The Stash-Burning Project of 2010

Last winter, craving something chunky and warm to knit, I engaged in an epic stash-burning project.  One of my favorite wools for thick and quick knit scarves is Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride.  I don't love this wool only for the quickness with which it knits up, but also due to the vast array of colors available.

As you get to know me, you'll learn that color is something I crave.  Rich, vibrant colors, like those offered in the Lamb's Pride wool is exactly the kind of thing that excites me about new projects and over the years I managed to accumulate quite a number of not-quite skeins of this wool.  I kept buying it for scarves, hats, and other projects and the leftover yarn sat in my closet waiting for the right project. Last winter that project came.  After all my Christmas sweaters were complete I was looking for something with a shorter sense of gratification and started this granny-squares blanket project. 

 The design started somewhat organically.  I knew that I wanted to do a twist on the traditional pattern and so I adjusted the squares so that they became diamonds.  I knitted for a few weeks before the overall design started to emerge.  I used 10 1/2 size needles with Lambs Pride, I cast on 20 stitches to knit roughly 6”x6” squares, some solid and some patterned.

 

Above - the sketches I used for the patterned squares.

The design grew out of a process of trial and error.  As I amassed a significant number of squares, I would occasionally lay them out to see what was possible.  As I did, the above design started to emerge.  When I had more of a sense of what my goal was, it became easier to decide how many more patterned or green solid squares I needed.  I did buy a couple more skeins in order to keep the color story unified, but the majority of this project was leftover yarn.