Sail To Treasure Island

Sail To Treasure Island is based on Robert Louis Stevenson's book Treasure Island which was published in 1883. This is the 6th pattern to appear in Lit Knits. The blanket is knit from the center out with an option to knit a larger border. Although this pattern could easily become a shawl or lap blanket if it were knit with a different weight yarn.

The idea behind the blanket is that it is actually the map to Treasure Island. The outer edge is the ocean. The ocean waves give way to the beach. Past the beach is the forest that covers a good part of the island. And near the center is the texture of the mountains. The increases that give the blanket its square shape also represents the most important part of any treasure map: the X marks the spot.

A slightly more subtle detail of the blanket is that the mountain texture and sand texture are the same cable pattern, but the cabling is offset on the sandy shore. Since mountains crumble to form silt and sand, I thought it would be neat for the cable patterns to be related.

The props I got for this shoot are some of my favorite. Both the compass and coin were my Opa's. The coin in particular is a real piece of eight. Minted in 1744, it is a Spanish 8 Reales. 

Although my Opa didn't live to see this book completed, I was able to tell him that both his coin and compass would be in the book. He was unable to talk at that point due to the effects of Alzheimer's, but he understood. He teared up when I told him. 

The photo shoot for Sail To Treasure Island took place on New Years Day of this year (2013). I blogged about some of the amusing things that happened in an earlier blog post. But I'll let you all in on a few other things. My brother declared himself a diva. This was his excuse for not helping to carry the big black sea chest across the beach. He didn't really want to model that day, but Mum "convinced" him that it was a good idea. (i.e. He didn't have a choice in the matter.) Of course this meant that he messed around a bit. After this picture was taken, Mum yelled out, "Stop messing around! You are still in the shot." To which he said, "Oh."

After we joked about him being a diva, he gave me his best Fabio look.

A picture of the black sea chest almost didn't make it into the book. But we made such an effort dragging it out that I shuffled around charts to make it fit. And what is a map of Treasure Island without a chest full of treasure? (Or potential treasure. You'll have to read the book to find out.)

Getting pictures of such a large item was pretty tough. But I'm quite happy with how all the images turned out in the end.