Return of the Scrap Eating Blanket!

I've finished my Virus Blanket that I made of leftover fingering scraps.  It's just under 36 inches square, which is perfect for a lap blanket if you sit Criss Cross Applesauce (which I do).  The pattern is the Virus Blanket which is free.  The written pattern has a You Tube link in it and honestly I used them both.  The verbiage in the written directions was inconsistent and confusing (to my brain at least), so when I started the project I used the video to clarify things.  Once you get going, it's an easy pattern to memorize and you don't need the directions.  It's a great pattern and obviously perfect for using scraps.  It will work in any weight of yarn just by choosing the appropriately sized hook.

I went through my leftover, plied fingering weight and sock scraps and found some that would work for a fade and just started crocheting.  I used a 3.25mm hook and 1,531 yards of yarn to get this size.  The nice thing about this pattern is that you can keep going until your blanket is as big as you want or until you run out of yarn.  I crocheted each color until I had about six inches left, and then started the next color.  I didn't stress about where I was in the pattern because I figured the fade would deal with any color changes.  I'm happy with how that worked.  The only exception was the white I was using at the end.  I stopped after working a Round 4 even though I had a little bit of yarn left and switched to my edging color.  I worked a round of single crochet as an edging, decreasing in the V shaped dips of the pattern to keep the edge from flaring. 

This is the second scrap eating blanket I've made and I've pulled yarn and selected a pattern for a third one.  I can say that my bag of fingering weight leftovers is getting smaller!  I've decided that I like having a blanket going along with my other projects, so for the foreseeable future (or until I run out of yarn - like that's going to happen), I'll continue making them.

Have a great weekend! 

You Can Never Have Enough Hats, Gloves, and Shoes

I'm making a new hat.  For Caleb, who has many hats, but as his mother I remain concerned that he might get cold.  So, another hat.  This one will go in his stocking at Christmas.  

It's another Musselburgh (great hat pattern, this is my fifth one) in fingering weight yarn (which is plenty warm for Texas).  This is Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball Crazy in 1535 Stone Washed.  It ranges from dark navy, all the way to a light denim color, which I thought would work with Caleb's navy jackets.  He doesn't technically have a coat.  When things get coat worthy here, we layer.  It's usually only for 72 hours or so.

Yes, we live in a region that doesn't require a coat, but I still get concerned enough about keeping my son warm that he must have wool hats!  Many, many hats!  I never claimed to be quite right in the head! 

A Little Palatte Cleanser

The last two weeks were Spirit Week at Eat.Sleep.Knit (it's usually just one week, but they gave us a second week to finish the mascots).  I decided to make a mascot stuffie partway through, so here is Confetti, the balloon dog!  (I'm in the Puppy Floats Team.)

The pattern is Snooker the Balloon Dog, and he's knit and then folded together just like an actual balloon dog!  I used Malabrigo Sock in the Parade colorway.  It takes less than 50 yards.  The knitting is easy, but there are some fiddly parts because you need to knit it tightly so the stuffing doesn't come out.  The directions are clear, and I would absolutely make another one at some point. 

A New Scrap Blanket

Fresh off the high of finishing my Button Box Throw, I immediately wanted to keep using those scraps!  This time around I decided to use a crochet pattern worked from the center out - The Virus Blanket.  Once again I got out my leftover partial balls and little bits of superwash fingering yarns and put them into a kind of fade.  And this is the beginning! (It's actually, part way through a round, which is why one side of the square looks different from the other side - I had to get a photograph while the light was good.)

I'm still on the first color, but I'm going to be changing colors either this round or the next.  I have made a virus blanket before. (I made one in 2020 for Mr. Noodle when he came to live with us, then he turned out to love wool too much, so he has to be supervised with it.)  I remembered enjoying making it, and I thought it would be a pretty way to use up some leftovers that were floating around in bags, tangling up with each other.  I will admit that getting started this time was a bit of a struggle, but I'm sorted now, and have the repeat memorized so I can work without the pattern.  The pattern itself is free, but the written pattern is a little confusing (at least to me).  Fortunately, the designer also has a video, so by referring to the video where the written directions were confusing me, I've got it figured out!  According to notes in some other projects, I'm not the only one who needed the video to clear up some confusion.

Again, I have no definite plans for this blanket, other than turning yarn scraps into something usable.  I'll keep going until I have run out of this set of scraps or when I decide the blanket is big enough.  Big Enough is something to be decided when I get there!

Since I've been having so much fun using up yarn scraps, I noticed some fabric scraps sitting around the sewing room.  I'll show you the fabric plan later this week!  (Yep, I'm currently a scrap busting machine!)