One WIP finished

I'm very pleased to report that I have now finished the Leaping stripes and blocks blanket.  I love the overall effect; because of the way it is constructed, it is a very dense and warm blanket even though it is done in double knit.  It is 32 inches by 36 inches, and weighs 420 grams.

Compared with other blanket patterns, this one grows very slowly, and it took much longer to make than I originally thought it would.  But I enjoyed making it nonetheless.

I am also knitting the final sleeve of the aran cardigan that I showed in my last post.  Because I have done so well with my WIPs, perhaps I can be forgiven for making a penguin hat as well (classic procrastination tactic, I know!).   We received a consignment of buttons in the scrapstore, and they looked so much like eyes that I had to try them out.  I used Repeat Crafter Me's pattern, although I changed the beak a bit.   Aren't the buttons just exactly right for eyes?

Two works in progress

When I worked in education, we looked at why certain teams of people were more successful than others.  One method we used was to look at Belbin's team roles.  The role that always attracted me was the Completer-Finisher, because it is something that I most certainly am not.  In term of my knitting and crochet, I have around eight or so projects that I have started but not yet completed.  There are three different blankets on the go at the moment, together with several items of clothing.  I am trying to get a bit of a grip and finish some before I embark on something else that takes my fancy.

The ones I am concentrating on at present are a Moogly blanket and an aran cardigan.

The Leaping stripes and blocks blanket pattern is one that I have always wanted to make, and I started it after I had a splurge on yarn a few months ago.  I am making it as a lap-sized blanket, and am almost half way through.  It is rather nice on these chillier evenings to be able to drape a blanket over my knees while I work on it.

The other WIP is this aran jumper.  On behalf of Loving Hands, I received a generous donation of yarn last month, and it included around 700 grams of this wonderful 100%wool aran yarn.  I have resisted knitting it up until now, but it is so lovely to handle that I just had to make a start with it.  This is the same pattern that I used for the Aran cardigan of doom in an earlier post, but this time it is an absolute pleasure to knit.

I am not now allowed to start another project until these two are finished.  Remind me of that if I appear to forget, will you please?

Granny square

Some time ago, I bought 10 balls of a Stylecraft Merrygoround yarn in a discontinued shade.

As I used it, I came to my own conclusion as to why it was discontinued; firstly, the pink is very vibrant (almost neon) and doesn't go with the colours surrounding it.  Secondly, it was hard to find patterns that worked for it.  Somehow it didn't knit up very evenly, because the dyes used had noticeably different effects on the base yarn.  So the yarn dyed blue was considerably thicker than the yarn dyed white. The only items I was really happy with were crocheted, like this little jacket and hat set, where the evenness of the yarn didn't matter so much.

Eventually my stash of this got down to 3 balls, and I really wanted to finish it up.  So I started a granny square, and ended up with a baby blanket 30 inches square.  I found some green baby dk in my stash which matched the green in the multi almost exactly, so I was able to finish it with a solid colour border.  

A cheerful goodbye to this yarn!

Box for Knit for Peace

I've finally finished enough knitted and crocheted items to fill a box for Knit for Peace.  There are hats, mittens, scarves, cardigans and a baby blanket, which will all go to refugees in camps around Syria.

Some yarn was donated by an online friend in Leeds, and this has made 6 hats so far.  There is still some of her kind donation left for the next box.  I also collected a donation made to Loving Hands which had lots of aran and chunky yarn (much of it with a high wool content), so I will be continuing with making more winter woollies.

Using chunky and multiple yarns has had an impact on my stash busting too - in September I used 1.250kg of yarn, which is the highest monthly total yet.   But because of purchases and donations, I have stopped keeping a total of how much stash I have left - it is most definitely more than I started the year with!