Late contender!

As I thought we had our line-up closed, a late contender arrives!

Yesterday I went to Bath, to check out their new LYS, Wool. It took me a bit to find it, because I forgot the paper in which I had written the address. Thankfully, I had looked on the map where it was, so I just wandered around the area until I finally found it. Wool is a nice cozy little shop, although sadly it has too much sheep for me, and not enough sheepless yarn (which I'm aware is a problem with me, not the shop!).

However, they had a yarn that looks like it could be a strong contender for the Periodic Blanket! I bought a ball, and I will try it soon.

Late contender!

Patons Fab! DK (rav)
100& acrylic, dk weight, 274 m/ball
Pros: has all the colours, immense yardage
Cons: only available in Bath, yarn a little thinner than wanted

I also found today a new square pattern that looks really good, so I need to go back and rework with some of the other yarns. I've never put so much effort into the prep of a pattern!

Periodic Yarn

Most of the time, when I make a project, I go down to my LYS, and just pick up some yarn. A couple of times, I have bought "a sweater's worth of yarn" online, and then found a project. But that is not something I can do now. I need to think, and plan, and then my loads of yarn appropriately. Welcome to the Yarn-Offs!

Requisites for the yarn:

- no animal hair.

Ideally acrylic, or an acrylic blend, for durability and ease and care.

- wide range of colours.

With my current colour-scheme, I would need: red, a more different red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue, purple, pink, black (outlines and names) and grey (most likely background colour).

- easily available.

Ideally with some certainty that it's not going to disappear of the market (I haven decided yet whether to buy it all at once or in stages).

- not ridiculously expensive.

While my brother has both his kidneys if I need one in the future, I shouldn't just throw away mine.

I had a perfect yarn picked for it, Rowan All Seasons Cotton. I love this yarn. However, while the 2009 colours will fit my blanket just perfectly, the 2010 colours are very few, and not in the right ranges. I could wait until next year to see if they change them again, but I won't hold my breath for them. I shall play a sad tune, and move on to current yarns.

I scouted the local yarn shops, and brought home 4 candidates for my yarn. In the order I selected them, I bring you my candidates. All the yarns are satisfactory, but have extra pros and cons.

Candidate number 1

Rico Kids Classic Aran
50-50 acrylic poliamide, aran weight, 115 m/ball
Pros: has most of the colours I need, acrylic blend, machine wash & dry, preferred thickness
Cons: doesn't have all the colours

Candidate number 2

Rowan Handknit Cotton (rav)
100 cotton, worsted weight, 85 m/ball
Pros: has all the colours
Cons: I'm a bit weary or using pure cotton for a blanket, not a lot of yardage per ball

Candidate number 3

King Cole Bamboo Cotton (rav)
50-50 bamboo cotton, dk weight, 230 m/ball
Pros: has most of the colours I need, it's a blend
Cons: a bit too splitty and thin, doesn't have all the colours, delicate machine wash

Candidate number 4

Hayfield/Sidar Bonus DK (rav)
100 acrylic, dk weight, 280 m/ball
Pros: has all the colours, immense yardage
Cons: some of the colorus I need are so bright as to be radioactive, a bit thinner than wanted


Over the next couple of weeks/months, I shall be swatching with each of the yarns. Testing the yarn for such a big project is important. This will also allow me to decide which pattern to use for the squares, as well as know how much yarn I will need for each one, helping me determine how much yarn to buy. My initial preferences are towards Rico and Hayfield, but I won't really know until I work with and wash all the yarns.

Will keep you posted with some swatches soon!

My crazy, let me show you it

It is no secret that I am somewhat mad. However, there is normal crazy, and then there is, well, doing-aeronautics crazy. I think my next project falls into the last category but, much like doing Aero, I'm elated and excited and crazy and I don't care.

You see, I've been wanting to make a blanket for me. A geeky blanket, ideally somewhat modular, so I can travel with it. I initially thought of a Settlers of Catan blanket, and then Alex had the best idea ever.

A Periodic Table blanket!

I've already sketched the colours, scouted for a square pattern, and bought a couple of different yarns to test which one I want to use for the whole thing. I'll be updating the progress, because this is going to be too awesome not to share! It's going to be the best blanket.