I've been busy with my swift and ball winder lately. In the past two weeks I've gotten prepped for 4 new projects.
This rather motley collection of yarns starts on the left with the Dream in Color Smooshy that I am using for my Francie socks, Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton that will become a Hemlock Ring Blanket, Blue Moon Socks that Rock Heavyweight (color: Thraven) destined for man-sockliness, and Dale of Norway Baby Ull that is kicking off the beginning of the Zebra Striper sweater and will be joined by a whole host of other Baby Ull colors.
All the yarns but the STR have moved past the contemplative phase of the project into the active phase. This afternoon's nap was dedicated to starting the Hemlock Ring Blanket.
The bright sunlight that I took this picture in washed out the color quite a bit. The actual colorway is called "Periwinkle". It's a bit more blue and lacks the purple tones that I normally associate with periwinkle (based on growing up with that 64 box of Crayola Crayons), but it's still a fine color for a baby blanket for a new baby boy. This very special baby will be making his entrance in the southern US, so a wool blanket, while more up my alley given the array of lovely superwash merinos that there are to work with now, didn't seem very practical. I opted for this Aran weight cotton because it's held up fairly well in the little jacket that I made for Z, and because, as cotton yarns go, this is really several cuts above anything else I've knit with and reminds me much more of silk than of cotton.
What helps to creat that lovely hand is relatively low twist, making this a somewhat impractical fiber for a baby. But since this baby will be the child of a very important person in my life, I have decided that I am allowed a touch of impracticality and indulgent luxury.
I haven't gotten very far yet, but at this point this blanket lives up to its positive reviews. It's definitely the sort of project that makes you want to do row after row, just so you can see how the pattern is going to evolve into a blanket. And if it continues to speed a long as it did this afternoon, I could definitely imagine putting this into my "go to" pattern collection for blankets for new small people.
This rather motley collection of yarns starts on the left with the Dream in Color Smooshy that I am using for my Francie socks, Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton that will become a Hemlock Ring Blanket, Blue Moon Socks that Rock Heavyweight (color: Thraven) destined for man-sockliness, and Dale of Norway Baby Ull that is kicking off the beginning of the Zebra Striper sweater and will be joined by a whole host of other Baby Ull colors.All the yarns but the STR have moved past the contemplative phase of the project into the active phase. This afternoon's nap was dedicated to starting the Hemlock Ring Blanket.
The bright sunlight that I took this picture in washed out the color quite a bit. The actual colorway is called "Periwinkle". It's a bit more blue and lacks the purple tones that I normally associate with periwinkle (based on growing up with that 64 box of Crayola Crayons), but it's still a fine color for a baby blanket for a new baby boy. This very special baby will be making his entrance in the southern US, so a wool blanket, while more up my alley given the array of lovely superwash merinos that there are to work with now, didn't seem very practical. I opted for this Aran weight cotton because it's held up fairly well in the little jacket that I made for Z, and because, as cotton yarns go, this is really several cuts above anything else I've knit with and reminds me much more of silk than of cotton. What helps to creat that lovely hand is relatively low twist, making this a somewhat impractical fiber for a baby. But since this baby will be the child of a very important person in my life, I have decided that I am allowed a touch of impracticality and indulgent luxury.
I haven't gotten very far yet, but at this point this blanket lives up to its positive reviews. It's definitely the sort of project that makes you want to do row after row, just so you can see how the pattern is going to evolve into a blanket. And if it continues to speed a long as it did this afternoon, I could definitely imagine putting this into my "go to" pattern collection for blankets for new small people.
