Ode to a Good Blanket

Remember when I posted about the project that took forever? Well, I guess I should clarify somewhat. It did take forever, of course, and the project that I compared it to took even longer, but I actually have a WIP that has been on my needles off and on since July, 2012. Now, before you break out the inaccuracy pitchforks, know that it was an honest mistake. I tend to forget about this project, hence the stupid-long amount of time I've been working on this.

Introducing the small and needling thorn in my side: That New Crayon Smell.

Notice the fact that it is still a WIP and only about 60% completed of yet. After two years.

It started innocently enough, really. I had a few (okay, a lot) of skeins of Noro Kureyon on hand and I decided that rather than hoarding them like some kind of deranged wool-dragon, I should use them up.

You see, I had developed something of an obsession with Noro brand yarn. In particular, I found that almost every time I visited my LYS, I came away with another oddball skein of Kureyon. At the time, I was living in Santa Barbara, California and my favorite LYS was the incomparable Cardigans. Although there has been a change of ownership since I moved away, it appears that the legacy that Pam Price started there is still alive and well. This alone pleases me as I often wish I could visit Cardigans as easily as I could when I lived mere miles away. Cardigans is and always will be my ideal yarn shop.

During this time, I was working as a long-suffering waitress in downtown SB. I had a pleasant enough demeanor and I didn't spill things on guests too often so I made decent tips... the real problem is that I was deeply unhappy. Not necessarily with the job, not necessarily with my apartment or my car or what have you but the entire situation was entirely too taxing for me.

So that's how I ended up at Cardigans more often than not. I'd chat with Pam and sometimes I'd knit at the table with a few other regulars and usually, I'd spend a portion of my tips on a pretty, inexplicable ball of Kureyon. Unlike many of my purchases then and now, I didn't have a specific plan for the balls I purchased but I found their color and somewhat scratchy texture irresistible.

After I had amassed a not-insignificant number of skeins and schlepped them all the way to Colorado, I took it upon myself to finally do something with them.

After a bit of searching, I decided upon the pattern 64 Crayons by Amy Swenson. It definitely wasn't the most interesting pattern but, at the time, I wasn't feeling up to short rows so Lizard Ridge was out and the other patterns I found just weren't inspiring to me. So I selected the pattern, made my purchase, and then I noticed that this pattern had been written for the very purpose I intended to use it: to use up Kureyon that had been purchased as a band-aid measure to dissatisfaction. Seems I wasn't the only one who sought refuge in bright colors and familiar texture.

Another advantage of this pattern is that it is knit in strips. Essentially, it's like knitting a ribbed scarf a la Jared Flood's Noro Striped Scarf though, admittedly, shorter. So I set off with that in mind, to knit a strip every other project and eventually come out of it with a new woolen blanket. That was the plan, anyway.

In reality, I get distracted like a magpie. I rush off to the newest yarn (hello, Madelinetosh!), the newest pattern that I just have to make... and all the while, my patient blanket has been waiting for me, folded neatly with all its composite skeins in a large storage bag in my stash. I'm currently on the forth strip (2 small, 2 large total) of the six I'm meant to have for a decent-sized lap blanket.

And still the project abides, kind and waiting for me. On Valentine's Day, for example, I accidentally left my project bag in the booth of a Chinese Restaurant. I returned for it the next day (not before casting on for Khoshekh though, mind you), and promptly went upstairs to my current LYS. I was making a return, but I don't think my blanket strip would have much minded if I'd made another purchase, started yet another pattern while it continued to be put up on a shelf in favor of something more interesting.

I suppose that it's a good sort of sensation to get from a soon-to-be blanket; warm, acceptance. Heaven forbid I or anyone else ever try to knit a demanding, harsh blanket.

But I think I'll make a bit more of an effort on this project-- it's waited long enough and though the weather's been in the 50s and 60s, I could still use a nice blanket under which to curl up and relax.

We all could use that, I think.