Scrap Yarn Blanket: 16 Years in the Making

Tonight I finally finished my scrap yarn blanket. I've been knitting for 16 years, crocheting for 1, and I started this blanket nearly 2 years ago as a new year's resolution to use up the lengths of yarn left over from 16 years worth of projects.

I started out knitting in the round, but once I reached about 3 freedom units (about 90cm) in diameter, the weight of the yarn became too much and started breaking my cables. That's when I switched to crocheting. With a little teaching from a friend, I caught on quickly, and was pleased to find how quickly crocheting works up as compared to knitting.

I used a US size H hook, or 5.00mm for the rest of the world. After I had crocheted a nice chunk of the outer circle, I switched to an ergo hook to save on wrist discomfort.

The scrap yarn had followed me, accumulating in a single plastic bin for 16 years; through 4 moves a year during college and two moves after college.

For the past two years, I've been slowly putting the blanket together, only using what leftovers I found in my bin.

I knitted and crocheted in a circle. I had started out making equal sized squares with the yellows, but then I decided that I didn't want to deal with squares that I'd later have to darn together, so I unraveled the squares and started over in an ever-growing circle. I like circles.

Crocheting and knitting (or as I like to call them, yarnsmithing) is one of the best activities for a cold, sunny winter afternoon in Buffalo. That and hockey, of course.

This was the last progress that I made on the blanket at the beginning of summer this year, before moving from Buffalo, NY to Seattle, WA. The blanket ended up in a shipping/storage facility for most of the summer while we moved out west, found jobs, and an apartment.

Here's the finished blanket, in all it's glory.

In the end, it measured 7'3'' in freedom units (221cm) in diameter.

I finished the border off with a nice little seashell pattern. It feels good to have finished a cozy, warm, comforting piece of art.