Gorgeous new lounge throw... finished!!!

It takes a while to befriend the yarn...

This lounge room throw took a while to become what it is today. It is beautiful and I knitted it for myself. ... but this yarn was playing 'hard to get'... it took three attempts to make it into a throw. 

Every yarn knits its own story.....

This beautiful English yarn is 82% acrylic, 10% wool and 8% viscose, is very soft in the hand and very elastic, making every stitch pattern spread beautifully. I first attempted to knit a throw in a rib stitch... as shown below...

This stitch looked lovely but there was too much of a stretch horizontally and I felt that the throw would lose its shape if left in this pattern. The next step was to attempt making it into an entrelac pattern throw... one of my favorite patterns... 

It did look beautiful... love the shades and the pattern... it had that royal feel to it...
as per below...

... however, still same feeling was present... there was too much of a stretch in this yarn and it just wasn't going to work. I like the throw to have the softness and elasticity but it is important that the pattern looks protected and well shaped. This yarn wasn't going to deliver that.

So... what to do??? Well, I thought if I combined the yarn with the more sturdy yarn maybe the texture would change; it just needed an additional yarn that would secure the pattern and the existing yarn from stretching too much.

I added a very thin yarn that is 100% wool in a darker shade of grey and that did the trick.

I added a continuous crocheted edging to give it more definition and a finishing touch.

Through hours of experimentation, comes a very cozy and snuggly throw.

Cheers!!!

Stepping stones in knitting a cozy/warm winter throw

I have started my new project - I am knitting a throw for the lounge room. I am using very earthy tones and there are 4 main colours that I am working with. This throw is very interesting to knit because you can use your imagination as you go and combine the colours in any way you like. Here is a little sneak preview of what it might look like:

One of the main challenges is that it is knitted out of individual square pieces that are stitched together  to make a beautiful large blanket, so the main skill in this project is the sewing of  the pieces together. To get that seamless blend between the squares, it is best to use 'Mattress Stitch Seam'. Sewing the seams should be done as neatly as possible to achieve that professional finish; this makes it the most time consuming part of the project as well.

If done properly, the squares joined together need to look neat on either side of the project. It is worth spending some extra time on this because only when you get that smoothness in between the squares will you be truly happy with the result. I like sometimes to stitch two pieces together that run in opposite directions in the way they are knitted (eg. vertical next to horizontal) as per below :

The joint between the squares should look very neat on either side of the finished project:

And of course, one can attach squares of matching directions (horizontal next to horizontal) as per the image bellow:

Until next time, :)