What I'm not knitting
I'm not knitting a baby sweater set in 100% acrylic.
I was going to, you see; Bill's nephew and his girlfriend are having a baby in the fall, and I had to go to Fabricville the other day for thread and I saw the Red Heart and bought a big ball on impulse. Easy care, right? But I just couldn't do it. Especially after talking to Kate about it. She didn't try to talk me out of it, exactly; instead, she kept politely suggesting alternatives: "What about superwash wool? ... Yeah, um, how about Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece?" But what it really comes down to is needle size. Truth is, I don't love knitting with worsted-weight yarn. I find 4.0mm needles to be the upper limit of comfort for me, and since I knit semi-tightly, I usually use 4.5 or 5.0mm needles for worsted. So what I really want to use for the baby set is (washable) sock yarn. Sock yarn's my favourite, and that's that.
What to do with the impulse ball of Red Heart? Why, a new blankie for Mooky, of course. After a few minutes of Ravelry pattern research, and with a few small oddballs of thrifted blue acrylic, I started a shell-stitch afghan: 
I don't love to knit on 5.0mm needles, but I love to wield my 5.00mm hook! This is a diagonal, corner-to-corner blanket (folded in half in the photo). I'm not sure how big I'll make it; it's just to put on the couch as a weapon in the never-ending battle against Mooky's fur. (His ripple-stitch flying carpet lives on the chair in my office.)
14 comments:
Good choices, the blanket looks very squishy and comfy and should work very nicely. I'm curious to see what you do with the sock yarn baby sweater though, cool.
Brilliant idea - I need to make an acrylic blankie for Mischa Cat. I'm sure I'll lose the battle with cat fur no matter what, but I'll bet the little guy would really like a blanket of his own.
Love the pattern and love the colors together. Lovely.
I just fought a long and hard battle with two cats worth of black cat hair in my apartment. Maybe what I need is a black blanket to disguise that hair... I have been promising to learn to crochet. ideas brewing.
That's very pretty. And Mooky's going to look lovely and sleek reclining on such bright colours!
that blanket is wonderful!
Ah, that will highlight Mooky quite handsomely. I'm sure he'll appreciate that.
I'm sure Mooky will be duly appreicative :-)
If you are looking for a cute baby pattern using sock yarn have a look at Devan at Knitty.co - it's perfect for self striping sock yarn.
Awesome idea. The blanket looks really comfy!
The blanket looks wonderful. And knitting baby stuff from sock yarn is a great idea. I just knit the EZ Surprise jacket out of Socks that Rock and it turned out great--as well as being washable.
Our black cat, Lucky, fancies himself on just such a colour. The deep red (think deep red peonies) silk throw pillows are his first choice.
grace
Lucky Mooky!
I really do admire the speed and skill you've displayed with your crochet prowess. Very nice stitch and colour combinations, and, as others have commented, Mooky should look quite grand on this throw.
Someone above suggested that you check out the Devan sweater on Knitty.com - You can also go right to the designer's page for other sock yarn baby sweaters. Holli Yeoh, a Canadian designer, from right here in Vancouver, has created some gorgeous designs for kids. www.beeskneesknits.ca
Good luck!
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