Wool on Sunday...

Just a short post this week...

The baby blanket I've been working on is just about finished...

I've been sorting through boxes of photos in the last week and found a pic of another baby blanket that I knitted 21 years ago for a newborn nephew. Edward's blanket used the same slipstitch pattern...

Unlike the baby blanket I'm knitting now, this one wasn't made with 'leftover yarn'; the colours were chosen so I would get a 'colour run'/colourwash. So lemon, yellows, greens, blues, purples, pinks, reds, oranges etc and I do remember how much fun it was to knit! 

Linking up once again with Rainbow Hare's Wool on Sunday. 

Wool on Sundays...

Joining in again with Rainbow Hare blog's Wool on Sunday. This week Janine's post featured crocheted squares using autumn colours.
Now to what yarn-related things I've been up to.
Firstly a finish...one blanket made from those donated knitted squares that I showed last week, is now finished.

 The variegated yarns that the donor used are so pretty and I'm in awe of anyone who could sit and knit all those squares! ( there's enough squares left to make 2 more similar sized blankets!)
  

Next is another finish. I made this rug quite a while ago but it still needed the ends on the border to be neatened off...it sat for quite a while on a shelf waiting for this. And then I had a 50th birthday lunch to attend and I realised that this rug would be perfect for the birthday girl...so I spent the 30 minutes or so needed to finish it! Lol

And lastly, a new project started in this last week; the baby blanket using yarns leftover from other projects. 

The pattern comes from an old publication which I think is out of print. I'm not sure of copyright restrictions but I'm adding a photo of the pattern to this post.

I use more than the 3 colours suggested by the pattern. For the baby blanket I'm using an 8 ply acrylic as the main colour and an 8 ply cotton for the colours. I cast on 215 stitches on 4.5mm circular needles. When I make this pattern up in a 12 ply yarn ( such as mohair) for a throw, I cast on 205 stitches...this is a good size for an adult blanket. If I make a throw for an adult in 8 ply, I cast on 245 stitches...or thereabouts. 

Sorry to overseas readers who probably haven't a clue what 8 or 12 ply yarn is. But there are comparison sites which help with this. Such as this website.
So that's all my yarn-related news for this week.

FNSI....

The 3rd Friday of the month was yesterday, so that means that last night was Friday Night Sew In. This means that people from all around the globe have signed up to spend some time, (in their respective Time Zones) working on crafty type projects. Thank you once again to Wendy over at Sugarlane Quilts for organising this, and you can visit other blogs to see what people worked on, using the Linky in Wendy's post.

After I signed up, I later realised that DH and I would be out at the theatre on Friday night; at the QUT, Gardens' Point Theatre to be precise, to see a David Williamson play, 'Managing Carmen'. So I did some 'FNSI ing' in the late afternoon and then again some more after we arrived home from the theatre. 

The project I'm working on is a secret at the moment, so just some glimpses I'm afraid. It's a knitting project and will be another throw...surprising that eh???

The colourway is greys, pinks, mauves and purples and this is the back of the project...

 I had some variegated yarn that 'linked' the mauves and pinks...but it had yellow in the mix.

I knitted a trial row and the yellow 'jarred', so that row got pulled out!

Then I thought of something...take the yellow out! And I did...I wound off the yarn that I thought I would need to do that 'block', and when the pink graduated to the yellow, I just cut the yellow length out and joined the ends...

I ended up with a pile of ends which will go into my 'Minestrone project'. (Kaite has discontinued the blog, but my knitted throw is still a work in progress)

When I finished that 'block' of colour, I still had this 'pinky/mauvey/bluey' ball of yarn...

This Cleckheaton Mohair/wool mix is a delight to work with; it reminds me of the lovely Te Awa mohair from NZ which is no longer available. 

In a short while I will be able to show you a 'full length and full frontal' pic of this project...stay tuned! 

It's finished and posted...

The throw that I was making for my recently (and unexpectedly) widowed friend was finally finished this morning (Monday) and is now on its way to her. I think this will be so much better than condolence flowers that we could have sent...more long lasting for sure!
I took photos in a few places around our home trying to get 'those colours' true. I think these ones are the closest but the second colour still comes out looking pale instead of a lovely warm caramel color that it is.

When you use black as the main colour in this pattern you get what I call the 'licorice allsorts' look! The next waffle slipstitch throw I make will be in greys/mauves/purples and pinks and it is a replacement for one which someone won and then gave away to someone else the winner felt needed it more. More about that a little later on. 

It's finished!

The Art Show throw was finished on Monday...all ends woven in, label sewn on, Care Instructions sheet printed off and the  cardboard label with the name and price was made. So may I present to you, 'Not Quite 50 Shades With Grey'...  And yesterday, (Wednesday) I handed over to the organisers of the show.

The mohair yarn is equivalent to a 12 ply and I used 6.5mm circular needles with a cast on of 205 stitches.

 The yarn knits up to be very warm but has that fineness which is a feature of mohair yarns. You can see the outline of my clothesline through the throw :-)
I used a favourite stitch pattern which was published in a craft series called Silver Needles, in the 1980s.  The original pattern used just 3 colours; a main colour and 2 contrasts. I've used the stitch pattern to make my children jumpers when they were little, I've made a number of baby shawls using white with pastels for contrasts. I've used the pattern in bands around beanies and jumpers. I have also used one variegated yarn for the contrasts with the colour changes making a lovely item.
I adapted the pattern many years ago to use lots of colours, especially part balls of yarn and this is what i did with this grey creation... some of the colours I used were oddments, merely 20 or so metres in length . I'm planning to experiment once more with the pattern where I am going to use more than one background colour...so stayed 'tuned' as they say!

In case anyone would like to try this easy pattern, I've included the original version for you.