Sneak peek

Jump to Comments

Making baby item after baby item gets a girl thinking. Not necessarily about babies – for me it’s more about family members I only know through the blankets and sweaters they created for me when I was born. I wouldn’t recognize most of my extended family if I met them on the street, but I recognize my great-aunt’s tendency to crochet every row through the back loop because of the heirlooms I still have.

Thing is? These things, though full of love and still useful, are pretty ugly. I think it makes them more endearing. There’s something really comforting about designing around a recognized need and on-hand materials, with necessity and simplicity overshadowing intentional design choices.

So sometimes, when planning a project, it’s fun to skip the imagination-based design steps, and just use a train of logic. There will be babies. They will need wool blankets. This is the wool I have. 2+2=4.

Based on this design philosophy, the color choices of my family’s heirloom afghans, a not-so-recent purchase, and these two blankets, I started crocheting.

I should mention that this blanket isn’t done yet, and I don’t want to photograph it until it’s been blocked. So sorry if you were expecting any sort of finished product.

The yarn I’m using was hard to take off the shelf. I bought it at a thrift store ages ago, mainly because the packaging was so lovely:

I really don’t know much about tapestry wool, but I’m pretty sure that’s what this is. Each box (I found five) contained ten 10-meter skeins of a light fingering weight, soft, unassuming wool.

Sheesh. The skeins are so damn cute.

Anyway, here’s the breakdown:

• 14 skeins of Pale Yellow, color #2286
• 10 skeins of Purple, color #2132
• 8 skeins of Slate, color #2845A
• 5 skeins of Red, color #2831
• 4 skeins of White, color #2800
• 3 skeins of Bright Yellow, color #2899
• 1 skein each of Grey (2848), Pink (2879), and Tan (2240)

Each box was fifty cents, making the total $2.50. There are 49 skeins, each with 10 meters, for a total of 490 meters, or 535.9 yards. I joined them with simple square knots, because I’m too lazy to felt 98 ends to each other. And I don’t much mind weaving in ends.

The colors don’t coordinate in any modern way. When mixed together, they simply remind me of grandma’s acrylic afghans. It’s both off-putting and endearing. Or maybe I’ve lost it. I’m almost through the ball of joined 10-meter lengths of wool, and then I’ll do a thick border to give the blanket a bit more heft. Not sure what color the border will be yet – it depends on what I have on hand.

Sidenote: Does anyone know if old-school yarns that claim to be mothproof contain any harmful chemicals?

2 Comments

Filed under Family, Knitting