Sunday, September 14, 2008

Redecorating

I have been doing an unprecedented amount of non-garment knitting in recent months for some reason. Perhaps this is due to my squirrel-like tendency in autumn to hoard, to nest, to make my home ready for winter. I often go through phases of introspection and home-based activity in autumn, so turning my attention to knitting for my home seems to me to be a logical extension of this state of mind.


The chair cover I began in last week's post has progressed very well and quite quickly - the top of the chair seat is done, and is pinned over the actual chair for the purposes of the photo. I also tried the piece on the chair back for size and was pleasantly surprised to find that, with minor changes to the shaping of the top edge, that I could basically knit the exact same thing to make the chair back. I always find it to be an agreeable thing to not have to recreate the wheel and no less so with this project. There are still many decisions to be made as to how the chair cover as a whole will actually be constructed, but it will evolve as I finish each knitted piece - one finished part will inform the next, and so on. I usually find three-dimensional objects to grow in this fashion; I've never really been able to plan them out in my mind or on paper in their entirety ahead of time. I need to see what I have done and then respond to that before I can plan my next steps.

My other homey project is at long last done. The Moderne Log Cabin Blanket concluded yesterday after a long stint as the perfect couch potato knitting project. During the recent spell of 90+ degree weather it was less enjoyable, but now that the evenings have cooled down it's been great to be able to sit under it while I slogged along on the final stretch. Just about at the point where I thought it would never end, it suddenly did - and all that was left was a simple attached I-cord border, which took only a couple of evenings to complete .

The yarn (Silky Wool by Elsbeth Lavold) is wonderful for a blanket - light, softly warm, not itchy at all, and the colours are gorgeous. I think I could knit very happily with this yarn for years without tiring of it. I acquired the yarn for m y blanket a bit at a time, and ultimately ended up using less than the original pattern from Mason-Dixon Knitting called for,resulting in a slightly smaller blanket - 42" x 54" instead of 50" x 60", but it's plenty big enough to nap under.

The blanket feels so good to sit under that TW couldn't resist hamming it up a bit for me as my willing model. There he is in all his glory, watching the Raiders (who won, I am happy to say), recliner fully reclined, remote in hand. Doesn't he look happy? (and no, he doesn't really wear the hat while watching TV).

2 comments:

VickeryKnits said...

I love love love the chair cover, esp. that unexpected bright center--perfect! The blanket looks amazing too as does your couch potato!

MmmYarn said...

TW looks pretty darn happy curled up under that blanket. It turned out great! -- Kirsten