It’s finally done! The blanket that I started knitting in January has been bound off and blocked. I used up almost all of the yarn from my two advent calendars. That’s over a kilogram of yarn!
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2021-12-25-14.14.40-768x1024.jpg)
Back in January, I thought that it might be a nice idea to combine the handspun from my 2019 and 2020 advent calendars into one large project. I had previously spun up all the fibre samples into mini skeins of yarn, most of them fingering weight.
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/IMG_20210626_181059_423-800x599.jpg)
But how to combine them all, and not make the colours clash? And what should I make? Obviously something large, because I had 1100 grams of yarn. That’s like two cardigan quantities. My first thought was blanket, of course, but I briefly considered making a cape as well. But then I decided that I would like to do something with brioche and marled knitting, and it became too complicated to just wing it. So, a blanket it was!
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-01-19-12.30.49-600x800.jpg)
I tried out a few variations of brioche stitches and settled on Stanton brioche. I combined that with marled knitting: I was always using two yarns for the main colour and two for the contrast colour. Because of that, the transitions were gradual and colours did not clash too much.
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-01-21-14.18.06-1-800x800.jpg)
Some of the skeins of yarn were gradients, others were semi-solid, and I had to really plan my colour sequence carefully. During the project, I rearranged the colours a few times, so I didn’t stick to my initial plan entirely.
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-01-26-15.58.37-600x800.jpg)
I knitted the blanket diagonally, increasing until I had used up half my yarn, then decreasing back to the opposite corner. I really liked how the colours flowed and played together. But the project took a long time to knit. Not just because it was so large… No, the blanket turned out to be quite magical!
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-03-03-18.28.51-800x600.jpg)
Puk discovered that she really loved sleeping on the blanket! Whenever I pulled it out to knit, she would come running and sit on it. Which naturally meant that I could only knit one row, because I couldn’t turn the blanket over. I wouldn’t want to wake a sleeping kitten!
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-02-15-20.44.37-800x600.jpg)
Pippi observed Puk sitting on the blanket in my lap, but she decided that she wanted to just keep snuggling up next to me. She’s a bit shy, after all.
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-03-07-19.48.44-800x600.jpg)
Puk reallllly loved her blanket. Every evening she would sit there, purring loudly. Until…
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-02-17-20.51.07-800x600.jpg)
Finally, Pippi decided that it was safe, and she hopped on and sat down! Once she had made her decision that my lap was safe, she turned like a leaf: she’s now way more enthusiastic than Puk about sitting in my lap. She doesn’t even need the blanket anymore to feel safe! Pippi is now a total lap cat. How’s that for a magical blanket?
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-04-07-19.23.09-600x800.jpg)
Slowly but surely I made progress knitting the blanket. I started decreasing and after a while it became easier to just turn part of the work while Puk was sitting there. And then, finally, I arrived at the final stitches and bound off.
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-04-13-18.42.50-800x600.jpg)
The blanket was huge! It turned out that it had become a diamond shape, but during blocking, I was able to force it into a square shape. We’ll see if that holds…
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-04-13-19.12.22-600x800.jpg)
I had to use almost all of my blocking mats. I didn’t have enough blocking wires for all four sides, so I used some double-pointed knitting needles as well.
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-04-13-19.35.59-800x600.jpg)
I really like the effect. While some of the mini skeins were gradients with multiple colours, I don’t think that they look bad in context. The general blanket gradient is still a rainbow from green to blue, and there is a nice balance between cooler and warmer colours.
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-04-18-15.52.41-800x600.jpg)
Folded up, the colours look good together, they don’t clash. From a distance, they look more uniform than close up.
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/DSCF2572-533x800.jpg)
Once you get close to the blanket, you can see the foreground versus background contrast better, as well as the different strands of the marled knitting. Still, I think it works well. And the blanket is warm and cozy, perfect for cold evenings.
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-04-01-16.28.41-800x600.jpg)
![](https://www.meilindis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/DSCF2568-800x533.jpg)