Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Free at Last!

Look! It's finished!

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It's so big, I can't get a decent photo of it.

Here it is folded up nicely, to fit in the linen cupboard (aka the Linnet's FO storage).

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And can you see the two purl stitches I agonized over? Me, neither. Well, hardly, at any rate.

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For those of you who haven't been slogging along with me on this project, here's the specs:

Pattern: Loosely based on the Moderne Log Cabin in Mason-Dixon Knitting.

Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted, from my stash, in eleven colors (Clematis, Shadow Grey, Tahiti Teal, Periwinkle, Amethyst, Sunburst Gold, Raspberry, Ink Blue, Blue Boy, Seafoam, and something unlabeled) and 15 or so full or partial skeins.

Needles: Size 8 bamboo circs. No, I don't know what kind; I don't pay attention to needle brands, mostly.

Finished Size: 55" x 46.5"

What else can I say? Well, you know how sick of this I was by the end, but I'm really very happy with how this turned out. I didn't plan the placement of the colors very precisely, except for deciding that the red and gold should be accents, not full logs, and that I'd start with the smallest partial skeins and work up to the colors I had more than one full skein of. The Lamb's Pride was great to work with, as always, and it made a blanket with a good heft and substance to it. Not too heavy, except to knit on, but really a great weight for a lap blanket/throw sort of thing.

So, what's next? Well, I have a heel on my first sock to darn, and a handspun shawl to knit, all before the Harlot comes to town on the 30th. Then it'll be time to decide on baby presents - I'm leaning towards adorable bonnets with ties, at the moment. Maybe socks. Certainly no project that takes over 500 yards to knit. Almost certainly not the 1500-yard, short-rowed, garter-stitch Oat Couture baby blanket. You know, the one I started - not that I've showed you any of it; basically all I've done is a swatch.

Right now, I just want to spin. No knitting. Not even any purling. Tomorrow night is SnB with margaritas night, and I'm taking my wheel. I predict a good time will be had by all.

17 comments :

Annie said...

Beautiful! I love how you interpreted a log cabin pattern.

Triona said...

Wow, it looks great! Kudos to you for your persistence!

margene said...

Beautiful!! You deserve a margarita or two;-)

Anonymous said...

Great job. The yellow accents are a wonderful way to spice up all those blocks, too. It must be wonderfully warm in that unique cushy, Lamb's Pride way.
Baby hats sound like the perfect project on the road to recovery.

Pam said...

It's a great blanket! Slog on!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful
I've never even tried to knit a blanket bigger than a baby blanket.
Crochet, yes... but I've yet to knit one. Seems an interminable task.
kudos!

YTT said...

Well, it may have been a slog, but the finished result is beautiful.

As for the purl stitches - when I made Alice Starmore's Faroe sweater and missed a couple of stitches, my husband said it was necessary to have a few bobbles or no one would believe it was handmade. The same holds for this lovely blanket - you can brandish those stitches as proof that you realy did make it.

Anonymous said...

Yay! It looks great. It will certainly be nice and warm & cozy this winter.

Oh, and what purl stitches?

Anonymous said...

How lovely! In a giant, enormous way, I mean. I really love the accent colors--very very cool!

knottygnome said...

congrats on ending the slog! the blanket looks really nice. i love your use of accent colors.

Discoknits said...

Fabulous. I love the accents. Very colourful. Congrats on finishing it. ;-)

Jessie said...

Abso-friggin'-lutely gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's one beautiful blanket -- I especially love the thing lines you placed throughout.

Anonymous said...

Pretty! I'm sooo impressed, it is gorgeous and looks like a TON of knitting!

I'm terribly behind on blog reading and haven't posted in months! I'll get back to it soon...lots of exciting stuff going on.

-Emily (I started a new blog...my ex was blogstalking the bitter one)

Angie said...

It looks great, and I was thinking that a blanket with thicker wool would be easier...looks worth the effort especially now that it is done.

Batty said...

Now there's an endurance test! It looks cozy and happy, just as a blanket should. And it's huge! Great work.

Norma said...

That is FANtastic!!! Love the colors, and the idea of all that Lamb's Pride warms my heart. I love knitting with that yarn, but I don't as much as I should. It's one of those that I think we overlook too often. Wonderful job!