**Make the ULTIMATE blanket for your SOMEONE SPECIAL! Let's get started NOW!**

[dustinac]

SHINE sport has 27 colors to choose from and it's washable/tumble dry...and that's always a good thing!

pretty colors!

Did you read the latest on her Rav page? I hadn't seen it till I clicked the link this morning. Her dog chewed a hole in it.

[Abbily]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents about yarn choice:

Brecka used KnitPicks SHINE worsted. It sells for $2.49 per 75 yd skein.

However, KnitPicks SHINE sport weight sells for $2.49 for 110 yd skein.


SHINE sport gives more yardage for the $2.49.

But wouldn't it take more yarn to complete the blanket in sport weight?

[dustinac]

I wondered about that and thought about getting a skein to see if I could gauge or close to it...I know the sport gets 6sts per inch on #3-5 needles...while the worsted gets 4.5 to 5" on 6-9 needles...When you look at her pictures she has one of a ruler by her sts and it looks like she is getting 3.5 or 4sts per inch...

With a blanket normally I wouldn't worry about gauge 'cause it doesn't have to fit...but not sure how the different yarns would come into play with how much yardage you would need

[Lieuvena]

Ooh..I'm really thinking about this one. I really love the blanket and I think I can double knit it (I have only done the hot pad from KH, but it turned out pretty good). I'm just not sure I'm fast enough to actually have it done. But..I'm really thinking about joining in.

I do wonder, do you think it would look good done in Caron Simply Soft? That's likely what I would have to use, and I would hate to put so much effort into something just for it to look bad because of yarn choice. Plus, it would be washable this way. Or would it? How do you think a double knit blanket would wash up. I'd really need it to be washable. Too many grubby kids over here!

Off to ponder...

[dustinac]

don't worry about the time frame, no rush...I have no idea how long it will take me

I think Caron would work and it is machine washable...I use it for my kids items and it washes up well. It will be on the heavy side being worsted, but I'm also thinking of Caron since I have it in my stash already

[G J]

Dustina, THANKS for posting this KAL! I want to do it, but for a wall-hanging. Think it would work? I'd like to use leaf or flower motifs instead of Christmas. What do you think? I need something about 36-40" wide by about 12-18". I could do just four blocks across and two up. Thinkthat would work?

[Jan in CA]

Dustina, THANKS for posting this KAL! I want to do it, but for a wall-hanging. Think it would work? I'd like to use leaf or flower motifs instead of Christmas.

Ooo I like the leaf idea! You probably don't need it double knit for a wall hanging though.. then again it would sure lay nicely and probably not sag much, but that might depend on the yarn.

[ArtLady1981]

I like Caron SIMPLY SOFT very much. It is a very nice yarn, affordably priced!

I looked online today, at other washable yarns...and one thing I found to be a problem...many of the yarns I liked did not have dark saturated colors nor cream or white colors. A decision about brand of yarn would be decided by the colors, and washablilty...in addition to the weight of the yarn.

I forget, does the original Christmas blanket call for worsted?
If it asks for worsted, would the motifs become distorted out of shape if we used dk or sport?

But, I don't mean to butt into this thread...I haven't even committed to knit the blanket! Sorry.

I might try ONE SQUARE of the blanket, as a swatch of sorts... to see how DOUBLE KNITTING and I get along! I'll use a dk and see how things pan out dimensionally speaking. You know, to see if it knits up SQUARE, and not rectangular. That'd be a bummer.

[ArtLady1981]

But wouldn't it take more yarn to complete the blanket in sport weight?

Hmmmmm that's a good point. I dunno. This is what happens when I start to modify!

Well, yes...if you wanted the blanket to be a certain width and length, using sport or dk...you'd have to increase the motifs across the row. Like maybe 4 motifs instead of 3.

Gah.

[Lieuvena]

I downloaded the pattern and it actually calls for a worsted weight acrylic yarn. The sample pattern shown in the original here was done in Red Heart Soft. So I think that Simply Soft would work great.

Artlady, I think you are absolutely right about the color though. I've been looking through color cards online also and have had a hard time finding the colors I like as well. I was thinking Simply Soft as that's what's available here. I live about 1.5-2 hours away from any city and I'm not sure I'll get there before this KAL starts. I'll keep searching though.

I really like the original colors and would like to stay as close to it as possible. I also think that I'll just do the original star chart as well, because I really like it.

As long as I can get the yarn for this project, I will be joining this KAL!