Blue mohair blanket, chapter one

This is my first time trying out our new KAL home on the internet. Good to see us all posting again! I imagine we will all get much chattier once the weather cools off and we become more aware of the clock ticking away.

I took advantage of the Berkeley a4A monthly knitting group meeting last week to start on my current blanket for this drive. I am combining two big interests here: stash-busting and steeking. The stash-busting part means that I am knitting a double-stranded blanket, combining one strand of variegated blue mohair with one of solid blue fingering-weight wool. The result is really warm, lightweight yet noticeably softer than if I had used just mohair.

Steeking is a new favorite technique of mine. I first got brave enough to try it during our rectangular shawl campaign of 2008, when I thought of knitting a striped shawl in the round. That was absolutely addictive, and I couldn't wait to try this technique again for a blanket. Here is what I have so far:


The first rounds were knitted in seed stitch, then I switched to stockinette. Knitting in the round means the blanket grows very fast. Every three rounds or so, I change colorways for the fingering weight yarns, say, from a light blue to a darker blue or periwinkle. The blue mohair is the constant yarn here. Once I reach 40", I will knit another border in seed stitch, then cut that huge cylinder and figure out a nice, flat finish for the two long edges. I'll post final photos here and probably some updates on my blog here .

I have already started brainstorming on the next blanket after this one. Mosaic knitting beckons...