Colour and Pattern Games

I spent the day playing around trying to figure out how to make Carter's blanket.  

When I did the other blankets, I knew exactly where I was going with it from the moment I saw the yarn I meant to use.  

I have been undecided about Carter's blanket from the get go.  Part of it was colour issues and part of it was that having seen all of the other blankets he had some opinions on colour.  He wanted bright colours and yet he wanted the Bernat Velvet we had seen in the stores.  Velvet has quite a sophisticated colour palette, much more muted and richer than the Blanket Brights line.  I have both yarns so Carter will get to pick. I know that the Velvet yarn is going to be another Feather and Fan pattern or a variation of it, but the other has mystified me.  I could never get farther in my planning than log cabin.  The Moderne Log Cabin would have  been great, but I made Carter's dad one years and years ago.  For days I looked at blanket designs on Ravelry.  I looked at things in my library of knit books.  But nothing felt quite right.  I even settled on a pattern but when I started knitting, my hands knew it was not right.  

And then I discovered the Bento Box Quilt by Staci Perry.  I know I had seen it before, but yesterday, it felt like I had found the exact perfect thing for the strong clear colours I had.  And more importantly, the colours I had less of would work.  I hope.

I watched the videos on Staci's Very Pink channel, the place to go for sound knitting advice and how to's and she advised you google Bento Box Quilt and spend some time looking at images for colour combinations.  This was great advice for the colour undecided as well as being a delightful rabbit hole of sheer joy.  

I pulled out my box of markers and set down to work to play.  I made two scenarios.  

This one used more of the blue and less of the multi.  I have lots of both colours though I have tons of the multi so I set up another pattern sample.

I love it.  This second bit of goofing around is the one I am going with.  I will border the blanket with the blue and maybe a few other colours that I only have a little of.  The other way, I would have to border with the multi and I have a feeling that it just wouldn't be as nice.  A solid colour will frame it more cleanly and set your eyes to the inside flash.

I started knitting to see how it would look and I feel pretty good about it.  I may change needle size just to make the knitting easier on my hands and to give the fabric a softer drape.  But colours?  I think I have it.

One of the nicest parts is that it is squares that will need to be assembled later but there will not be any real amount of weight on my hands.  Yes, I will take the pain of sewing together over the weight of a blanket on my wrists.

As I learned with all the blankets for Carter's brothers, I can only do a little bit a day.  Too many rows means sore hands and I really don't want to go through that again.  It will give me a chance to work on the pretty Midknit Cravings Pesto sweater.  Maybe, just maybe, I will get that done before October comes.

PS, it should be noted that there seems to be very little of the brilliant Blanket Brights line available.  I looked all over including the factory source, Yarnspirations, but it seems to be out of stock or very low stock everywhere.  It may just be a seasonal variation.  Blanket is readily available, with its subtle more sophisticated tones as well as the soft Baby Blanket tones.