Sunday 22 January 2012

Simple Squares

I'm still spending a lot of my evenings watching rubbish telly & doing some knitting.

I've mainly been knitting blanket squares in basic garter stitch which is really not the world's most fascinating craft project but totally perfect for those times when you just need to switch your brain off for a few hours after work and totally relax.

I've been knitting my daily sky blanket square...


... and also working on a knitting project that has been "in progress" for at least 10 years. 

I knitted a couple of blankets many years ago and I'm not sure if I knitted too many squares, or had decided to start a third blanket, or what other mysterious plan was going through my head, but basically I ended up with a few dozen squares which became another one of those "random craft projects that Laura has had stashed under her bed since she was a teenager". 

Last year I started knitting up all the random balls of double-knit yarn in my stash into squares to match the old ones. The general plan is to use up the random yarn, and then buy a few extra balls in coordinating colours, and (eventually) end up with a finished blanket or two. 

Most of the squares are the same size, and will become one blanket...


... but there are also a few smaller ones knitted from slightly lighter weight yarn, which will be another blanket (which seems destined to be quite bright and cheerful based on the colours knitted up thus far!)...


... and a few much larger ones which my teenage self seems to have knitted on larger needles to the rest of the squares (I'd like to give myself the benefit of the doubt and say this was deliberate but it probably wasn't). I did briefly contemplate knitting three blankets but then I thought that might drive me a bit insane, so instead I'll be unravelling these few larger squares and re-knitting them on smaller needles:


Here's a snap of the crate in which I'm keeping the in-progress squares and soon-to-be-knitted balls of yarn:


The small squares in the bag are tiny moss stitch squares I'm knitting with all the leftover bits of yarn that are too small to be knitted into the larger squares. I don't know what I'm going to use them all for, but waste not want not, right?


10 comments:

Алёна said...

wow! this squares so bright//I like the colors you choose)))

Kit said...

I dont know why, but I always get quite excited when I see a lot of beautiful yarn colours knitted/crocheted up in to squares :o) I am a crocheter aspiring to knit later this year and have just become so addicted to it and love how you can sit and watch tv and create something at the same time.

Love the blue and grey shades together and the bright colours look like they would make a great blanket for a child, would love to see the finished article one day

Panda8ngel said...

Can you please post pics of the finished blankets? I would love to see how these squares come together. Thanks :)

Robin said...

Your squares are just way cool. How do you join them together so one side of the blanket doesn't end up all seam-y?

jen said...

I love the idea of your sky blanket, any handmade item with a story behind it is extra special. I think my blanket would end up very grey - we don't get enough blue skies up here in Skye!!I love the colours of your bright squares, totally reminds me of a crochet blanket my grandma had made when I was a kid. Looking forward to seeing the finished blankets :o)

Made in Suisse said...

Great ideas, it sounds like a lot of ends to sew in...don't envy that bit ;-)

kjsutcliffe said...

I've been doing the sky scarf option and see that it too has a fair amount of grey in it too! Never mind, it makes the blues that much more precious :) Still it is January,so what can I expect.

Bugs and Fishes said...

Kit - yes, it is a wonderful feeling being able to indulge in old movies and other bits of relaxing TV while still *creating* something. I love knitting when I'm ill in bed for the same reason :)

Panda8ngel - I will of course be posting pictures of the finished blankets, but it will be a while before they're done!

Robin - I use whip stitch to sew the squares together, but try not to stitch too tightly so that I can press the seam as flat as possible afterwards so that even though there still ends up being a "front" and "back" to the blanket it's not quite as obvious.

Jen & Hawthorn - I'm going to need to buy a lot more grey yarn if the year continues the way it began! Luckily I quite like grey, and it definitely does make the blue days that bit more exciting and special to knit :)

Made in Suisse - oh gosh, I am trying not to think about all those ends!! I'm going to start sewing the sky blanket together as I go along (once I've got a few more squares to make a start), so that I can do all the ends gradually and so I will be able to actually have a finished blanket by the end of 2012 instead of just a big pile of squares.

Silly Little Sheep said...

You can use the leftovers to make one square, join them together and make kind of a "striped" square, that would look good! Or better - make a whole mossz green and brown blanket and add a few striped squares to make it look more interesting! :D

Bugs and Fishes said...

I've been knitting lots of little squares... I think eventually I'll make a patchwork blanket from them all :)