01/10/09: Good Heavens, this thing eats up yarn like mad. I weighed it after taking the initial set of photos, and it was a tad under 600 grams, so thus far, 12 skeins of Kureyon, so thus far, approximately 1320 yards of yarn. As of right now, this afghan is about 40”x45”, and I rather like it. It’s still a bit too small for my liking, but I still have a bit of Kureyon from my paintbox log cabin blanket stashed away.

My mother rather likes this afghan too. It’s very pretty and colorful, and has sort of a kitchesy feel to it. I’ve actually started and restarted this afghan several times, and have no qualms about ripping out if I don’t like how the color is progressing. I had actually knit about 6 balls of Kureyon before deciding that I wanted a brighter center. So, I ripped it out, and then restarted the blanket with 102, 175, and 154, which are all very bright colors. I eventually connected the “new” afghan to the frogged portion, so what you see is what I’m probably going to keep it as.

I have done my damndest to make sure that the colors “flow”. Aka, I haven’t finished a ball that ended on yellow only to start a ball that begins with pink. I wanted to make it look like it was just one continuous colorway, sort of. It’s more obvious in some places than others that there are color differences, but for the most part, each color blends.


02/01/09: The project is on a short hiatus. I think I last worked on this Friday, January 9th, because I casted on for a Lion and Lamb (♥!) clapotis on the 10th. I ordered a new bag of Kureyon from Little Knits in #92, so I don’t want to knit more until I get it in, because I’m probably going to rip this back a bit.

02/06/09:
Some notes I wrote up about the process:

I own a ball winder, so I wound each and every ball I was planning to use, so I could check for knots and see how the color progressed. Noro does use a lot of the same colors in different colorways, so I took the stash that I had and using an Ott-light, examined every ball of yarn to see where the colors could blend. I then knit up six balls worth, and then ripped all out because I didn’t like how dark the center was. I then went to a LYS and carefully poured through their Noro stash to see if I could find a ball that ended with the same color that I started my spiral with, so I could start a new center and then connect it.

If two same color spiral lengths would be side-by-side, I cut out the color and then set the extra yarn aside to be spliced later down the spiral. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve ripped back to get a color progression that I’m happy with, but overall, I’m pleased thus far. I’ve bought more Noro from Little Knits, so I imagine I’m going to be ripping back some more soon…

All of the colorways that I’ve used thus far have no black, as I’ve tried to stay away from black heavy colorways because I think black can look a bit flat and distracting in a project like this. I like the light-dark contrast of the spiral lines, but I think that I can get a good contrast with dark blues and greens.

If I were to use a new colorway that had black yarn, I’d probably cut that portion out. Thus far, I’ve only cut out the portions that are either bordering on fingering weight or chunky weight, since I’ve found that I need to maintain a fairly regular garter gauge to have the rectangular shape of the project. I think I’ll be able to block it into more of a rectangle when it’s done, which I am glad about. As much as I love Kureyon, I don’t think I’d ever do a gauge-critical project with it.

If you're planning on making one, you should be aware that if you want a very rectangular (or square) piece, that the center and the first few short-row spirals should be as close as perfect to possible. If they’re not, the blanket won’t be a rectangle. I bring this picture to your attention. See how the spirals spiral at right angles, and the garter rows are fairly consistent? Yeah, that’s actually incredibly important if you want to end up with a rectangle.

Doubtful? Ask me how I know…

But seriously, I know this sounds very obvious, but it’s sort of hard to get a consistent gauge with Noro. If you’ve worked with Kureyon, you probably know that it’s a very thick-and-thin spun yarn, and within a few meters, can go from a bulky-weight to fingering weight. If that happens, especially in the initial rows or the first few “curves” of the blanket, you may want to just splice those out. An inconsistent gauge will result in irregular sides down the spiral road. I know my explanation is poor, and you may be able to block it out, but, yeah.



02/13/09:

Uh, wow. I am really astonished to see how many hearts I’ve gotten on this blanket in just over a month. I didn’t imagine how popular this blanket would be. To everyone who has hearted this blanket or left me a comment, much ♥ to you! I do greatly appreciate them, and they really make my day. Thank you all so much!