50 shades of yarn

I haven't been on here for a while because I am currently addicted to the Rowan Blanket Knit a Long!!

another square under way

I have long had a plan to knit my son a blanket for him to take to uni as a comforter in times of need. Luckily, he's not due to go for two years, as I hadn't really got any further than thinking about it.
Then a few weeks ago at Knit Club, some of my fellow knitters were talking about the knit a long and discussing colours. I came home looked it up on the Rowan website, downloaded the patterns and off I went to John Lewis for a ball of wool. It's knitted in pure wool worsted which is a cross between double knit and aran on 4.5mm needles, so each square grows quite quickly, and I can do one in an evening if I concentrate!
Each week a new square pattern is released - I should say here it's been designed by Martin Storey, and you are supposed to knit three squares in two different colours, so six a week. It will be 48 squares big in total.

Nordic star

Needless to say, I'm not following the plan! I'm knitting mine in four shades of blue (even though I had 50 shades to choose from!), and a couple of the designs released so far seemed a 'bit girly' so on one square I've left out the lace work and just done alternate stripes of garter and stocking stitch.

kisses

I am now absolutely hooked on knitting squares! I've even been know to get up early to finish a square before everyone else gets up for the morning rush to get out of the house. It is very satisfying watching my stash of squares grow, and as each square is 20cm by 20cm it looks quite impressive (well to me!)
Pickle-Lily has now requested one for her bed, and as there are 50 shades of yarn, she'll have a lot of choice. Even luckier, I have four years to knit her one!

my square stash so far!

The patterns are free on the Rowan website and there is a huge Ravlery group all about the KAL, so it's not too late to join in - I think I'll still be knitting squares this time next year!