I vowed not to start another project until one of my current WIPs was finished - but I cheated! True, the grey waistcoat was off the needles (but not seamed!) so, I couldn't wait any longer and had to start a 'ripple' blanket! (actually I blame all those fellow Twitter-ers who were talking about their progress with rippling ;-p)
Anyway, I started off, armed with a bag of leftovers from my stash pile, following the excellent (idiot-proof!) instructions given by Lucy at 'Attic 24' . I must admit, getting the first row was tricky - it took me three attempts before I was moderately happy with it, and I'm hopping that the remaining slight tightness on that first row will improve with blocking. However, as a 'go-to-as-and-when' project to use up scraps I'm rather pleased with it already. Instead of planning the colours beforehand, I'm letting the blanket surprise me - all my wool is in a black bag, so when I need to start a new colour I just blindly reach in and use whatever I pull out
What do you think so far?'
I love the way the increases and decreases create the ripples, like running over 'hill and dale'!
The grey waiscoat has not been pushed to one side and forgotten, though; I've seamed it, sewn the pockets in place and attached the button band (the worst part - I hate doing that!) - just needs a finally steam and a set of buttons:
The BIG blanket is nearing completion:
Just so you can see what's left to do, here's the 'plan' I drew out; (the tip of the needle shows progress to date):
Of course, there will be loads of ends to sort out, but I've been weaving them in as I go, so they'll just need snipping off. I'm undecided whether to crochet all around the outer edges to finish off....? I can generally knit about 3 blocks an hour (usually when I'm watching TV, so it rather depends on how intricate the plot...!) so I still have a way to go yet - but I'm getting there!
BTW - thank you to all the lovely people who've stopped by on the ''Grow Your Blog' blog-hop and left comments :-) - so many lovely blogs to go and investigate.....I'm getting there!
The waistcoat looks great! I hadn't seen it in all it's (nearly-finished) glory! Looks good. And you will have to teach me the ripple crochet, it looks so pretty!
ReplyDeleteAll looks wonderfully productive at yours. Love your ripple progress, it will be great to watch how it developes :)
ReplyDeleteCaffeechino
I like the idea of letting the blanket surprise you. I'm planning a scarf along similar lines.
ReplyDeleteOh, I know what you mean! The call of the new project is so hard to resist! I sucombed last night as well:-( But your project is lovely and a great way to use the stash!
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Terri
WOW! That "big blanket" is amazing. How big is it? How much yarn is it taking??
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't mind, but I've tagged you for the "Liebster Award" which is another way to grow blogs (back links are blogger candy!). Here are the details: http://www.threadedlife.net/2013/01/awwwwww-im-honored.html
Play along if you wish, but don't feel obligated.