Blanket Times

I do declare, a win.  I think I have got it.

I pulled yarn Sunday afternoon, and took photos and laid it all out together and tried to source a pattern.

I had a pattern in mind, a new one from River City Yarns, The Lodge (Available in print and by Ravelry download) but to be honest these colours just did not inspire me.  They are lovely and soft and...boring.  Plus, the darkest colour, the grey Regal, is the colour I have the least of.  I needed 5 colours for the Lodge blanket, not three.

It did not make my heart sing.  I looked at other patterns.  I looked at other yarns in my stash.  I opened the door to the yarn closet.  I tossed in other colours with these and zip nada.  No inspiration whatsoever. I even looked in my embroidery books for colour inspiration.

I went to my bookshelf on Ravelry and looked for something there to inspire me.  I might have found it.  OK.  I am quite sure I found it.

It is Nordic Holiday from Berroco Comfort Knitting and Crochet:  Afghans.  I remember when the book came out.  This design pushed all the right buttons then, and it did again.  It's a little bit stranded, a little bit textured and a little bit plain.  But it is squares.  That did stop me for a bit, but you know what?  Sewing isn't a problem anymore.  I can do it, and after reading other knitters projects notes, I think I will sew them together as I go along.  It will be a good thing to do when my hands are done knitting for the day.

I sat thinking about colours for this pattern and knew that the dark grey was not the right thing for it.  I needed big help.  In desperation, I hit Pintrest and in a casual search through my own favourites, came to realize what I needed was paint swatches.  And guess what?  It worked.  I searched for teal and grey and kept changing the last colour till I saw something that just blew me away.

 This is my search.   Blew my socks off.   

And these are my yarns.

That gorgeous rust on top is Rennaissance from Classic Elite.  One of the prettiest things in my stash, but sadly discontinued.  I have 6 skeins and should just be able to squeak out what I need for this pattern.  

And the best part?  See how the rust pops out in the grey heather?  

I still have one more test before this is a done deal.  I have to take the yarns down tomorrow sometime during the day to see if they work in his suite of rooms.  I feel pretty confident that they do. Too matchy matchy isn't good, but fighting colours isn't right either.  I'm not so sure I have the yarns to change to if it isn't.

It's a wonderful feeling to have another solid next up project set.  I know that this wasn't one that I picked out in the fall and it certainly wan't something I was looking for in an active way, but it was always  there.  Because it is squares it ought to be good on the road knitting, at least as good as the tea cozies have been.            

And now I can rest.  Till tomorrow, when I have to put the yarn back in the closet.  Again.