A wool blanket for me

Lately, I've made a lot of stuff for other people, for sale, or for experimentation, so I decided to get a little greedy.

I am the sort that is always cold.  And I have 3 boys in my family that are hot blooded.  They always want the fan on, so in cooler months (AKA every month except July and August), I love afghans.  My mom has made me a few that have had serious usage.  They're great - made with acrylic yarn and washable, but I was longing for a warmer wool blanket.

A while back, I bought wool for a sweater.  At some point after that purchase, I decided sweaters aren't my favorite thing to knit.  So, I looked for a new idea for this yarn.

Let's start with the finished product photos:  (Yes, it took forever to knit!)

 

I think it's fantastic.  I used Anne Hanson's Hourglass Throw pattern, and Valley Yarns Northampton yarn in colorway Twilight Heather.  It's a 100% wool, worsted weight.  I had 5 skeins in my stash, which was a total of 1,200 yards worth.  I started in on the lovely lace and cable design.  As I knit, it was so nice to cover up with the blanket as I worked.  I knew even after only having finished 1/3 of it that it was going to be warm!

As I came to the end of my stash of yarn, I realized that the blanket was too short to cover from my neck to my toes, an absolute necessity in Kristi's book of afghan rules.  So I ordered 2 more skeins of yarn.  As you can see in the second picture, near the far end of the blanket, there was quite a difference in the colors from the two dye lots I ended up with.  I WAS SO FRUSTRATED.  Still am, to tell you the truth.  But.  I can't FEEL the difference, and for an item made for myself, I guess I can live with it.  I just don't understand how a major yarn company can mass produce yarn and have such color variances in their yarn.  I guess you get what you pay for in that department...

Ok - off my soapbox now.

The finished blanket measures 60 x 40" and covers me nicely.  It's soft and pretty.  I love it.  I'm currently trying to figure out where I can put it so it is handy to reach from my recliner but also have it be a place where the boys don't use it for a fort, sled, or other reckless boy activity!