in order to keep things interesting.

As much as I love this play blanket, I'm oh so glad to be done with it. It's time to move on to my next project, which is already on the needles. So, if you've been bored stiff reading farmland postings and not much else on this blog for the past several months, never fear; there'll be something new to write about soon enough!

"Making farm"

I was surprised to discover that Silas actually knows all of those squares can be put together to make a farm. I'm glad he's already having fun playing with his knitted farmland!

Only 2 more squares to go!

I've been too afraid to count my farmland squares this past week because I thought I was really far behind. But no! I've got 62 squares completed, which means I can easily finish the remaining 2 by tomorrow's self-appointed deadline. That way, I'll have the full week to piece it all together and do the border. Hopefully, I won't be rushing or burning the midnight oil to finish this project.

And hopefully, I won't hate how it looks when it's completed.

Yes, that is a fear of mine. I've been so close to this project. I've worked on nothing else for 3 months. To be honest, I am getting tired of it. Sure, each square is different, and I've improvised and made things up as I went along, which has kept me from becoming utterly bored. At the same time, other projects are beckoning to me. I have patterns, I have project yarn. All I have to do to start on them is finish the Farmland. But because I live and breath the farmland, I'm afraid I can't give it the distance it needs to see it for what it really is. Right now, I'm looking at it as something that needs to be done by my kiddo's birthday, instead of as a unique project that I'm really in love with. I'm hoping that I have an "aha moment" when it's all pieced together, rather than an "ohhhh moment," if that makes any sense. It will be quite unpleasant if I end up hating something I invested so much time and energy into.

Chances are, though, it will be just fine, and I'll be glad I did it, and even gladder that I finished it!

Almost, but not quite

I haven't actually counted, but I don't think I quite made my goal of completing 60 squares for the Farmland by the end of February. I've gotta say, the Wisconsin trip set me back a bit. And shifting back to west coast time has taken the kiddo and me the better part of a week. Therefore, my knitting pace was way slower in February. But I'm so close to the finish line! I'm in the final push...

Tomorrow, I'll take stock of the squares that I have and figure out exactly how many more I need to knit, then figure out the pace at which I'll have to make each one in order to finish on time. I'd like to give myself at least a week to put it all together and crochet the trim. This means, I'll need to have all of the squares completed in a little over a week. Zoinks!

At least one post during my WI trip...

Despite promising to post several times during my trip to WI, it didn't quite happen (you can see a bunch of pictures on my family blog, though). As often happens, I knit, but not as much as I had planned for. That's okay. Visiting with family and friends to keep me very busy. And I did bring along the knitted farmland to show to people as well. I knit a few squares and even seamed the pond squares together while I was here.

I'm heading back to Washington State in the morning with husband and toddler in tow...wish us an easy and uneventful flight :)

On the road, and up in the sky

I'm slowly "paving" a road through Silas' farmland. I haven't totally figured out how I'm going to lay it all out, but it's fun to play around with.

In a couple of days, we'll be taking to the sky, flying from Seattle to Milwaukee. I've been in a rush to get ready, so haven't been posting to this blog much, or spending much time online, outside of work. However, I will try to update once or twice while I'm in Wisconsin. In particular, I wanted to mention that Cat at AmLo Farms honored me by giving me a Lemonade award. Thank you Cat! I will use my time off of work next week to pass this award along to some other bloggers, as is the tradition. So, stay tuned for that!

I made my goal!

As of today, I've completed 40 squares for Silas' Farmland. And that means, I've made my goal for January. Woo-hoo! All 40 are pictured above. Just look at all of those ends I still have to weave in. Fun times.

I hope to hit 60 by the end of February, though it would be nice to have all 64 finished, giving me two weeks in March to put it together and do a boarder. Looks like I'll have to bring it with me to Wisconsin in February. I'll be gone 11 days and I'll definitely need to work on it during that time in order to stay on target. It might not be the most transportable of projects, given the many different yarns I use, but, I'll make it work!

Crop Circles

If you guessed that the visitors to Si's Farmland mentioned in the last post was of the extraterrestrial variety, you get a gold star.

It took me a long time and several failed attempts to come up with a decent crop circle design. I'm still not 100 % satisfied with the outcome, but I think this is going to be the final patch dedicated to our alien visitors. I'm ready to move on to other aspects of the farm. Still, the farmland wouldn't be complete without a bit of sci-fi whimsy (or government cover-up, depending on your perspective).

Time's a waisin' too. I've gotta keep up the momentum so that I make my deadline of having the farmland finished by March 16th. My immediate goal is to reach 40 completed squares by the end of the month. Better stop writing and knit!

Roadside U-Pick Berry Patch

Looks like some city folk made their way to Silas' farmland to pick some berries from the roadside patch.
All looks tranquil on the farm. But wait! There's a surprise in store for you. The farm has had a visitor, and you might just get a glimpse...in a few days.

Stay tuned!

Halfway there!

I just finished my 32nd square for Si's knitted farmland. Woo-hoo! I'm at the halfway point with exactly 2 months to go till his second birthday. I've gotta work fast as it's going to take me a while to get the thing pieced together. I'm pretty determined to meet the deadline and it helps that I'm an extremely monogamous knitter. I'm working on the farmland, and nothing else. Since each square is different, I've yet to get bored. I will, however, be happy to move onto something different, come March 16th.

A pond for Si's farmland

I decided Silas needed a pond for his knitted farmland. It took a while to complete because it meant 9 squares (well, more like rectangles) had to be planned out in order to give the pond a natural shape. I used loop stitch to create tall foliage around the pond and create what hopefully comes across as an organic transition between water and whatever crop/grass/plant is growing beyond the water. I still have to embroider flowers on the three lily pads. And a felted frog or two might be a welcome addition as well...

The pictures don't really do justice to the pond, especially since the pieces aren't sewn together yet. Still, I wanted to share the progress I've been making. It's exciting to see it come together a bit. As of this evening, I've completed 27 squares. Pretty soon I'll be at the half-way mark!

Mud and Meadows

More squares for Si's knitted farmland:What's a farm without some mud?...and the pigs seem to love it!

There will be several different kinds of meadows on the farm. The square above, I've decided, is a field of golden bell heather. I used loop, or elongated, stitch to create texture and the illusion of raised plants. I'm also using this same technique for squares of different grains.

I needed to choose a yarn for the grassy areas and meadows of the Farmland. Although there were several different green yarns in my stash with which to choose from, when I recalled that I had a few extra skeins of Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed, I realized that the flecks of color inherant to the tweed would make lovely meadow flowers. The color in the photo isn't exactly true, but it's as close as I could get.

More Farmland squares, coming soon.

Carrots anyone?

Uh-oh. Looks like a rabbit's gotten into the carrot patch. Where's Mr. McGregor when you need him.
This is one of the first squares knitted for Silas' Knitted Farmland. I'm most likely going to have 64 squares total, and with only 10 or so completed, I have a long way to go. It's a lot of fun, though, as each square is unique. --So fun, in fact, that I had to needle-felt a little bunny to cause some trouble...
I'm basically making this up as I go along and am hoping it all comes together in the end.

I will post pictures of more squares as I make them.