One skein at a time...

Lent is officially underway and Chez Hedgehog is all UFOs all the time.  At least, until I start browsing Ravelry and notice patterns like Contrast and Complement or Chantalle. Then I start stalking the stash and wondering just where the right size needles might be tucked.  Then I remember it's Lent and I've committed to that giant blanket. Maybe those patterns will be this year's Easter basket.  Along with the Cadbury eggs.


I think it's probably the worst thing I've ever named a project--Instant Gratification. Sure, each skein doesn't take THAT long, but it's 26 skeins and each of those is taking me a couple of hours and did I mention that there's a gouge in the one needle point that's catching quite often? Wooden needles are failing me left, right, and tweed.

Since taking the blanket back up last week, I've gotten through 4 more skeins of the taupe yarn.  I've got one more left before I go back to the green.  That means I've got 10 skeins of yarn left: 1 taupe middle in the middle section, 5 in the green stripe, 4 to finish the taupe border. That also means I'm definitely past the half way point in this blanket. This would be a very good thing because it's starting to get a little large.

I don't really remember what the plan was in La Crosse. I doubt I swatched, so I assume I picked an arbitrary number of stitches that seemed like enough and ran with it. There might have been consulting of the ballband and general ideas like "oh, on x needles y stitches = 4"/10cm, so I'll just cast on z stitches" but even that is optimistic. Now that I'm several feet into the blanket, I can approximate that before any blocking it's currently running about 90" wide (approx 2.2 m). It's currently a little over three feet long. 7'x3'....hmmm, no wonder I'm starting to feel some heft when I pick it up and move it around.

Apologies for the dark cell phone pictures. I need to order a new camera battery.

I did put some time in on my purple socks at a meeting Thursday and made real progress on the purple mitts earlier in the week.  Pictures of those to follow. I'm hoping by next Thursday I'll have a finished pair to show you--at least one whole pair in February.

I also read Sheepish by Catherine Friend on Thursday evening. It's very enjoyable and a quick read. I was both amused and found myself identifying with some of the realities of farming (death of animals, particularly baby animals, that you can't control. It's heartbreaking but pragmatic reality and she's very honest about that).

How are your Lenten knitting plans going?