The next blanket

I love the colours and the texture of the next blanket, #170, murky with browns, greys, mauves and muted blues.  The only brighter irregular yarn is the shawl yarn from #167 that I felt inclined to add.  There is some angora yarn to add a hazy soft feel.  The texture looks good too and I think it is because all the yarn are of a similar weight, with few thicker or thinner.  I would like all my blankets to end up in these colours - there is a long way to go (ie a lot of brighter yarns to be knitted) before I get there.

I unravelled this lovely cardigan.  It is nicely knitted with front and sleeve cables and shiny gold buttons.  I can't work out what fibre it is.  It is heavy and slinky and nice.  I thought silk or silk blend or perhaps bamboo.  It was very easy to unravel.  In the end I decided the colour was wrong for this blanket, so it will end up in one with more brighter greens.

Sari silk throw C22

I have looked with interest at sari silk yarn, and even found two hanks in charity shops.  So I could not resist buying this wrap when I saw it.  The changes in colour make it obvious that it is knitted from several hanks.  It is knitted in garter stitch with regular rows of dropped stitches.  I thought that the loose ends of yarn were due to inadequate fastening, but when I unravelled it the yarn fell apart by itself, so it was not sufficiently tightly plied.  I liked working with it - it has a very nice feel.  So I unravelled it and washed the yarn.  The washing made it cleaner but had no other effect.

I didn't think that there was enough yarn for a throw even, so I looked round for something else to add.  I had already bought this top, a navy Vera Moda top in a chunky cotton ramie blend.  I bought it because of the interesting construction, six hexagons with ribbed neckline and hemlines.  It didn't fit well, because of the way the sleeve hexagons had been joined there was a lot of bulk around the upper arms.  I approved of the way the hexagons had been joined using knitting, but I had not noticed that they had been knitted flat and that there was a seam. 

Still, the yarn was OK, the right thickness for the sari silk, and I liked the contrast of navy with red.

The pattern was just garter stitch on 7mm needles with regular rows of navy.  I miscalculated the amount of yarn, so I ran out of sari silk before the throw was longer than the width.  I could have used more of the navy yarn if I had realised, to make a bigger throw.  I am happy with it anyway.  It is lovely and slinky, so nice to the touch and the colours are a pleasure.  I decided against adding the two new hanks in case the difference in texture would be noticeable.

Sari silk throw C22
Sari silk and Chunky cotton ramie
size 7mm needles
105 cm by 82 cm, 828 gr
Knitted 13 April to 29 May 2015