24

Last fall I published a photo of the yarns I'd chosen for a Peace Fleece blanket for the current A4A campaign. I finished it this morning at 1:30; it was in the mail at 8 a.m. Eastern time, and I have high hopes it will squeak in under the wire on Monday.

I call this blanket 24 (apologies in advance, metric folks -- this conceit is only supported if I speak in terms of inches). It was made in 4 sections, each measuring 24 inches by 24 inches, and each based on an equation that equals 24. The first section was 4 stripes, each 6 inches wide (4 x 6); the second was 6 4-inch stripes (6 x 4); the third was 8 3-inch stripes (8 x 3); and the last was 12 2-inch stripes (12 x 2). I got into the second skein of each color, so it used a lot of yarn -- but all of it was already here in my house.


The challenge was not the knitting -- garter stitch rectangles are well within my ability -- but the colors. I tend strongly toward jewel tones and brights; these muted, tweedy, fall and winter landscape colors are unusual for me. I had them in my stash because I've sampled all of the Peace Fleece colors at one time or another.

I wish you could see how all of them glow in the sun; there is extraordinary depth to all of them, and the blanket is many times more attractive than these photos show. The bright orange is actually a rich pumpkin color with golden overtones; the gray is full of flecks of rose, gold, and blue; the very dark color is a deep deep green with blue highlights, etc.

I'd have liked to add a border, but it was easy to decide between artistic fulfillment and keeping some kid warm. And, based on the way it felt on my lap while I was sewing it up, this blanket is WARM.

I'm hoping for a cascade of pictures from all of my fellow last-minute mailers. . . can't wait to see all your good things!

Copying Elizabeth

Well, only sort of.

One of my favorite blankies to knit is very loosely based on Cottage Creations' Rambling Rows Afghan. I say "loosely based" because, even though I've made several of these actually following the pattern, I've also made several that could best be described as Mitered Square Scrapghans.

I've done everything from one giagantic mitered square using odds and ends of acrylic, to the "scumbled" multi color multi-size square onethat I made for my older grandson.


When the latest Youth Challenge came up, I was ready with a nice selection of odds and ends of wool. (This washtub is my gauge--when it's full, there's enough for a laprobe or bigger afghan.)

There's Brown Sheep and Patons and some vintage Sugar 'n Cream (yes, Lily used to make a 100% wool yarn!) and I found that I had enough of the "evergreen" to use as a main color with all the others being accents.

I used size 8 needles for this worsted weight yarn and cast on in multiples of 20 stitches on a side, so that the smaller squares start with 40 stitches and the large ones with 80.




Here's where I am so far--about 30" square when I finish knitting the current large square. I think I will add squares on 2 more sides and then do a garter stitch band around the whole thing to get it to 45" square.

The blanket begins

As promised, here are the colors I've picked for a blanket, inspired by the idea I shared yesterday:

The red on the left is actually a rich cranberry color, quite a bit deeper than what you see here. The yarn that appears gray is, in reality,an interesting tweedy yarn with flecks of many colors. The others are pretty close to accurate. All but the red are Peace Fleece (the red is Bartlett), and all are from stash.

My plan is to knit a blanket 48 inches (122 cm) square, in 4 pieces. Each of the 4 pieces will measure 24 inches (~60 cm) square. Two will consist of four 6-inch (15 cm) stripes; the other two will have six 4-inch (10 cm) stripes. Garter stitch. Watch this space. . .

the easiest blanket

Here's the easiest knit blanket idea ever. Obviously, you'll want to recalculate the stitch count to get this campaign's desired blanket size, but look how you can blend a whole bunch of odd skeins together to get something really attractive. And garter stitch has a wonderfully meditative quality -- you never need to stop to think of what you do next, it lies flat, and the blanket comes out extra-thick.

Reminder: the requested size for blankets for this campaign is minimum 40 by 45 inches (1 meter by 1.14 meter), maximum 50 by 50 inches (1.27 m square). At a standard worsted gauge of 5 sts/inch (20 sts/10 cm), that's 200 to 250 stitches across. Yes, you'll need a circular needle!

The same web site that posted the pattern has a number of color suggestions in another post, so if you don't trust yourself, take a look at those. But -- you can trust yourself. Trade with friends to get a good mix if your own stash doesn't excite you.

Remember: all wool -- or other animal fiber -- is best. If you can't do that, no less than 75%, please. Bear in mind that some kids may end up sleeping near an open fire, and 100% animal fiber is safest by far.

This idea appeals to me in its great simplicity. I'll post my colors tomorrow.


Edited to add:

You could also, if that blanket worked as a single piece is going to be too heavy, or too daunting, work 4 rectangles, following this idea, and then sew them together. You could even join with friends, each knitting one chunk, to make a single blanket that way (be very careful to make sure you're all knitting at the same gauge!).