Knit Knit Knit . . .
At Kirkwood Knittery yesterday I came across some Malabrigo Super Bulky (both Gruesa and Aquarella) yarn in a rainbow of colors on clearance and I knew I had to make a log cabin blanket with it. Ever since hearing about my friend Kristin’s plan to make a blanket out of Malabrigo squares I was in love with the idea and after I discovered log cabin knitting from Mason Dixon Knitting I thought that a Malabrigo log cabin blanket would be great fun. Never mind that I went in firmly convinced that I was only there to buy needles for Ruth’s Kauni Cardigan (yes I first saw it on the Yarn Harlot’s blog and shamelessly jumped right on that bandwagon - the yarn is on its way over the ocean as we speak).
Anyway, the Malabrigo was soft, it was beautiful, it was bulky and would knit up quickly, and it was 30% off the original price. I’ve been going through a nasty bit of a self-pity phase and this perked me up right away so I threw all my previous resolve out the window and bought twelve skeins, two each of six different colors. I started it tonight and it is indeed knitting up fast. It is a thick and thin yarn and when knit up in garter stitch it has a lovely texture. I’ll post pictures tomorrow.
In the meantime, I’d already started two new projects for myself so this makes three on the needles. I think after my streak of knitting a birthday gift for my sister, followed by Mother’s Day gifts for my mom and grandma, then Mom’s birthday gift, and finally Dad’s Father’s Day gift, I needed a bit of knitting just for me. So I started some toe up socks using the eastern cast on method that is in the most recent issue of Interweave Knits. The cast on was awkward at first but once I figured out how to hold the needles to get it started I was fine. I have a new strategy to combat my apparent incapability to knit more than one item of the same size: I’m knitting them both at once from either end of the ball of yarn.
As you can see, the yarn is Tofutsies which I got in three different colorways on a previous visit to Kirkwood Knittery. It is a lovely, lighter weight sock yarn and it can go in the washing machine and dryer so it is my new favorite sock yarn. I also started up a lace scarf that I’ll post more about later. In the meantime, Mom agreed to model her new cardigan!
It really is the same length on both sides, the yarn is just so stretchy and I think it must have been sitting on her shoulders just a bit off. (Seriously, this is not a gauge issue denial thing, it was measured many times.) Here is what the back looks like, isn’t the lace lovely when it is stretched out just a bit?
Thanks, Mom, for letting me post pictures!
Thanks Annie’s mom for posing for us
It looks great, just as I thought it would!
Ohh, I’m so excited to cast-on for my Tofutsies socks too, but I already have two on the needles. Not that that would stop me if I had more than two sets of US 1 DPNs
Ahhh Malabrigo. Can’t wait to see the blanket progress
Mine has stalled, but I knew it’d be an off and on long term project.
I’m using size 2 and getting 8 sts to the inch so if you have a spare set of those you could cast on.
I have a feeling my Malabrigo blanket is going to be non stop till it’s finished. It’s just so satisfying to see it get bigger so quickly! Plus doing it log cabin I don’t have squares to seam together. How far are you with yours? You could always do it log cabin!
I know, I read you were doing log cabin with yours and wish I’d been familiar with it when I started mine! I think I have 9-10 squares done of mine, and I plan to do a total of 36. I think if I had chosen to do it as a log cabin blanket, I’d have done garter stitch instead, as it looks so much better in garter stitch.
Another good toe-up cast-on is Judy’s Magic Cast-On:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring06/FEATmagiccaston.html
It’s my very favorite!
Yours will look nice in stockinette Kristin since it is the lighter, more even weight. 36 squares into so bad to seam together!
Thanks for the tip Kara, I’ll try that one next time.