A stash reassessment

I have a blanket on my bed that my mum and I made together around 15 years ago. It's made from an assortment of aran-weight yarn, chunky-weight yarn and DK-weight yarn held double. The blanket has been in constant use for all of those 15 years, and is definitely on its last legs. As with all the best knitted objects, this blanket contains a lot of precious memories: making it with my mum and my mum cursing me for making the blocks in lots of different sizes so we had to do a proper crazy-paving job to get all the squares to join together at the end (the blanket has four edges; they're all different lengths); me knitting my way through a stitch dictionary one summer, trying out all the different stitches and learning how cables and lace worked; being curled up next to my bedroom window in one of my old houses wrapped in the blanket while watching the waves crashing on the seafront; innumerable blanket forts and tents made by me and the kids. But all good things must come to an end: this blanket has been heavily patched and repaired, and probably only has another couple of years of life left in it, so it's time to start thinking about a new blanket.

The old blanket has seen better days

I had been deliberating about what to make as a replacement for this blanket. I contemplated a crochet granny stripe blanket made from sock leftovers, but realise based on the progress I've made on my mitred-square blanket that a fingering weight blanket might take me *forever*, so something heavier weight is in order. I have various DK weight oddments lying around from all sorts of projects, but quite fancy something with a unifying theme. I've also realised that large blankets hold together better if they are crocheted than if they are knitted: my husband has a crocheted blanket I made him that is holding up much better than my knitted one.

A few weeks ago I realised that I had the solution in my stash (as ever...). When I was pregnant with my youngest daughter, my siblings bought me the yarn for an amazing Mr Men blanket that I was going to make for my daughter. I didn't even start the blanket before she was born, let alone finish it. Now the blanket has one square, and that's not even square. I hate reading charts for corner to corner crochet, so I made one block and abandoned the project.

Mr Happy? More like Mr Wonky!

The Mr Men blanket was designed with a white background, then lots of single balls in *all the colours* to make the characters. This means that upstairs I have a massive bag of brightly coloured yarn and about the same amount of white yarn. It's all the same base (Stylecraft Special DK) and would be much happier being a blanket than living in my wardrobe unloved. Last year I made a crocheted blanket for Madeleine of Kingfisher Knits when her son was born. I used the Solid Granny Square pattern by Sandra Paul and joined the squares together using the join as you go method from her Battenberg blanket. Of the things I really liked about making the blanket was that I could make a massive pile containing half the squares, then join them all together while making the other half of the squares. So that is my plan for the new blanket!

All the colours

Do you have a favourite crochet blanket pattern that you go back to time and time again?

Square one

Trying to be a monogamous knitter

Some things are easier said than done: knitting exclusively from stash, walking into a yarn shop and leaving without purchasing anything, buying the perfect shade of red yarn, and getting through the pile of works in progress (WIPs). As you might have established if you have paid any attention to this blog or my Instagram, I am far from a monogamous knitter. I usually have three or four active WIPs, and many others hiding in various locations about my house. There are lots of reasons for the multiple WIPs - each WIP usually involves a different technique, is at a different stage in the design process, or requires a different level of attention. Some WIPs were started with great enthusiasm that waned after the initial burst, or something went wrong with them that meant they moved to the abandoned pile...

One of my aims for this year is to work through the pile of WIPs and to either finish them, or abandon them forever and reclaim the materials for something else (one pair of socks has already been unravelled and the yarn nabbed for another project). Since the start of January I have been working almost exclusively on three projects. The first was an adult-size intarsia jumper, which is finished and has been sent to the publisher for photography. I will confess that the jumper had to come to the top of the list as it was due in the publisher's offices within the first week of the year, and nothing focuses the mind quite like a deadline.

The second project of the year is a blanket, made up of individual blocks that are seamed at the end. I have carried these blocks about with me everywhere I have been for the past fortnight, and I have loved crossing each block off my list as I have cast it off. Very satisfying indeed. However, I can't quite call it monogamous knitting, as I own three pairs of needles in the right size, and all of them have had blanket blocks on them at some point this week! Apparently knitting the same thing over and over again is more fun if you can have three half-finished blocks on the needles at the same time. I'm not quite sure how that works, but it seems easier to me.

 

While my blanket blocks are very portable, I can't work on them in the dark (there are increases and decreases that I have to look at to keep track of), so on the occasions I have been to the cinema this year (twice), I have taken something else with me: my Halloween socks.* These socks were meant to be finished in October (obviously), but I mislaid them. I had them in my husband's car one Sunday morning, and when I went to unload the car, the project bag was gone. I was annoyed about it at the time, as I couldn't for the life of me think where they'd gone, but I reconciled myself to the bag never coming back and moved on. Over Christmas I found the bag, hiding in the bag of bags for life in the understairs cupboard. Hooray! I'm knitting these as tube socks, then adding in the heels, toes and cuffs at the end, so they really are straight-forward knitting in the round, perfect for those times when I can knit, but can't pay any attention to what I'm knitting.

I think this three-project month is as monogamous as my knitting will ever get. I admire anyone who can cast on one project and work on it until it is completed, but that's really not my thing. Having said that, it would be quite nice to get some finished objects off the needles, and clearly the way to do that is to actually knit on the items, so maybe my future does hold some more almost-monogamous knitting...

*Yarn is by Strawberry Fields Yarns. The Ravelry project page can be found here.

WIP or RIP?

Over the late-May Bank Holiday weekend, I had an urge to do a bit of tidying. That weekend, we tidied our dining room, and I was surprised at just how much yarn there was lying about (I knew there was some - the yarn for upcoming magazine projects lives there, so there is always at least a small pile). One of the larger boxes of yarn contained the Dance on the Beach CAL that I started in 2016. The pattern consists of crocheted squares that are all joined together at the end, and while I had enjoyed the first few weeks of the CAL, I did start to get behind and lose interest. After about six weeks of the CAL, I put everything in the box and apparently hid it from sight and mind.

As soon as I opened the box I knew that I was never going to finish the project. We already own quite a lot of blankets, and I don’t love the pattern enough to really want the finished object. There were 28 completed squares, as well as 8 un-started balls of yarn. So I asked a few friends for places I could donate 8 inch squares to, and one suggested a charity called Sent with Love, which donates hand-made blankets to cancer patients in the U.K. The best bit is that if you don’t have enough squares for a blanket, you can send them individual squares and they collect them together to make into blankets. They also take yarn, so I donated the partial balls to them as well. The rest of the yarn has gone to a new home via eBay, as there’s still enough to make a sizeable project, and the colours coordinate beautifully.

Leftovers...

I’m sure that if I rummage through a few more cupboards I’ll find some other long-abandoned projects that could do with either finishing or being donated elsewhere... but for now I’m claiming this as an excellent piece of spring cleaning. Life is to short to finish a project that you don’t love.

Do you have any projects that you know you’re never going to go back to? What do you do with them?

Cosy memories, crazy notions

One of my friend's from my local knit night has recently started knitting socks and started to accumulate sock leftovers, so is considering starting a cosy memories blanket (a mitred square garter stitch sock yarn blanket). I've had one these blankets on the go for the past couple of years, which I started on a whim just after I started knitting socks and accumulating leftovers, and add to once in a while when the mood takes me, so when my friend announced she was thinking of starting one, I said I would bring mine along one week.

My cosy memories blanket is not in the current WIPs pile - I had to dig it out of the archived, not really a WIP pile - as it's not one of my favourite projects. It turns out I am really bad at knitting very simple projects and tend to mess up the positions of the decreases, even when I use stitch markers; and I don't even enjoy knitting endless garter stitch, which is essentially what a cosy memories blanket is.

The blanket was duly admired at knit night - I had forgotten how large it had become over the past couple of years - and then left in the current WIP pile while it waited to be returned to its more usual home. Somehow from its new home it started to call to me, and when I finished my Witches Brew socks I found myself inspired to add another square using the leftovers. And enjoyed it. Apparently some degree of mindless knitting is a good palette cleanser (especially during the hectic Easter holidays).

This blanket is full of memories: of people and people and gifts. And when the weather has still failed to turn into spring (unless spring really is just meant to be showers and grey cloud) it's pretty cosy to work under.

I have no idea if or when this blanket will be finished. Does anyone ever finish these things? The cosy memories blanket has had several mentions on the blog since I started it, and I'm sure there will be more, but don't ask after it: be assured that it is still here, and it is still loved, even if it never becomes an actual thing.

Fancy knitting your own? I'm using this pattern for mine.

The Blanket-along 2018!

Over the past few months, a lot of my friends have announced that they are expecting babies (apparently these things, like weddings, come in clusters!); I think the count is up to 7 already and there are still a good few months left this year! This has rather added to my knitting list, so I thought I'd host a Blanket-along in my Ravelry group to encourage me to get on with some gift knitting (and crocheting).

The rules are simple, all you have to do is be working on a blanket (either knitted or crocheted) and post about your progress in the chatter thread.

My current blanket WIP

The Blanket-along officially started on 31st March 2018, but I am allowing works in progress to be included, so feel free to post in the chatter thread even if your project is ongoing. The end date for the Blanket-along is 30th June 2018, and there will be a finished object thread opening in the next few weeks for you to post your finished blankets to. There is an exception to the works in progress rule: your blanket will only be eligible for prizes in the FO thread if it was started after the start date.

There will be prizes for the Blanket-along: I'll be drawing one winner from the chatter thread (so don't worry if you don't finish your blanket by the end of the Blanket-along) and one from the finished object thread.

What will you make? All these patterns are available in the blanket section of my Ravelry store.

If you use Instagram more than Ravelry, feel free to post some progress photos on there, and either tag me in the caption (@vikkibirddesigns) or use the tag #vbdblanketalong2018 so I get to see your posts.

So what are you waiting for? Head over to Ravelry now, say hello and let me know your blanket knitting plans.

NOTE: You will need to be a member of Ravelry to join in with the Blanket-along; membership is free and Ravelry is an excellent resource for knitters and crocheters.

Quick and Easy Baby Knits

Every once in a while the team at Knit Now publish a compilation of knitting patterns that have appeared in their magazine. The collections are always themed, and the latest is quick and easy baby knits, and features four of my patterns: Elephant Parade, Barley Twist Cardigan, Reach for the Stars baby jumper and Hedgehogs and Hoglets.

Elephant Parade. Image copyright Practical Publishing.

Barley Twist cardigan. Image copyright Practical Publishing.

Reach for the Stars. Image copyright Practical Publishing.

Hedgehogs and Hoglets. Image copyright Practical Publishing.

The magazine also features an excellent selection of baby knits from other designers. My favourites include Lucy Lamb by Barbara Prime and Beach Hut Cushion by Kim Dickinson.

Lucy Lamb by Barbara Prime. Image copyright Practical Publishing.

Beach Hut Cushion by Kim Dickinson. Image copyright Practical Publishing.

The collection is available at many newsagents and supermarkets, or can be ordered online, and is a bargain at only £7.99.