WPLUP- Getting Back Into It

Hello, hello! Welcome to the second 2016 Winter Project Link Up post. This is a party hosted by Jen at Thistlebear, that anyone with a blog and creative project can join in with. It's a sort of blog hop, with like-minded participants linking up their blogs and reading about the other's winter projects, egging and cheering them on from the sidelines during the long dark days and chilly evenings.

Strangely, probably due to the mildness of October weather, I found it quite hard to get back into this blanket again. The colours aren't my typical ones, and if you are a long time reader of my blog, you'll have heard the story of the bizarre moment in my local wool shop where I marched in to pick up my usual colours, and was nearly to the till when my eye caught the golden, mustard coloured Stylecraft wool glowing on the shelf. All of the usual wool colours were thrust unceremoniously back into the shelves and a new colour palette appeared in my basket, based on complimenting this one colour. During the walk home I kept staring into my bag wondering what on earth I had done in this moment of madness- they aren't very 'me' colours. I figured though that there must have been a reason for it and have stuck with the choice, and I guess it is kind of growing on me; it's not a pretty blanket, more of a striking one, and that's OK.

Anyhow, I wasn't hugely inspired to start up again, and eventually had to sternly tell myself that I needed to get cracking otherwise I wouldn't have anything to show in this project link-up and everyone else joining in would have lots to show and say. It's almost like a set monthly homework to spur you on!
With this in mind, the blanket was laid out over the floor and carefully examined, one end has been finished with a scallop to the triangle shapes so all I have to do is finish the other end! Which sounds easier than it is, as it's taken me a while to remember how I made the scallop in the first place. It's funny how quickly fingers remember the pattern of the triangle though. I looked up the initial pattern from Atty's Blog, but then remembered that I had changed it slightly so had to research old blog posts to find out if I had written down what I had changed. Luckily, after the first couple of attempts, it all came back, like riding a bicycle, and I am back to full triangle creating speed.

It has also given me a reason to get out a yet unused birthday present. My gorgeous yarn bowl!! It is handmade by Emily Cross, see her website here, and you can buy different sizes based on what sort of wool you usually use. Mine is a pretty medium size so will just fit in a 100g ball of Stylecraft Special DK, my favourite acrylic yarn. The Mother bought it for me when we visited the Olympia Knitting & Stitching show way back in March, and it has sat in its box waiting for the right moment since then. Before the yarn bowl, I used a plastic colander- very effective but not nearly as pretty!

Production of triangles was halted slightly when The Cat decided the yarn balls were his sleeping buddies, for him to snuggle up with. It's mildly difficult to create a well balance colour wheel of triangles, when a furry body is firmly lying on top of the colour you require!

Plus, whenever you try to move the said colour, you run the risk of upsetting the said furry body which then develops sharp fangs and spiky claws, designed to protect his yarny friends from harm and grasping hands. Resigned, the poor, battered hands give up and go off and do something else instead, resolving to return later when the yarn balls are at their most vulnerable and unprotected. Muwhahaha. (I think the Halloween spirit is getting to me!)

Eventually, and in good time for this Project Party post, all of my triangles are finished, there is a scallop at both ends of the blanket and half hexagon shapes creating straight long sides. I haven't counted how many triangles I have actually made in this blanket, several hundred at least! It's quite a decent size too, enough to comfortably cover one person head to toe (providing they aren't giants), and I am going to add a border at some point in the run up to Christmas which will hopefully be ready for the next link up. I'm trying to decide whether I need to add a clever border with triangle shapes built in, or if that would be too much with the hexagons. Perhaps just a simple few rows to hold everything together would be best- I do have to navigate the scallops after all.

Having finished the most complicated part, I am feeling rather chuffed with myself. This is a blanket of illusions, there are many lines you can follow and shapes you can make within shapes; even the colours play tricks on you when they change from the solid hexagons to the mixed ones.

So there we have it! A completed blanket 'inner' for today's party. I look forwards to seeing what everyone else has been up to over the last four weeks, do click on the link here, or on the button at the side of the page to go to Thistlebear's blog page and see for yourself what creative happenings have happened, you might even want to join in! xx