Snuggling In

October already! The weather has definitely turned today, sunshine no longer foreshadows even soft summer warmth when you step outside, and the leaves are cascading into my garden in copper maelstroms. It's time for fluffy socks, snuggling under quilts and blankets and eating soup.

The quilt remains very much in the form it was in the last picture but I do have a new source of warmth.



Continuing with my devotion to the patterns in Whimsical Little Knits, I rummaged around in the stash and found a cone (about 1kg) of woolly Iris coloured aran weight from Hamilton & Walker in Oban (a holiday souvenir from March 08), and a skein of Rowan Colourscape Chunky in Camouflage (437).

I loved the pattern for the Hap Blanket but wanted to try it out in some more non-traditional colours so throwing these two together seemed like it would either be horribly clashing, or wonderfully vibrant.

After a bit of swatching I used 7mm needles because I liked the fabric better and added another 20sts to the cast on for the central square (with the knock on effect of adding another repeat to the edging on each side later).

It's very soothing knitting a garter stitch square with the odd stripe thrown in to liven things up and I loved watching the colours shift on each stripe.

The edging was a bit of a frog fest - I knit ... and ripped, and knit it again .... and ripped, and knit a little bit more .... and tinked and H suggested that I knit something else for a bit just so that I made forward progress!


All the while I was knitting I kept changing my mind about the colours, usually I loved them in daylight and then started panicking about whether they were too different when it was under electric light and the yellowy glow washes the purple/blue into grey. H, loyal knitter's assistant has always maintained that he likes the contrast.

Finally, the edging was done, the blanket took a giant soak in our kitchen sink and spent several days drying out on the blocking wires (did I mention the weather turning) and then it was done:


And to my very great relief it is just what I had planned and wanted; the cool pinky blue of an autumn evening sky, with the colours of the leaves and the shadows thrown into the mix.

The pictures were taken early on a misty morning, before the sun really hits the garden, and the colours for once came out just how I see them!

So now H curls up on the sofa under the quilt, the Noro blanket, and just in case he gets a little bit parky, the Hap Blanket too! Actually this one's all mine, diagonally it's the perfect length to tuck in my toes and reach up around my waist leaving my hands free for, well, more knitting, what else?