I managed a good chunk of knitting time over the Easter weekend, which has done wonders for my general mojo. I hope that you are all getting some knitting time amongst everything else too!

It has been absolutely lovely to be able to sit out in the garden to knit. I love my garden – I ran a gardening business before I started work as a technical editor on The Knitter – but I don’t often sit outside and enjoy it. I suffer from hayfever for a large chunk of the time of year where it’s warm enough to sit out, so it was an extra treat for it to be warm, but not too pollen-y last weekend.

I have made excellent progress on my Never-Ending Rainbow Socks. These are a plain sock pattern with a garter stitch short row heel. I’ve been working on them while chatting to my local knitting group on our virtual knit nights. The colours are absolutely fabulous and they make me smile every time I open my project bag! The yarn is Never-Ending Rainbow Sock Yarn from Fab Funky Fibres – they update their Etsy shop fairly regularly, so keep an eye on their Instagram account for details of the next update.

Unfortunately, most of the rest of what I’ve been working on are secret projects for work stuff, so I am not going to share too many details. I don’t want to spoil future surprises! But I can tell you that we are in the process of putting together an ebook collection for later this year. I am doing most of the sample knitting, but they are not my designs, and I am absolutely LOVING every stitch! I am excited to share more details of this mini-collection once we are a bit closer to releasing it.

I have also been sample knitting for our next big collection, which all things being equal will launch early next year. This project is also flying off my needles and I suspect that I’m going to feel a bit sad when it’s done.

I sometimes feel a little grumpy about work knitting. Something about having to do something can take some of the fun away! But everything on my needles at the moment is filling me with joy. I think it’s the combination of not having done the design work, and there not being urgent deadlines that is working really well for me.

Anyway! Enough of the teaser chat, and on with the other project I can show you!

I am knitting Fly Away by Tin Can Knits. This is the perfect comfort blanket pattern. Each square is an achievable size, very straightforward to knit, and I only need to make 16 of them. That should be pretty manageable I think!

So far I have knitted 3 squares and the fourth is on my needles. I can do a square in an evening, so it’s only the other fun things I’ve got to work on that are stopping me from just churning this out.

I’m using our Something to Knit With Aran rather than the DK yarn called for in the pattern. This is making each square larger, and squishier, which is very pleasing. I’m planning to use Pool, Cornflower and Jade as the contrast shades, against a background of Mist.

I’ve had fun in Adobe Illustrator (which I usually use for drawing charts), playing around with layouts and colour combinations, and I have settled on the layout above. There are so many options with this pattern. Do have a browse of the finished projects on Ravelry if you’re looking for inspiration.

I’ve done some calculations based on my yarn usage so far, and I anticipate using the following quantities:
1 skein each of Cornflower and Jade; 4 skeins of Pool; 11 skeins of Mist

If you too fancy a cosy aran weight blanket, then don’t forget that you can get 40% off Something to Knit With Aran when you purchase more than 10 skeins, by using the code GORTHLECK at the checkout, or clicking this link to apply the code automatically. This code is not valid in conjunction with any other offer, and will expire at the end of 30th April 2020 (BST).

Jim is now furloughed, so unfortunately we won’t be able to do any video tutorials for a while, but I am hoping to get myself set up to take some hand shot photos. I’d like to show you how I seam the squares together on my Fly Away Blankie, as I know that many of you worry about making a blanket like this look neat.

Have you got something simple and comforting on your needles? Or are you losing yourself in a more complex project at the moment? I’m loving seeing what everyone is working on over in our Ravelry group, so do stop by and share your latest project, or just enjoy browsing the pretty pictures.

Happy knitting!