A few years ago I was planning a cardigan project and wasn’t sure which yarn I wanted to use. Scheepjes had just released their Soft Fun Denim line at that time and I wanted to check out the colours and see if it would work with my project, so I requested one of each colour to get a better look at them. I’m not sure if it was my mistake or theirs, but rather than one of every colour, I got ten! I wasn’t complaining, as I knew I’d find a use for it all eventually and there’s no such thing as too much yarn, am I right?!
Not too long after, we had to pack up to move as we were leaving the Netherlands for France., so it was all packed away to be used sometime in the future.
It really came in handy a lot when packing, though! Yarn makes pretty fantastic packing material. I had actually forgotten all about it for a while as it was in storage for nine months while we were getting organised down here. It was one of many things I excitedly unpacked because it was almost like getting it for the first time again by the time our stuff arrived from The Netherlands.
Fast forward two years, we are settled here in France, renting a beautiful house in the countryside with a lovely terrace to sit out and look out over this amazing view. In the spring and fall it can be a little chilly, but we just love it out there so much. I mean, who wouldn’t, it’s breathtaking!
This past spring we bought an outdoor sofa for extra comfort and I thought the only thing that would make it better was a nice soft blanket to put over my lap or around my shoulders if it’s a bit cold. I realised I already had all the yarn I needed right here in my craft room! By the way, how awesome is my cozy terrace corner?! We got so much use out of it throughout the summer with friends and family who came to visit. It’s perfect!
Anyway, after digging out the yarn and some messing about with colours, I found a combination I really liked.
Scheepjes Soft Fun Denim in colours (R-L in top photo, L-R in bottom): 501, 509, 507, 505, 502.
The colours were inspired by a really cool Icarus painting given to us by my mother in law. I really liked the colours and since the blanket would also double as something to keep me warm on cool mornings as we wait for the fire to warm the house, I thought it would be nice if it matched something in our living room too.
Once I’d chosen the colours, I just had to figure out what to do with them exactly. I had a vague idea in my mind of what I wanted the project to look like overall, but just needed to do some fine tuning. I did have a few different stitch combinations in mind, but wasn’t quite sure which I wanted to do just yet. At the time that this idea started coming together, I was working on my Alpine Resort Tunic, which was quite challenging at the time, so I needed an easy in between project to help keep me sane.
This was going to be it… a simple blanket that I could knit as a break from something that was stretching my limits in regards to concentration and patience. Also, in my efforts to turn everyone on to knitting, I quite like to do simple free patterns to help newer knitters practice their skills, and this is a great beginner project!
Eventually I did find a stitch that I really liked, which worked well with the idea I had in mind, but I’ll write more about the process and the design coming together in my next post, stay tuned!
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