Luxurious Mitred Blanket

I have incredible delusions about my knitting. When I started this blanket, from Jo Sharp Knit 9, I seriously thought that I would be finished in a month or so. What could be nicer than sitting in front of the television with a very simple knit from luxurious yarn? Hardly anything of course, but I failed to consider several important points.



1. I don't watch much television
2. I have a lot of works-in-progress, all sitting next to the couch and keen to be worked on.
3. A 5 square blanket is not very big, and lends itself to expansion.
4. Sewing up is not my favourite thing.



I've ended up with a 8 square x 6 square blanket. Clearly it is no longer according to the pattern. I do wonder if this is what always happens to mitred blankets, as there are a plethora of patterns for them on Ravelry - everyone must make their own version!



It is beautifully soft and snuggly. I feel quite decadent wrapped up in a mix of wool, cashmere,mohair, silk and alpaca, and would never have thought of making such a luxurious blanket without Jo Sharp's pattern. She uses alternating strands of Alpaca Kid Lustre, Silk road Aran Tweed and Classic Double Knitting Wool in her version, with the same colourways throughout, but my version slips in a bit of DK silk road tweed, and uses a few more colours for some subtle variation between the blocks.



I am sorry to admit that it took me nearly 2 years of patchy work to finish this project, but the good news is that I have already started another one - in cottons!

Alpaca Kid Lustre Scarf

I wanted a simple project that I could knit whilst a passenger in the car, and vaguely remembered seeing a ripply scarf that looked like a wide vertical rib pattern.

I started with 30 stitches cable cast on, using 4mm needles for this 8ply yarn, then alternated strips of stocking stitch and reverse stocking stitch (5 rows each) for a corrugated effect. Essentially you knit a row, purl a row, then for every 6th row, repeat the previous row.
This scarf took 3 and 1/2 x 50g balls of Alpaca Kid Lustre in Province, 853.

Twisted Drop Stitch Vest, Knit 7

This short sleeved cardigan from Jo Sharp Knit 7 is one of the quickest garments I have ever knit, not excepting baby clothes.

It is knit with 2 strands of yarn, one 8ply Alpaca Kid Lustre and one 8ply Soho Summer Cotton, on 10mm needles. I have made the smallest size, for my daughter who wears an Australian size 8-10, and it is quite loose on her. I am thinking of making another one and trying to size down the pattern.

I used shade Province 853 in the Kid Lustre, and Fog 250 in the cotton. I used one ball less of both yarns than called for in the pattern. A few customers have knit this cardigan, and they also used at least one ball less of each yarn for the short sleeved "vest" version, but found they needed all the balls recommended for the long sleeved version.