Thursday 5 February 2015

Show & Tell: Sky Blankets!

Remember my sky blanket?

In 2012 I knitted a blanket square a day based on how the sky looked at midday. I knitted almost a year's worth of squares (360 in total) and stitched them together to make a blanket recording the year's weather. It was a lot of work but a huge amount of fun!

My sky blanket was based on Lea Redmond's awesome Sky Scarf project, and in turn my blanket project has inspired other people to start their own sky blankets. Seeing the photos has been quite thrilling and I'm delighted to be able to share some of them with you guys today...


Karen's blanket has been put to good use this winter! Like me, she chose her sky colours based on the sky at midday each day:



Alicia blogged about working on her blanket. I love how she got her kids involved with the project: "They love coloring in the little squares every day.  During the school year we kept it in the car and they took turns filling them in for me on the way to school."

http://walkingsoftlyupontheearth.com/2014/07/18/sky-blanket/
 http://walkingsoftlyupontheearth.com/2014/07/18/sky-blanket/
 http://walkingsoftlyupontheearth.com/2014/07/18/sky-blanket/


Leanne has also been blogging about her blanket's progress. It's been lovely seeing updates popping up on her blog as her blanket has grown, and seeing her kitty "helping" along the way!

http://www.knitmeacake.com/2014-skyblanket/
 http://www.knitmeacake.com/2014-skyblanket/
 http://www.knitmeacake.com/2014-skyblanket/
 http://thislittlespaceofmine.co.uk/5-tips-working-year-long-craft-project/

You can read all about Leanne's blanket-making adventures on her old blog, Knit Me a Cake.

She also blogged about how to knit a sky blanket square - her squares are bigger than mine and all knitted in moss stitch (I stuck to plain old garter stitch for my blanket) - and recently shared some great tips for sticking with a long-term crafty project like this.


Finally, my blanket-making inspired Laura to make a wonderful weather quilt for her niece - giving it as a surprise 1st birthday gift!

Laura used a selection of prints to represent different kinds of weather (sunny, rainy, grey, etc), using at least two different prints for each weather type so she wouldn't end up with two squares the same next to each other.



Many thanks to the ladies who have shared their wonderful sky project photos! It has made me so happy to see them xxx

Fancy starting your own sky knitting project? Click here to read about Lea's original Sky Scarf project, or click here for instructions for how to knit a sky blanket.

7 comments:

Nilgün Komar said...

beatifull ♥

http://thankfullga447 said...

I always think about that blanket and have told lots of knitters about it. The project is a success. I started knitting random left over scraps yarns and ended giving them away as coasters. I need to start again.

Meg Lyons said...

My version builds off of the original scarf, but instead I knit a square per month (with two rows per day). It ended up the size of a small lap quilt, but not large enough to really use, so I sewed it into a pillow that sits on my bed now!
I blogged along the way, here is the final incarnation: http://barefootcrafting.blogspot.com/2013/04/sky-blanket-update.html
My mom and sister and I had planned to do a sky-trees-land blanket, but their projects got derailed, by life (mom) and by the dog (sister). Someday we may try again!

Anonymous said...

I loved creating my blanket. Was pleased that I wove the ends in along the way mind. Aww the thought of doing it at the end would've been too much.

Really like Leanne's moss stitch blanket. Wished I'd thought to use different stitches along the way. Perhaps I'll have to keep that idea for another project.

Karen

bairozan said...

This is such a unique project! I'm not a knitter, nor a quilter but I'd love to see more of these fascinating blankets!

Silly Little Sheep said...

Lovely creations! I would love to create something like this, but I know I wouldnot have the patience to stick with it :)

Bugs and Fishes said...

Gisela - it is lovely to hear you've been telling people about my sky blanket! Lea is such a genius for thinking of this project

Meg - thanks for sharing the link to your project! Glad you found such a good use for your mini blanket

Karen - thanks again for sharing your photo :) I did stitch up the squares & weave the ends in as I went along but I fell a bit behind by the end! Life can get in the way of long-term projects like this.

Silly Little Sheep - it can be tricky keeping going with a bit project like this, but I found that the thrill of seeing the blanket grow (and my general excitement about the awesome idea) helped keep me going :)