Swatches and Progress

Today, two items of knitting news.  First, swatching (an afghan for our new couch) and second, progress (the Barnraising Quilt).

First, swatching.  We're doing a little bit of updating around our house.  While looking at some new furniture, I began to notice that big, chunky, knitted throws were everywhere.  But they were (1) expensive and (2) Acrylic or blends.  While I get the washable appeal of acrylic, I'm a natural fiber girl.  So I load up with 15 skeins of Wool2dye4's Lux Superchunky.  I meant to knit just a quick swatch to see how it looked, but I couldn't stop.  A skein later, I had this:

I can't extol the virtues of this yarn enough.  It's a blend of Merino, Alpaca, and Silk.  It knits up nicely on size 15 needles, although it isn't quite as chunky as the yarn I was seeing in the stores blankets.  I simply couldn't stop playing with it.  I fooled around with some cables.

Then I played around with them some more.

And finally, just a simple rib.

I'm not sure how I'll knit the final piece, but I know it's going to be fabulous and particularly snuggle-y in this yarn.  Having not yet picked out a couch, I don't know if I'll keep the yarn undyed or if I'll dye it up to work with what we pick out.  But I'm already dreaming about it.

Second, Progress.  I've started another square for the Barn Raising quilt.  It's my favorite one yet.  (I've noticed that each new one seems to become my favorite, but I really mean it this time).

This is Koigu KPPM and I love the unusual colors that are included in this skein.  In keeping with my usual penchant for knitting two of these squares at a time, I've got some leftovers from the skein of Elliebelly's Rebecca's Kitchen that I used for my friend Amy's baby sweater that I'm ready to tee up for another square.

I'm still in awe of the knitters who seem to effortlessly knit up a quilt in the space of a week.  I'm going to be years putting this one together, but it's really fun to put all my leftover sock yarn to good use and watch it start to take shape.