blankie

I've been a slacker on the blogging front, but that's not because I haven't been busy. Sarah's comments gave me a ton to think about. In the meanwhile...Meet blankie:

When you own a lot of handknitted sweaters, what do you do with them when they are worn out? Out of fashion? Or, it never actually suited you? If they're still in good shape, I give them away. Well, in this case, they weren't...so, take 5 of these sweaters, felt the heck out of them, cut them into squares and rectangles, and sew them together. In my particular case, I break 3 or 4 sewing machine needles doing so, until I realize, duh, that a heavyweight needle might be a good idea. It takes most of a work day, but hey, doesn't somebody have to make things to keep the family (OK, the husband?) warm in the winter time? huh? And hey, can't you always knit and email and edit at night? (well, I can, and sometimes I do, 'cause daylight-well, that's for making blankies..!)

In brief summary, here's why these sweaters became blankie:
1) Oatmeal sweater--color looked bad, neckline was worse, and the velvety nubbly bits kept pulling out, making it unsuitable to give away. I knit this at least 5 years ago.
2) Purple and green sweater-knit for brother while we were in college. Perhaps 1994? He never wore it, loaned it to a frat. brother. The sweater mysteriously turned up in my parents' guestroom closet years later. I took it home, and wore it for too long. It's a man's large, it was always too big and hairy for me. Never even came close to fitting the very large husband.
3) Brown sweater--you can see it here under the "seeing things differently" post. I never did get more wear out of it by turning it inside out. What was I thinking? This was one of my first handspun, handknit sweater size creations that I completed from start to finish, somewhere in the mid-90's. I cut off the buttons to use again. Hey! They were good buttons!
4) Light green sweater with stripes at the yoke. My mommy made me this sweater out ofFingerlakes Unspun . I loved it to death, including shredding the backside hem. It went under my backside once too often.
5) Cranberry sweater also knit out of Fingerlakes Unspun by my mommy. She really loved me back then in the knitting department. This one had a cable up the middle. It pilled a lot. Just as a hint--this unspun stuff was so soft, felted well, and did NOT wear like iron. Had both of these mommy-knit sweaters for at least 11 years of use, I think.

Now, there's room in the cedar chest for more sweaters! The nice UPS man brought these lovely rovings to me from Stonehedge Fiber Mill on Thursday. They arrived a week after I sent the fleeces to be carded. No kidding. Wow! What service... The next box is coming soon, I hear.
Pictured below: one white Border Cheviot Fleece, a little over a pound each of blue and cranberry dyed Cotswold wool. This was the Cotswold that I mentioned earlier, that varied from cotton candy to black cherry in color when I dyed it. Doesn't it look luscious now!?