The Blanket Project

It was dangerously hot (100+ F or 37.7+ C) over the weekend, then an array of intense thunderstorms roared through the region last night. It was amazing how distinct the squall lines were – heavy rain would start, then stop, as abruptly as if on a switch. Roundabout Exit 151 we lost power for a while, which provided the perfect setting for finishing a small project.

Thoughtful Annie organized the Blanket Project in memory of John Glick. My contribution to the project is a square in one of my favorite patterns, Candle Tree from Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns 1, worked in Dale Baby Ull washable wool. Appropriately, it was pinned out by candlelight.



Baby Ull is very soft and, like many washable wool yarns, a bit odd. When I wet-blocked the square with a splash of Eucalan, it grew nearly 30%. Aiee. DH, on hearing disconsolate moaning, suggested throwing it in the washing machine and (gasp) the dryer. That shrank it back down, but left the edges curled. Then the power went and with it, the option to use steam. Undeterred, I pinned out the little beastie to eight inches square and gave it a spritz of water, which seems to have tamed the curl.

Flushed with that success and applying flawless logic, DH is now insisting that if I wet block all his sweaters that have, ahem, somehow gotten smaller, they will magically fit again. Having been trumped at my own game, I'm not making any progress explaining why this may not work.