I’ve been working on a few projects recently :)  One you already know about and two are new.  Well, new to the blog, anyway…

The Vortex Blanket you have seen before.  I reached a desirable diameter (that is, I got to a point where I felt that another trip around the circumference would render me a blithering idiot!) and decided to start the border.  You may remember me dithering about a border some time ago?  I did try a couple of things - lacy things but they didn’t work for me.  I could work them just fine but somehow they didn’t look right to me.  Then I tried a crochet edging which was even worse.  So the whole thing lay in my work basket for quite a while as I was annoyed with it - well, with myself actually :)

Then a few nights ago I thought about garter stitch, probably because one of the newer projects is in garter, and decided to give that a try.  As you can se in the above photo, it seems to be working out quite well.  My only issue (and it’s a very, minor quibble) is that I’ll need more yarn to work this all the way around the circumference of the blanket.  A lacier stitch might have been satisfied with the yarn I had on hand, but this wants more - at least that’s my belief.  So I picked up a bit more this week at Michaels where the Patons wool I’m using was on sale for about half price!

And, of course, for that kind of savings, I bought more yarn to dye and a bunch of beautiful eggplant purple that I have no idea what to do with yet.  I just couldn’t resist the color :).

The garter stitch project is this:

It’s a very basic shawl/scarf type of thing, similar to the Meanderthal Shawl.  The darker yarn is the one that was dyed here plus some radiant Spunky Eclectic sport-weight that Rob sent me some time back.  It has been ageing in the stash and when I started thinking about this project and what might be interesting to combine with the dyed stuff, this started jumping up and down and yelling “me-me-me-me-mmmME!!”

The idea is that the colors look like (to me, anyway) either sunrise or sunset - depending, I suppose, on whether you’re facing east or west.  The dark parts have stars (randomly placed beads) and even the occasional constellation (not-so-randomly placed beads).  It will end with a lacy pattern around the bottom, meant to represent the suns rays as it either rises or sets.  I have begun the lace, but you can’t see it because it’s all scrunched up on the cable :)  I’d like to think I’ll have this done soon, but Christmas is coming and I have started my holiday projects - which will take precedence for a while, I’m afraid.

Which leads me to the last project :)

...and…

This is intended to be a throw, or a lap blanket.  Of the color arrangements pictured above, I prefer the one with the variegated border.  Of course you have to do it both ways so you can see which one looks better.  I might do three more of the aran colored border square for the corners of the throw.  I haven’t decided yet - and I won’t have to decide for a little while :)  The squares are 11” on a side, so I’m thinking a 4 x 6 grid would make a reasonably sized throw. 

I’m using Red Heart SuperSaver here both for utility’s sake (washer/dryer) and because I fell in love with the colors.  I have, however, noticed a change in the yarn.  It is spun much more loosely than before and while that gives it an interesting “textured” look, I fear that it’s longevity, for any given item into which it’s made, will be impaired.  It’s also quite splitty.  Sigh…  I guess everyone’s feeling the pinch and more and more things are degrading in quality so the price point can remain stable.  Semi-stable…whatever.  This has been such a good, work-horse yarn, for so long, that I’m really saddened to see the change.