Blanket Swatching

I noticed that Drops have Cloud on sale in Finland, so I got inspired to get started on that blanket project we've been talking about. I found a promising looking pattern on Drops, called Dreams of Snow, and swatched with the one skein of Cloud I happen to have. Loved the result, and so did hubbie, but it turns out that Cloud is no longer available. They are probably encouraging the retailers to get rid of their last few skeins in this sale.

So it's back to the drawing board on the blanket. But I did like the pattern, so I decided to do another swatch with some leftovers from a skein of Andes I happen to have. Andes is a 100% alpaca yarn, which I used for a cardigan I just love. And turns out I like the Andes version better. The stitch definition is nicer and it has a bit more weight to it, which I like in a blanket.

The white swatch is Cloud, 55 stitches on 8 mm needles, first stitch slipped each row, middle three stitches combined (slip two together as if to knit, k1, pass slipped stitches over.) The blue swatch is Andes, the same specs as the white, only starting with 29 stitches.

Andes is not on sale in Finland, though. But I notice that it is on sale in Sweden, so I might just go ahead and order some from there. I’m thinking I’ll use two blue colours: jeans blue (6295) and ice blue (8112).

The pattern basically suggests you knit a number of squares and sew them together. The video tutorial shows a method of knitting the squares together, though, which I think I like better. I will probably want to swatch both methods to see what the end result looks like. In these swatches I slipped the first stitch purl-wise on each row, which makes a neater edge for picking up stitches. This was not in the pattern, but in the instruction video.

Coincidentally, I came across a YouTube video where a similar pattern was discussed (around minute 55). It was the Coziest Memory scrap yarn blanket by Kemper Wray. The main difference is that she decreases the middle over four stitches (instead of three in the Drops pattern) by doing a k2tog and an ssk on the four middle stitches.

So now I'm closer to a decision on the blanket project for this fall. In my mind I can see myself sitting in front of the fireplace with a cozy blanket project in my lap and a pot of steaming tea beside me. But I'm in no rush. I can't even get the yarn yet. A friend recommended Deisy Design for shopping Drops yarn online in Sweden with delivery to Finland, but they haven't updated their prices for the Drops sale yet. So I'll let this project stew a bit, maybe do some more swatching and wait for the price of Andes to drop.