The Gray Behemoth

Because knitting takes time and effort, and because I don't want to become one of those aunts (the kind that gift things the kiddos hate), I'm establishing a request system for gifts. That is, I ask the kiddos what they want, and then that's what I make.

Niece asked for one of those large knit blankets for Christmas.

Yes, I know it's January. But, I'm still finishing up two scarves from Christmas 2017, so I'm not that far behind.

I already explained some of this when I showed off the yarn for this beast...

I even went and bought three more skeins. Turned out these six weren't quite enough.

I finally got around to starting the project. I have knit all six of those skeins, plus a seventh.

(Niece requested a blanket 75 inches by 90 inches. The six skeins got me to a length of 56 inches. That'll stretch, but not quite enough. Yes, this is huge.

So, I'll let niece know that this blanket is: Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, Congratulations on your Graduation, and Happy Birthday. She never told me what she wanted for her birthday last year. She graduates from high school this year. And suddenly I'm caught up gifting for her. Yea!)

It took me a while to get into the rhythm of the thing. I played with the yarn a few times before devoting a whole day (January 1st) to just doing it. I discovered that I don't like knitting on my arms. I almost broke and bought needles to use. It turned out that one crochet hook was all I needed to figure out the tension.

This was the first attempt to cast on. Too many stitches. Too tight. I eventually loosened it up again, but I ripped this out at least three times before I got it going.

Above is just about one skein in. (Keep in mind that the width is about 70 inches--just a bit under.) You can kind of see the crochet hook I used to get thing started, plus the amount of that first skein left. Alas, my camera was being difficult with the focusing (and my phone camera isn't uploading to my computer), so the pictures aren't ideal.

Once I got into a rhythm, I discovered that I really liked knitting off my fingers. It turns out my thumbs are just about the right size for the stitches, so I used them to measure stitches.

At two skeins, the blanket looked like this...

I used my TV remote for a bit of scale. At about three skeins it looked like...

Finishing up a skein took me about an hour, depending. It was shorter when the TV was off, but that got boring quickly.

I'm not sure if the above photo is of five or six skeins. At some point I lost track. I only got four skeins knit that first day. (It wasn't the whole day. I had to switch over to another project, and then it was night.)

As of the writing of this post, I had completed knitting seven skeins. This picture is of six skeins knit plus the seventh skein I was about to start...

Yes, it's huge. And warm. And heavy.

It's kind of a fun project, now that I'm into it. I wouldn't mind making these as throw blankets or lap blankets. And I totally get why they're so expensive to buy. (I could totally justify charging $400 for this particular blanket. And that's what they're going for.)

Will I make them for my shop? Maybe. I'm more likely to do one if specifically requested to do so. (I would charge at least $100 for one, but likely more depending on how many skeins of yarn are required.)

I should have finished photos for next week, depending. It'll be a challenge to figure out how to get a good picture of it. Staging and such. I only have two more skeins to go, so it'll be finished.

(And as for my cold, it's pretty much gone now. Thanks for all the well wishes.)