Work in Progress and Wool-Eater Wednesday

Last weekend I found myself cutting through a WalMart in Mississauga to make my way from the parking garage to the mall when I found it - the royal blue Red Heart SuperSaver yarn that I needed to continue with my Wool-Eater blanket. Hurray! I've finished that round and added the dark blue colour as well. From start to finish the last round, which is the 17th colour comprised of 68 stitch clusters including the corners, took 126 grams or 265 yards of yarn. Wow! That's some wool-eating! To this point the blanket now measures 48" x 48". I have enough yarn ... I think, maybe, fingers crossed, just enough, barely... to complete one more round in purple but then that's it, it's done. Or is it?

I've been thinking about adding pompoms to the tip of each diamond shaped cluster of stitches. It could be a nice finishing touch, I'm thinking. But what kind of pompoms?

• One colour (dark red) all around?
• Different single coloured pompoms all around?
• Multicoloured pompoms all around?
• Or is the whole idea of pompoms over the top?

What do you think? Please leave a comment to let me know which way you think I should go with this.

All those bright colours of the blanket are in stark contrast to these grey Spey Valley socks. There's been good progress with them as well, with just a couple more hours of knitting to finish the foot and toe of the second sock. Switching to larger needles was just the ticket! Just as well, since I was quickly running out of ideas as to how to make this pattern work with that yarn for those feet.

This post is part of Tami's Amis link party for Work-in-Progress Wednesday. Check out the list of participating crafters for more inspiration!

Work in Progress and Wool-Eater Wednesday

My Spey Valley socks are treading water. I've ripped out and reknit on larger needles to make the sock a bit larger but I'm not sure I'm happy with the resulting looseness of the knitted fabric. If Gavin gets home early enough tonight I'll try it on his foot and then decide. At the moment I'm leaning towards ripping out again and trying something else.

My Wool-Eater blanket is also treading water. I've run out of royal blue without completing its scallop round and this colour is out of stock at my local Wal-Mart. It's Red Heart Super Saver with no dyelot so I'm going to try other Wal-Marts this weekend. Although this is meant to be a stash-busting blanket, I think it's worth the four buck investment. After all, once the royal blue is completed I have enough yarn to crochet the next three colours for a net win on the stash-busting score card.

So at the moment the only thing making any progress is this Miss Doolittle scarf that I started last night. The yarn is Malabrigo sock in a colourway called Aguas. There's no nylon in this yarn so I was hesitant to use it for socks. A scarf seemed like a better idea. I purchased this pattern last year but the yarn I had in mind then proved unsuitable; I'm glad to have found the right match for it now.

Over at Tami's Amis there's a link party where a ton of bloggers are just waiting to show off their progress. Why not have a look? Also have a look at the Keep Calm Craft On link-up for more!

Work in Progress and Wool-Eater Wednesday

Aside from starting and finishing some vanilla socks from scrap yarn my crafting time this past week has been devoted to my Wool-Eater blanket. Spread out flat, the blanket is now a 36x36 inch square. I'm way ahead of the CAL schedule - I'm now working my 14th colour whereas the schedule suggests I should have just finished my 10th colour. But I can't help myself; I can't put it down. As soon as I start one colour I want to finish it and get to the next. And not just out of curiosity to see when I run short of wool!

But my obsession might explain why the cat's all over this blanket too. When it's spread across my lap she comes to sit on it. When I spread the blanket out on the floor she plants herself in the middle of it. If I drape it across the ottoman she jumps up onto it. Maybe she's not that much of a fan of the blanket? Could it be that she's trying to divert my attention away from it and back to her?

My plan is to finish this blanket by the end of the month. Based on the wool I have left I'm figuring on four or five more colours after the light green is done for a blanket that's approximately 48x48 inches square. What a fabulous pattern this is - top marks!

I'm heading over to Tami's Amis to see all the cute and clever projects in progress. Come have a look! After all in just over a week, I'll be done mine; there might be something there to suggest what I should start next. You can also have a look at the bloggers participating in the Keep Calm Craft On link-up for more!

Work in Progress and Wool-Eater Wednesday

On Sunday Chris posed a question on my blog about my Wool-Eater blanket:

What does the other side look like? I can't get past the color showing on the foundation row of each new color. It's me, just something that drives me batty in knitting when changing colors on ribbing. I always do the first row in knit so I don't have those color blips on my purls showing.

First things first: here are two pictures, one of the front and one of the back. On the back side the colours form a field of not very interesting mounds. On the front there are ridges outlining the diamond shapes of each row; this looks a bit like a Cathedral Window Quilt to me. I really like the three dimensional quality of this pattern. Before starting the blanket I too was concerned about those colour blips, but now I'm embracing them. I've come to think of them as representing the stitch lines in my multi-coloured crocheted quilt.

I'm way ahead on the CAL. According to Sarah London's proposed schedule I should now have finished colour eight, but instead I'm working on colour eleven. I just can't seem to put it down. The blanket measures thirty inches squares now. But now the trouble starts. I've come to the end of the bright red yarn about 20 yards short. My plan this evening is to rip this colour out entirely to see if I can't re-crochet it a bit tighter and squeak through. After all this is meant to be a stash-busting blanket - wouldn't that notion be entirely defeated if I run out to buy more?

Don't forget to check out the links at Tami's Amis! There's sure to be plenty of interesting projects to check out ... and maybe the inspiration for your next project?

WIP Wednesday, Wool-Eater Wednesday

Today's the first day of the Wool-Eater Blanket CAL, and I'm ready! I've dug through my stash and pulled out every ball of brightly coloured acrylic for this blanket. At Mary Maxim last weekend my sister bought a few more colours to fill out my rainbow. Between now and next Wednesday I've committed to crocheting six rounds, and since the blanket is worked centre out, that doesn't sound too onerous. Fingers crossed that this turns out to be a good stash-busting project. My plan is to keep adding to the blanket until the yarn is gone. Certainly the pattern name "Wool-Eater" sounds promising from a stash-busting perspective, doesn't it?

In the meantime I've been working away at my first Whitby sock. During my train trip to work I turned the heel and started the eye-of-partridge heel flap. Through the afternoon and evening I worked away at the leg. Looks like there are just a couple of inches to knit before getting started on sock number two! This is my first time knitting Wollmeise and it's wonderful to knit; it's the least splitty yarn I've ever found. And gorgeous stitch definition. Wollmeise is also known for extremely generous yardage - seems like I'm going to need every yard of it, thanks to my huge feet.

That's my WIP Wednesday update! Click on the links at Tami's Amis to see more updates. I'm always amazed by the variety and creativity found through those links!