Tuesday 15 July 2014

The Beginnings of a Picnic Blanket

For a few years now, any time I've had a small ball of yarn left over from a knitting project I've used it to knit mini moss stitch squares. I didn't have a plan for what I was going to use the squares for, but knitting them seemed like a good first step towards turning my leftover yarn into something useful. Waste not, want not, right?


Well, yesterday I finally made a start on turning my stash of squares into something - a little patchwork blanket that I can use for picnics and afternoons spent sitting out in the garden.

I'm sewing the squares together in little groups of two, three, four or five...


... and then stitching the knitted shapes together to create a random patchwork of colours and shapes. 


I'm really looking forward to seeing the design develop organically as I add more squares!

Not super excited about sewing in all the yarn ends though... ugh.

7 comments:

Balisha said...

What a neat idea for little bits of yarn. How big are your squares? This is a nice little project to take along in the car or do while waiting.
It would probably help me join knitted things together a little neater.
Balisha

Charlotte said...

that's going to be so totally fab! Reminds me of a game of tetris :-)

Elsa said...

Sooo cute! Now it almost makes me wish I could knit! ;)

Aromy said...

Instead of having to sew in all those ends, you can just sew some fabric to the back of it!

Unknown said...

I was thinking the same thing as Aromy - the squares are so sweet, but life is too short for that many ends! A tactile fleecy fabric would make it extra snuggly, and it would hide all the ends...Chrissie x

Unknown said...

Tetris blanket! Will look awesome and what a great idea for left overs! :)

Bugs and Fishes said...

Balisha - thanks! You definitely get a lot of practice sewing pieces together when working on a project like this :) The squares are a bit smaller than 2 inches each (maybe one and three quarter inches, they vary in size a bit) so there are going to be LOTS of squares in the finished blanket.

Charlotte - thank you! It's funny cos I didn't spot the resemblance to Tetris myself but so many people have commented on it. I rather love how it gives the blanket an extra 80s-retro appeal :D

Elsa - blanket squares are a great project if you're learning to knit, they're so simple!

Aromy & Chrissie - thanks for the suggestion but I've opted to sew the ends in anyway, it's the only way the perfectionist in me will be happy, haha :)

Tiffany - thanks x