Finished by Friday

In the past week, two events motivated the completion of this Mindless Knitting blanket, which I had cast on in January of this year.

1. My friend gave me three skeins of neutral-hued acrylic yarn.
2. I learned of a blanket donation program happening on Mother’s Day.

I chose a mid-tone gray skein and worked up the last stripe. It took one or two evenings to complete. The next evening, I continued with the gray, working a single crochet stitch into the bind off, then worked around the perimeter of the blanket, so that this somewhat improvised design had a more finished-looking edge.

Before I wove in the ends, I decided to give it a wash in my machine. Due to the variety of yarns used, (some were mystery fibers) I was skeptical about the Franken-blanket’s ability to withstand machine washing. And while it did shrink up in a minimal fashion, the washed blanket showed no felting or fuzzing. I dried it flat, then wove in the yarn ends. Here is the finished product, displayed on my guest bed.

I never got a final measurement before delivering the blanket to the church’s collection spot, but I would guess it was at least 44″ long and almost as wide. It will function quite well as a lap blanket for a mom, or even a mom and child.

This project used up most of my worsted weight acrylic. I mindfully returned the two unused yarns to my friend, who accepted the returns with good grace. This project used up a bit of her stash also, but maybe not so much as she had hoped. My stash still has some acrylic baby yarns in sport or fingering weight. I put them together in a project bag, and one day I will find a pattern that will Bust Them Down.