Support thread 3 - further blanketeering

[tribpot]

Oh no! The previous thread has become full and suddenly we need a new one, with no way of linking old to new. I hope people will find this one. :)

This is a continuation of our thread supporting MNers creating blanket squares for Woolly Hugs. All are welcome.

Ophelia, you're on - I've put you above the line where 'here be dragons' as otherwise it's only DAISY and me representing the North of England, with Formerly technically on the right latitude but in another country If you live just south of the line, I'm moving the line down!

I'm surprised to hear Chester is short on wool shops, I would have thought it'd have a few naice places.

I'm off today to my 'knitting with colour' workshop so I am insanely excited to learn how I've been doing it wrong all this time.

I'm doing a lapghan with wool sent by Pistey for an auction for SANDS in rainbow colours - 7 balls. Might be more manageable?

It probably would be pidj but there's a sentimental reason for me wanting to do that particular afghan pattern (it was the last large project that my mum did, which was a feat of concentration for her as it was after her "recovery" from her head injury but before the subsequent accident-induced deterioration set in ).

MIL has just rung and asked again about wool. She's happy to contribute and has even suggested that she could contribute more by combining with a Christmas present would certainly be better than the velour "day suit" she got me one year

....off to do a wee bit more research on possible cheaper alternatives.

Now bird. I think we need to see this velour day suit.

I think I'd stick with your original plan, it sounds like MIL would be willing to help out with costs, and I think slight variations in shade would be manageable in the panel design as well.

It got given away to a charity shop/the school fair/a tombola have expunged from it from my memory

Now I need to go into John Lewis to see the colours in person - it's an awful lot of wool to buy and then decide you're not sure about the colour. :)

What's the pattern? Could we reduce the size somewhat, and therefore the cost, but still keep the integrity?

I'm already reducing the size by c. a 6th (according to trib) by using Aran on 5mm needles rather than chunky on 6mm.

But I think I have a plan: if I get 10 balls now, that will get me started and then I can get a few more (once I've worked out hoy much a panel takes) in the months to come so I can hide them in the credit card bills don't worry - I always pay the credit cards off in full every month

How about cheap deals on ebay? Facebook special discounts?

Also, look at the yardage not the weight - you'll get more aran to your 50g than chunky, because aran weighs less...

Good point. I've just been looking at the pattern again and I do need to do a couple of panels to work out how much I'll need. While it'll be narrower 'cos of the "finer" wool, it'll still be (or can be) the right length, as you repeat the pattern until it's 168cm long. The moss stitch border is 14stitches/5cm wide.

I was thinking of trying the patterns out for the current blanket using the requisite dk: the cabled panel is a 38 stitch cast on, with a 28 row pattern (must remember to look out my row counter) but with the cabling that should bring it in to 6"; the trellis panel is 22st, so I could add some stuff either side; and the lace cable panel is a 42 st cast-on (only an 8 row repeat) so I'd need to work a bit of it to see if the cabling pulled it in enough (I could probably reduce it by 2 stitches at a minimum or reduce the number of repeats).

Sounds good, bird - do you want to post a link to the pattern, or is it an old school one like that velour day suit on paper?

New support thread for new blanket here.

Not only is it old-fashioned paper like the velour lounge/track suit , it has been copied multiple times since 1995 which was when the pattern was printed in the South African magazine (My Fair Lady? - don't have it with me) and is now very faint.

I have taken some pictures of the one mum knitted and uploaded to my Flickr account - can't do a link until I get home but one of my earlier links will get to the account.

bird's afghan (I figure we might as well finish this discussion off here as confuse the new thread with it).

I think for the lace panel your best bet would be to chop out one of the vertical repeat, so two cables with 3 lace bits rather than 3 cables, 4 lace?

When you do it as an afghan, I wouldn't try and reduce the width because it clearly wants to have its panels done vertically. I think I'd save up for the pukka cashmerino.

I agree about the lace cable "square" tribpot (and thanks for linking for me ) - that's what I'd worked out once I'd had a chance to look at it closely (as opposed to deciphering the written pattern). It'll also be a nice way to practice the patterns before I embark on the full project!

Not sure I want to do the tassels, so that'll save a wee bit of wool . Will definitely save up and do it in the nice wool. doing the squares with Cashmerino and Cashsoft has spoilt me

Dad had also cleared out mum's embroidery projects that she'd not got round to doing, so I now have a number of tapestries to think about doing some time (which could be framed or made into cushion covers) as well as a lovely Eva Rosenstaad/Clara Waever cross stitch embroidery kit - which, as it happened, I was wanting to get back in to doing. The design is of a circular flower garland though, which would make a nice centre piece to a circular table, if we had one

Awww, I have Bodkins! And a poetic epic! Thank you, i have smiled for the first time in several days

Btw, I thought i would update this thread with the news that apparently the f**k-up with the paperwork that I mentioned in my post above on 30 June has been deemed to mine and that somehow "we could all have done better". I believe tomorrow that I have been invited to a meeting not to receive the apology I was expecting but perhaps to offer one myself.

So I think my career as a professional knitting support worker starts here, because I really am going to resign if this is the case.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Debbie-Bliss-Cashmerino-DK-23-/250610210873#ht_712wt_1163

tribpot do you think this wool is pink enough, or too peachy, for Expat's blanket please? I have some actual pink Sublime Extrafine Merino but I need that for something else really,

Trib that sucks! We'll have to go into business, you do knitting and i'll do crochet!

Minnie, some dyelots of that one are quite orange...

That's pants Trib I do hate it when one gets blamed for other people's mistakes. You sound so unprofessional standing there going "but it wasn't meeeeeee" like an 8 year old.

Pidj, won't I have to put you on maternity leave almost immediately? Bloody women and their pregnancies, I don't know

Moaning - it doesn't look like that lot is available for shipping to the UK anyway, or did you just mean the shade in general? I can't actually find it for sale on any of my usual UK websites.

Dances - this is a shoddy attempt at 'no blame culture' by this person's manager. Apparently if we all take a share in the blame then it's better all round.

Better for him, as it means he doesn't have to discipline a member of his team. Not better for me, as it means I'm meant to swallow it for the sake of 'harmony'. Bollocks to harmony is what I say. Not least as I report to the manager's boss' boss.

I have it already in my stash, just a single ball. It was just to show you the colour

Not til November, Trib :)

Fuck no blame. Someone screwed up and should take responsibility!

Ah okay Minnie - I like to look at the shade on a couple of different websites to get a feel for where the colour really is on the spectrum, if you know what I mean. I have a feeling peachy might be decidedly UNpeachy because it's hard to blend with the other colours, I'd check with Pistey. I have suggested for the two 'old-timer' yarns (Rowan, Debbie Bliss) we might as well just say which shades are the right ones as there are few definite no-nos, like the one I got not realising it was called banana - DOH.

Pidj - no-one takes responsibility for anything. It's endemic.

Oh bugger. I am waiting on a second opinion

I won't cast on until I get a definite yes or no. Have got plan B if needed.