It feels sooo satisfying to finally complete a project. I present to you the Patchwork Blanket (pattern link down below) which I’ll be donating.
As you can see from the photo above, I had about 15 skeins and a bunch of random balls of acrylic worsted weight yarn. This yarn, in my opinion, is not suitable for any garments and it was hard on my hands because it’s stiff. But it is great for blankets. I added one to my bed last week as we had sub-freezing temperatures and with my quilt, I was toasty warm. I’m not sure where the yarn came from, but some is leftover from the latch hook rugs I did in December.
My goal was to get 20 squares (each roughly measuring 13 inches) out of what I had to make a 4×5 blanket. I knit it on size 8 double pointed needles (it is knit from the center out) and as more stitches were added, I switched to circular needles. I can’t say it’s the most beautiful color scheme but it works. To finish it, I crocheted the squares together and then did 3 rows of a single crochet border in black. I then gave the blanket a good steam, basically killing the yarn. This isn’t something I’d normally recommend, but I think this cheap acrylic benefits – it just makes the stitches nicer and the blanket softer. I still have some leftovers to contend with. I will either send them to my mother, who makes needlepoint coasters and glass cases, or I will use them to decorate and wrap gifts, This is the fourth blanket I’ve made using this pattern.
I can’t tell you how many blankets I’ve made in my lifetime, though it’s been a lot. Blankets are a great way to use up scraps and don’t require a lot of concentration (keeps your hands busy while watching T.V.).The sheer amount of yarn I’ve gone through is mind boggling. And am I the only one who names their blankets? I have one called the Drywall blanket. My mother made it and it is worked in an afghan stitch embroidered with cross stitch. It’s a beautiful blanket but the acrylic yarn in combination with the stitch does make it quite stiff. I inherited a lot of yarn from my grandmother. Again, it was worsted weight acrylic. She probably got it from KMart since that was her favorite store. I knit all that yarn up on my bulky knitting machine (I’ve since sold all my machines as I prefer to hand knit) and made a huge blanket for our bed (I was married at the time). Most blankets are too small and when one person rolls over the other tends to get shorted. Not with this blanket, which we named The Ugly Blanket (sorry Grandma, those color choices were just bad), as it had three huge panels which hung to the floor on each side of the bed. One year, in another attempt to make a dent in my stash, I made nine blankets. Below are just a few examples.
While a pattern really isn’t necessary (all you need is a stitch dictionary) there are some fun ones out there. Here are a few of my favorites:
My Designing Life 