This wool is part of my last joblot purchase from an Ebay seller. The colour is called "meadow" which is the perfect name for this blended shade of soft green and beige. As it is only 2 ply, I put it aside until inspiration struck me just before Christmas. I realised that knitting 2 balls together would produce a lovely blanket for a small animal. I cast on a huge amount of stitches on a very long needle and started to knit.
My plan is to keep knitting until all the wool is used up. I am a very good judge of how far a 100g ball of wool will go, but I have no real experience of knitting from a cone and don't know how big the finished blanket will be. If there is enough wool for a blanket to fit a child's bed, that would be even better as it is beautifully lightweight and warm. Whether for an animal or a child, this blanket is destined for a charity somewhere.
I intend this to be a long-term work in progress. It is all garter stitch, very simple and a great relief from the complicated jumper I am also knitting at the moment. The colourful wooden needle tips are pretty and slide through the wool like a dream. It is such a pleasure to knit with that I am quite happy just knitting a few rows each day. This could be a project that lasts for many months.
I have never knitted with this type of wool before. I looked inside the cone and saw the word "wool". I congratulated myself that I had at last broken away from the artificial fibres that I usually knit with. Then I started to worry that, being wool, it would not wash well. So I looked inside the cone again for washing instructions and saw the word "Orlon". I Googled it and was amazed to see the following definition:
"Orlon is the trade name for a polyacrylonitrile fiber made from natural gas, oxygen, and nitrogen. It combines bulk with light weight and is resistant to acids and sun damage. It is used for sweaters and other clothing."
So it has never been anywhere near a sheep! But it does now seem absolutely ideal for a blanket that might receive a lot of rough treatment.
Loving your blog - I too took early retirement recently and am enjoying having time to take on various knitting projects, although I usually have too many on the go at once!
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SueH The Knitting Assassin!
Twitter – @Librarymaid
Well just keep on knitting, and let us see the finished size when you get to the end of the cone! Looks like a nice "earthy" color. Sounds like fun...I'm going to start another scarf this weekend using up some of my unfinished balls...a mish mash of color and textures. Should be fun!
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