This was truly a mammoth effort- more in terms of number of years spent on than actual work involved. I honestly can't remember when I started this blanket other than I know it was a good couple of years before I moved out of my parent's house (that was 2002 and it's now 2010). I tend to knit as the mood takes me, so more often than not, it takes some sort of inspiration to get me going again.
My initial idea for this blanket came from my new found love of Cath Kidston and her 'vintage style' which was probably sometime in the early naughties. I saw this knitted blanket in her book "Vintage Style", immediately fell in love with it and decided then and there that I would knit my own.
Image shown here taken from Tips for Vintage Style by Cath Kidston
I'm pretty sure I stuck to her pattern :: cast on 30 and knit 60 rows to make a simple square, but I think that my squares turned out smaller than hers, judging from the look of this picture. I also tried to stick fairly closely to her colour choices which happen to blend fairly well with the colours we chose for our living room and bedroom (considering I started knitting before moving out was even a consideration, I reckon that I chose paint colours based subconsciously on my balls of wool)!
The blanket even survived a bad case of moth infestation :: after a particularly languid spell idling on my bedroom floor I discovered that some squares and a ball of wool were home to a large number of hatching moths- yuk!
Overall, I have probably done the bulk of the knitting. I opted to knit the darker colours while mum worked on the paler tones and we both sewed up the blanket. The border, however, was completely crocheted by mum. I cannot even say what stitches she used as I have no knowledge of crocheting whatsoever, but I do like the way it has turned out. It's nice to think that this has been something that mum and I have worked on together. I like the idea that this can be an heirloom I pass onto my children/grandchildren as something lovingly made by us, just as some of the blankets my mum has at home have been passed down from her granny and aunties.
I now need to decide where my lovely blanket will reside. It was originally intended to cover the bed and that is where it currently resides (having already passed the comfort test by twin 1).
However, it also feels like the snuggly, tv watching, dog cuddling type, so may well end up draped over the back of the settee where it's close at hand on these chilly, cold not so springlike evenings! It's pretty handy at the moment as it's keeping me warm while Daisy snuggles up alongside.
edited to add:: talk about a mammoth event, knitting the blanket was nothing compared to writing this post. I've been trying to publish it for about a month now and keep on running into technical issues- aahh!! I think I've finally nailed it!
