Saturday, January 29, 2011

Happy with my Hap Blanket

I have been slowly knitting my way through Ysolda Teague's wonderful Whimsical Little Knits (and Whimsical Little Knits 2). I bought the yarn for the Hap Blanket at this year's New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival, the grey from a local farm and the red from one of my favorite yarn companies.



With its garter stitch center and easily memorized edging pattern, this was a great project to leave in my knitting basket for months on end.



Hap Blanket by Ysolda Teague (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Riverslea Farm rustic spun yarn (grey), 2 skeins, and Green Mountain Spinnery New Mexico Organic in Red, 1 skein
Needles: US Size 10 circular needle



If you look at the original Hap Blanket and then mine, you may notice that there aren't as many purl rows in my edging. Ysolda had posted errata to the pattern (found here) but I didn't think to check it beforehand. Also, I used a size 10 needle instead of the recommended 11. I started with the 11 but it was looking too loose. I wanted to use 10.5 needles but I couldn't find one long enough in my stash, so I just went with the 10s. This made it slightly smaller than the pattern specified.


At first these little changes bothered me. I put off blocking the blanket for awhile, not sure if I should frog it and redo the whole thing or just let it be. I think it's important to know what kind of knitter you are, and whether you can put up with mistakes (or "design elements," as some people prefer to call them) or whether it will drive you nuts. I often fall into the latter category.



This time I decided that this is what knitting, and making things in general, is about. Even when I fall in love with a picture, I have to make things in my own way, with the materials available to me or the ones I would like to use. So when I do make something, and it doesn't look exactly like the picture, that's just because I've made it my own.

I'm very happy to now have a warm woollen lap Hap blanket for these cold winter evenings. I hope you are also staying warm and busy with knitting these cold days and nights!

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