CASAPINKA Sharon’s Glamping Blanket 2

Casapinka is back with a sequel to her extremely popular Sharon’s Glamping Blanket (from 2020) …. SHARON’S GLAMPING BLANKET 2! Yes, if you liked Sharon’s first blanket, you’re sure to love her second! The knitted blanket features bands of fun stitch patterns and stripes making it an engaging project with an eclectic aesthetic.

This playful blanket is made with Berroco Vintage Chunky. This bestselling blend of wool & synthetic fibres is soft, easy to knit with, and is very machine washable! It’s perfect for kids, adults, seniors, picky-men, and cats (Sharon).

Size

Like it’s predecessor, the second iteration of the Sharon’s Glamping Blanket comes in 4 size options:

• Cat (Baby, Lap, Sofa)
• Approx. 18 (24, 32, 42)” / 46 (61, 81.5, 107) cm wide x 25 (33, 43, 54)” / 63.5 (84, 109, 137) cm tall

Materials

Berroco Vintage Chunky

• Color A: 1 (1, 2, 4) skeins
• Color B: 1 (2, 2, 3) skeins
• Color C: 1 (1, 2, 3) skeins
• Color D: 1 (1, 3, 3) skeins

• 6mm-29″ (or longer) circular needles
• Pattern

Need Colour Inspiration?

1. Casapinka and the Berroco Design Team curated a few new colorways for you (see the pictures below).
2. You can check out the colours I put together for the first blanket kit – there’s 26 colour combos there, including 3 for Christmas.
3. Browse through other people’s finished Glamping Blankets (original edition) on Ravelry from the first kit for inspiration. You can also troll the projects on Instagram.

Colour Balance

If you aren’t sure how your colours balance, take a picture of them with your phone and change the colour filter to a back & white setting (like NOIR on iPhones). This is the colour combo in the picture of the blanket above with the cat:

• Colour A – The second lightest colour (6125 Aquae)
• Colour B – The second darkest colour (6106 Smoke)
• Colour C – the lightest colour (6100 Snow Day)
• Colour D – the darkest colour (6140 Orange)

Casapinka Glamping Blanket (The Original)

This adorable blanket is a graphic combination of colours and textures. The yarn, Berroco Vintage Chunky, is the PERFECT blanket yarn – it’s soft and cozy, it knits up quickly, and it’s easy to wash – ideal for comfy snuggling for all ages and species! The pattern comes with 4 sizes, ranging from a cat blanket, baby blanket to a full sized sofa throw.

You have two options for acquiring this project:

1. You can get the yarn right now on our website. We actually carry this yarn all year, it’s a staple around the store. You can see what other people have done HERE (I like the contrast between the bright orange and red in this one).

2. The distributor and designer have collaborated to make kits available, which you can pre-order below (4 sizes and a ton of colour combinations) and we will get it for you!

Sizes

• Cat Blanket: 18″ X 22”
• Baby Blanket/Small Dog/Portly Cat: 24″ X 36” (side-eye to Kit Kat)
• Dog and Lap Blanket (or a larger baby blanket):  35″ X 44”
• Sofa Blanket (for humans): 46″ X 58”

Kit Includes

• Berroco Vintage Chunky: colour A. 1 (2, 3, 5) hanks, colour B. 1 (2, 2, 4) hanks, 
  colour C. 1, (2, 2, 4) hanks, colour D. 1, (1, 2, 3) hanks. The sample blanket is done in: A: Sunny (yellow), B: Mochi (off white), C: Fondant (pink), D: Mushroom (beige).
• Pattern

Kit DOES NOT Include

• 6mm/US10 – 32″ circular needles.

Notes

• See Finished Projects HERE
• This yarn is machine washable. 
• If you’d like to see the colours more closely you can visit us in-store, we carry the yarn all year.  
• This kit is a Special Order, and it may take up to 2 weeks for us to receive it. The colour combinations listed are the ones on offer from the company, but if you would like to create your own combination we are happy to ask them and see if we can make that work. 

Combining Colours

The sample blanket is done in: A: Sunny (yellow), B: Mochi (off white), C: Fondant (pink), D: Mushroom (beige). To help you chose a balanced colour palette, the sample blanket’s colours are distributed like this:

• Colour A is your darkest colour, it requires 1 (2, 3, 5)skeins
• Colour B is your lightest colour, it requires  1 (2, 2, 4) skeins
• Colour C is your second lightest or a medium-light colour, it requires 1, (2, 2, 4) skeins
• Colour D is your second darkest colour or a medium-dark colour, it requires 1, (1, 2, 3) hanks.

To check on the balance of lightness or darkness in your palette you can take a digital picture of them and use your camera’s editing settings and change the picture it to black & white or monochrome. You’ll get a good idea of how much contrast, or lack-thereof, is in your colour combo!

LYS DAY SALE

Local Yarn Store Day (or LYS) is April 29th, and in celebration, all regular-priced, in-stock yarns are 15% Off from Friday April 28th until Sunday April 30th! The sale is both online and in-store and includes summer yarns and staples we keep year-round.

The discount will be automatically applied at check-out and can not be combined with any other discounts, sales, or offers. Discount does not apply to special orders or pre-orders. The sale starts April 28th, 2023 at 12am and ends Sunday April 30th, 2023 at 11:59pm.

LYS DAY SALE

Local Yarn Store Day (or LYS) is April 29th, and in celebration, all regular-priced, in-stock yarns are 15% Off from Friday April 28th until Sunday April 30th! The sale is both online and in-store and includes summer yarns and staples we keep year-round.

The discount will be automatically applied at check-out and can not be combined with any other discounts, sales, or offers. Discount does not apply to special orders or pre-orders. The sale starts April 28th, 2023 at 12am and ends Sunday April 30th, 2023 at 11:59pm.

Berroco Summer Sesame was so popular last year that we weren’t sure if you were done with it, so we’ve brought it back for a second season! The pictures below each have their own blog post, so all you have to do is click/tap on them (or the text associated) and you’ll be taken to a full description of the project with pictures, materials, links – there’s lots for you to explore!

Summer Sesame‘s bright, happy shades of colors ebb and flow to make this worsted weight yarn a perfect summer choice. This cotton blend yarn is light to the touch, easy to work with, self-striping, and is machine washable. Summer Sesame is great for tops & tees, tanks, sweaters, scarves, wraps, shawls, blankets, even socks!

Berroco Summer Sesame Kits & Projects

• 47% Cotton, 44% Acrylic, 9 % Nylon
• 100g/270m (295 yds)
• Knitting Needle Size 4mm/US6 to 4.5mm/US7
• Crochet Hook Size 4.5mm/7 US
• Knitting Gauge: 20-21 sts & 28-30 rows = 4″ (10cm)
• Crochet Gauge: 19 sc & 22 rows = 4″ (10cm)
• Made in Italy
• Machine wash separately in cold water on a delicate cycle. Lay flat to dry.

Nightshift

Read more about our Nightshift HERE!

Playful

Learn more about our Playful wrap HERE!

Beach Wrap

Find out about the Beach Wrap we made with Summer Sesame HERE.

Etta

Find our about Etta HERE!

Azzura

Find out all about Azzura HERE!

Zelie

Read more about Zelie HERE!

I just wanted to drop you a quick line and thank everyone who contributed and came out for our first yarn swap that took place last Saturday! It was the first since COVID and it went so smoothly and was such a joy to host, I’m very, very grateful. Many thanks to my friends who helped me out before, during, and after the swap – it is MUCH appreciated. It went well enough, in fact, that I’m announcing the resumption of Sit ‘n Knit (see below).

We raised over $400 for the Red Door Family Shelter, and I know they sincerely appreciate it because in the past they have called me and thanked me in the past. I also know that it will make a difference, especially since federal funding is being cut to women’s shelters across the country.

We also repatriated a lot of yarn – I can’t keep track of what comes and goes among swap attendees, but afterwards we sent 5 large garbage bags of yarn to Street Knit, and another two bags (plus needles, books & magazines) are going to the textile arts students at Northern Secondary School. I’m pretty sure a decent amount also went to a new charity group who are knitting for the city’s women’s shelters.

If you missed the swap but still have yarn that you want to get out of your house you are always welcome to drop it off at the store in a sealed plastic bag during store hours.

The Return of Sit ‘n Knit

Sit ‘n Knit Resumes this Saturday April 29, 2023

Sit & Knit is a social knitting group. We gather and chat while we knit and/or crochet. Sit & Knit is FREE and you can just drop in and join us. You don’t have to bring anything other than yourself and your knitting/crochet (or you can purchase a project here). 

If possible, we request anyone attending our social events please refrain from wearing perfume and bringing foods containing peanuts, as they are common allergens (there is currently no eating in the store).

When: Saturdays from 1pm to 4pm 

MASKS: To ensure everyone’s health, all people in the store are expected to wear a medical mask at all times. If you don’t have one that’s fine, we have lots and are happy to give you one!

NOTE: Sit & Knit is strictly a social event, and instruction is not offered as part of the event. If you need help with your project please call us at 416-653-7849, we will assess your needs and make and make an appointment for you to come in for help or if it is more appropriate for a private lesson (or you can book online). You can read more about our free and paid services HERE.

Jo’s Ombre Blanket

My good friend Jo made this throw for her granddaughter’s birthday (with my help, I devised the project) and it was such a lovely accomplishment that I’ve been wanting to share it for a while! The blanket itself worked out beautifully (I had no doubt otherwise) so that part of the sharing a was no-brainer, but this one felt like a larger subject. You see, Jo makes the coolest mistakes in her knitting, and one of the first pictures she sent me was of her mistakes. They are seriously funky, very tactile and sometimes look a bit like embroidery, or maybe an interesting scar?

Jo is also really good about accepting her mistakes … which led me to wonder what I was being shown? I thought maybe it was about self-acceptance , or maybe self-compassion, or the benefits of imperfection, or accepting what is. I got a little closer, speculating that it was connected with the simple abundance of taking a basic yarn and combining the colours in a simple sequence to make something that lights up. Yes, it can apply to all the above, but I feel like this blanket is also about GRATITUDE.

The Back-Story on Boo-boos

In order to get to gratitude I need to bring you into some back-story on Jo’s & my relationship with boo-boo’s, because she sort of re-defined ‘boo-boos’ for me. A few years ago she was knitting a very simple, very basic baby blanket in garter stitch. She brought it in to me with a big ‘boo-boo’ that was the size of a loonie (to non-Canadians that’s a coin about an inch/2.5cm in diameter). The boo-boo reminded me of the kind of scar people used to get from smallpox vaccinations; it was big, round, textured, and complex, and I have absolutely no idea how it was created. It was one of a kind, nobody was ever going to be able to recreate that stitchwork. She had already knitted well past it, and fixing it was going to require ripping back a very large chunk of work … the amount of ripping that makes you feel a lot of different uncomfortable feelings, all at once.

My assessment was she had two options: 1. We could rip out all her progress and make the mistake disappear, or 2. Leave it as it was and forge forward. To put it simply, there was no way in hell she was taking out all that work, and she asked me if there was something that could cover it up …. and I thought, no, don’t cover it up, keep it as it is. Sure there was a big, unexpected thing-a-ma-doodle in the middle of the blanket, but I knew that every time her family saw that thing they’d be reminded that she made that for them with all the love she has to give (and she has A LOT of love), and that that blanket is a symbol of the love she gives them, and a placeholder for her love when she’s not there to share it. That ‘boo-boo’ said “I hold you in my heart – ALWAYS”.

Accepting and embracing that imperfection created an opportunity to invest the project with greater meaning. If she ripped back the blanket and made it ‘normal’, it would have been fine, and it would have been well received, but it would just be a blanket. If she had kept the boo-boo but hidden it under a patch or some embroidery it would also have been fine too, but the opportunity would still have been lost. I’ve heard many times, from many sources that until you love and accept yourself unconditionally, you can’t love or accept others unconditionally – this is because unconditional love has to come from your overflow. Jo’s acceptance of that boo-boo was a very small manifestation of her unconditional love for herself, and it speaks to the Niagara-falls of spill-over that she’s able to share with her family and friends (the Canadian side of the falls, she really has an immense heart). In that spirit, I now see that a boo-boo can be more than one thing, it can also be a signature and an ‘I love you’.

Gratitude

When I look at this particular project, it’s about what comes after we accept … the gifts we receive once we are living in acceptance, one of which is an incredibly beautiful sense of unconditional gratitude. It isn’t the kind of gratitude for our things, it’s the gratitude for the stuff money can’t buy. Gratitude for life, gratitude for our loved ones, gratitude for love. I’ve also heard that when our acceptance and gratitude expand so does our compassion, which makes everything in life feel a bit lighter and brings in more ease.

I can’t say that accepting your knitting boo-boos exactly as they are is going to instantly open up a new level of emotional and spiritual awareness for you, but I will say that it might be the road less travelled, but a path worth exploring. If you find you’re given the opportunity, it could be a foot in the door to something much more substantial.

Project Logistics

Jo’s granddaughter requested a purple blanket for her bed. The kid in question is in the ‘tween age range and Jo wanted something with stylistic longevity that would suit a soon-to-be teen and an eventual young adult. The project also had to knit up fast on larger needles, be machine washable, and be pretty (that’s a given). The pattern had to be easy to follow and fairly simple in terms of execution (low on deep thought and paying close attention, high on ease, flow, and intuition).

We went with the Garter Squish blanket by Stephen West and made it into a simple ombre colour gradation. I devised a colour palette that ran from grapefruity-pinks to magenta-pinks to plum to purple and ending in dark grey.

Yarn: Berroco Vintage Chunky:

• A: 61193 Guava: 3 skeins
• B: 61194 Rhubarb: 4 skeins
• C: 61176 Fuchsia Heather: 4 skeins
• D: 6167 Dewberry: 4 skeins
• E: 6180 Dried Plum Heather: 4 skeins
• F: 6190 Aubergine Heather: 4 skeins
• G: 6189 Charcoal Heather (dark charcoal): 4 skeins

Other Materials

• 10mm/US15 – 40″ circular needles (or longer)
• Tapestry/darning needle
• FREE Pattern (cast on 125 sts)

Helpful Tutorials

• Video: Weaving in ends in Garter Stitch
• Photo: Weaving in Your Ends (see garter stitch section)

Modifications

• Cast on 125 sts for an approximate twin-size width

Ombre Colour Sequence

Knit with two strands of yarn held together. To finish a row you will need yarn that measures at least 3 times the length of the row (for example, if your work measures 50 cm across you will need at least 150cm of yarn to finish a row).

Always change colours at the edge for the work, it makes it easier to weave them in.

• A + A
• A + B
• B + B
• B + C
• C + C
• C + D
• D + D
• D + E
• E + E
• E + F
• F + F
• F + G
• G + G