Here is the most recent picture of baby blanket I am knitting. It is actually kinda an old picture but I do confess to getting to the point I knew it wasn’t going to be done for baby shower and letting it languish. Silly of me since the baby is due Any Minute Now and the blankie is not done!
Okay so the reason I wanted to take a picture right here… on third point of edging… was because that is where I ran out of yarn. The story of this blanket is going to be one of the kindness of knitters. Seriously. You see when I discovered I was going to be a grandmother I decided I wanted to knit various little sweaters, a romper maybe, and a blankie. You know knitting overload. The yarn that popped into my head was some sort of super wash sock yarn in a semi solid color and I went strait off to peek at Fearless Fibers stuff. I had fairly recently knit a shawl in her lightweight superwash merino sock yarn and loved it. Yardage was great and I am fond of her color ways. I have a handful of that base on hand but none in a baby friendly, mom approved, color. I was kinda upset to discover that the yarn was no longer available and hadn’t been for about a year. Grrrr to no buy and avoiding all yarn shop fan groups. I noticed a really pretty blue while looking at stashes for sale and contacted the lister, who had not been active on Ravelry, for a good year or so. I then went to the Fearless Fibers Fans group and put out a general call for blue or traditional boy baby colors in the yarn line I wanted with a specific request for the coveted color. Almost immediately I heard from a fellow knitter who had the yarn color I wanted but not in the base I wanted. She was happy to send me it to introduce me to the newer tight twist yarn base and btw she happened to have a hank and a half of the lightweight merino I wanted in another blue~ the one you see above: Sloth. I quickly responded with an I’m interested and please let me know how much. Now here is where kindness comes in: free. Super duper not even shipping free. I was totally blown away.
Once I got the yarn all I could think of was a baby blanket. I had knit Stonington Shawl many years ago and remembered it being quick and easy. Furthermore it didn’t take me nearly as much yarn as the pattern stated. I strongly suspected I didn’t have enough but still I decided to risk it. I don’t know why I thought to do so. I recalled, hazily, that it took me @900 yds and I had 775 yds on hand. Still the lure of this pattern in this yarn was too strong and I cast on. While knitting the diamond I worried and worried and worried so started contacting Ravelers who had the lightweight merino yarn in Sloth for sale as well as those who had finished projects using the yarn. I wasn’t worried about dye lots at all. Stonington is multidirectional as well as knit in chunks so I was fairly confident that any variance in dye lots would be covered by the shawl construction.
When the for sales and completed projects people were tapped out I contacted Deb, the dyer behind Fearless Fibers, asking for her suggestions. I was secretly hoping she might tell me the base so I could buy it in an undyed state and have a blue and white baby blanket but I got even luckier. She just happened to have some of that yarn available and she sent it to me, once again, for free. Meanwhile one lady who had listed the yarn for sale and been unable to find it put in extra effort to find it. Apparently she upended her yarn room until she found the hank. Yes, I ended up buying a hank of yarn.
OH! So generosity is the theme of today. Sheila has been knitting a fair isle of her own design for a couple of years now. I have admired it along the way and believe I mentioned as much to her last spring. Many years ago I counted Sheila as one of my online friends. I met her once at Maryland Sheep and Wool oh 2004 or so and enjoyed her company. We belonged to several online groups together and several blogs ago, of hers that is, I used to comment quite often. Over the years we lost touch, as one is apt to do. Sheila linked to the fair isle I had been admiring at just the right time. Just The Right Time is important for my online self because I avoid online activities in general. On all the websites I belong I generally peek in once every few weeks and don’t go far back on my feed or updates etc. I don’t go into half of ‘my groups’ or read past threads or any of that stuff. Usually I go to look up some information and then poof out before I am tempted by stuff I cannot afford and things I do not have time, or skill, to do and other such things that might tempt me into dissatisfaction with my life. I love my husband and children and it is stupid to let momentary envy sour my general appreciation for the blessings I do have. Anyway Sheila was linking to her finally finished sweater and asking for test knitters along with an offer to provide the yarn for the first sample knitter who contacted her. I spent a good 10ish years knitting sample garments for yarn companies so, despite fair isle not being my forte, I felt up to the task and jotted a note to her stating I would be willing to knit the garment for her but I was of the largest size. Sheila felt that having a larger woman knit her sweater would be a good thing since the knitter that she did have lined up was more her size. She then offered to provide the yarn for me as well. I feel so very lucky because there is no way I would have been able to purchase the stuff at this time. Anyway here is the yarn in all it’s glory.
You can tell, just from looking at the colors, that this sweater is going to be gorgeous. Thank you, Sheila
yarny days and knitterly evenings
PS I just now went to the Fearless Fibers Fans group on Raverly and saw an announcement that Deb will be closing down shop. I am very saddened by this since she honestly is one of my favorite dyers out there. I have been a big fan of her yarns ever since late 2006/early 2007.
