Letters
Putting the Blocks in Socks and Blocks
Dear Ann,
I’m still resting on the laurels of my Trellis Top, enjoying my usual aimless summer knitting. Since I was a little kid, I’ve needed a lot of time for wandering, daydreaming, puttering, and all manner of unplanned, pleasant, marginally-productive activity. The urge is greatest in summertime, when I want to make like a bumblebee and buzz at a slow and harmless speed.
That’s where our summer Socks and Blocks knitalong comes in. Casting about for something I can just knit and knit on, pick up and put down as I browse the flowers, I decided to make a baby blanket for a baby who is already here, but still very recently arrived. I rummaged in the Box of Rowan Retailer Love (thanks, Rowan!) and came up victorious: they had sent a bag containing the entire shade card of the DK weight version of their sumptuous Summerlite cotton.
It’s a light DK, to my way of thinking, so it’s going to be a light blanket. The only, and I mean only, color decision I made was to start with the warm colors, and see how far I get with those before adding in the cooler shades.
This being a Rowan palette, that’s the only decision I needed to make. Randomly pulling colors out of the bag, and following the Classic Log Cabin formula in MDK Field Guide No. 4: Log Cabin, it’s all coming together, making me feel like a master colorist, when in fact the yarn is doing all the work. (Note to selves: get this one in the Shop asap!)
I’m Not Alone
In this same spirit of dog-days ambling, I checked out the Socks and Blocks topic in the MDK Lounge, and the #socksnblocksMDK hashtag on Instagram, and WHOA. Knitters are making such beautiful blankets. It makes a person wish for a very long, sedentary life, just to be able to knit all the blankets.
Here’s a sampling. Prepare your eyeballs!
Wendy Johnson’s magnificently rosy, woodsy Picket Fence Afghan.
More roses and peonies blooming on Lisa Allen’s Picket Fence Afghan from MDK Field Guide No. 7: Ease.
Like me, Maureen Rao is getting that old-time log cabin religion, but she’s making a medley of blocks instead of a one-patch.
This is the one that made me squeal when I saw it. Petite Stitches had the genius idea of pairing her set of Freia Minikins (shade: Neutral Zone, aka the only one we carry) for one color in her Picket Fence Afghan, and a single Freia Yarn Bomb (shade: Squid Ink) as the other, slower-changing but still shifty color.
This kind of color adventure is what knitting with Freia’s color shifting gradient yarns is all about. I cannot wait to see this blanket finished. (I literally am having difficulty waiting.) What will happen when she gets to the plum in the Yarn Bomb? What about those warm beige/brown tones in the minikins—how will they play? Will the colors of the two yarns ever start to melt together in a single block?—I love when that happens! This blanket truly sparks joy. SEND. ME. MINIKINS.
This is just scratching the surface. There’s loads more knitalong inspiration in the Lounge and on Instagram.
Get aimless with us—this is the sweetest of knitting, just right for that midsummer vibe.
Love,
Kay
Now I want to make another one with minikins and a yarn bomb!
Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you for including my pictures! And Suzy is so excited to be blog-famous!!!
Now I really want to make this blanket, too.
I adore pale pink and brown also light blue with brown.
I am using a yarn bomb to knit Taylor, a small garter shawl with pretty detail. The yarn bomb is gorgeous. In a blanket the softness would be enchanting.
Thanks again MDK, for all that you share!!
Now I want to make a Freia blanket. I don’t even like making blankets/afghans. That yarn though…
My kind of knitting! And I’ve recently been pining for those unconstructed summer days. Once chores were done, you could wander at will, read on screen porch, bike to the library for more books, now I add knitting, and kindle library visits.
I’ve gotten a bunch of different yarns from you guys, but I’ve got to say those Freias are about my favorites. Both the colors and the feel of the wool itself. I haven’t tried the minis though, I may need to rectify that!
Oh, I loved the way Wendy organized her Picket Fence afghan with those colors…very sumptuous!
OMG! So they are all great! I just cast on to start my Picket Fence again. Love Wendy’s, I look forward to her blog each week. The minkin one is genius!
I just am an odd knitter person I guess. I cannot knit garter in an even fashion. My stitches are all wonky. I LOVE the looks of the MDK blanket log cabins. The only one I really successes with got lost in the mail. Seriously. But I cannot pick up garter well if I mess a stitch up. How can I have so much trouble with the easiest stitch?
Picking up or fixing dropped stitches in garter is not as easy as stockinette, for sure. Sometimes I drop a stitch down on either side of the miscreant, then fix, to pick up some extra slack. But one of the best knitters I know HATES fixing mistakes in garter so much she will just rip out. Extreme, but to say you are not alone!
You’ve inspired me to make a log cabin blanket! I am also going to make the picket fence blanket- my color palette is shades of green in the Rowan cotton.
I’m in awe knitters!
Beautiful job!