I can’t believe this is it – the final Blankie Friday. The culmination of what seems like forever, but really in the long run has been a simple blink in the eye. The blankie has been a huge part of my life these last 20 months. It has led me to many new friends, most far, far away in the computer, but a few real, in-person friends. It has been a constant companion, growing in my lap. It has been something to photograph and write about, to dream with. And here it is all grown up.
Let’s start with a few fun facts:
The finished dimensions are 53″ X 72.5″, or 134 X 184 cm (diamond point to diamond point.)
The finished weight is 2 lbs, 13 oz or 1.282 kg.
That’s about 5960 yards/5450 meters – or 3.3 miles/5.4 kilometers of yarn.
512 sts per square times 736 squares (counting each of the large squares as four) adds up to 376,832 stitches in the squares alone.
Each square took about 25 minutes to knit, and if you add five minutes to that for picking out the next color and weaving in two ends, half an hour per square adds up to 368 hours of my life just knitting the squares for the blankie. That over 20 months, start to finish, comes out to an average of well over one square per day, which was my original goal for progress on the project.
The Timeline…
Blankie was started at the beginning of July, 2006 – it first appears on the blog here, leading me to believe that I started it right around the first of July, 2006.
Just a few days later, I wrote a post that sparked a flood of gifts, sparked on by the Yarn Harlot’s post here. It is hard for me to believe, in retrospect, that so many people so generously sent me their yarn on faith based on the tiny little start I had going in this picture.
Note the tiny basket of original yarn scraps. That was the sum total of my own scraps that I started with.
Lots of people were interested in knitting a similar blanket right away, and I felt like the least I could do to repay the huge response of yarn-scrap gifts was to write up a little tutorial. I do seem to be unable to write a blog post without embedding my family in it, so it’s a long, rambly tutorial, but it gets the job done. Start Here, Then Read This, Then This, and Finally This.
Before I knew it, I was inundated with packages, and it was like Christmas every day for a while there. I spent hours and hours opening packages, photographing them, and thanking the senders in the blog. That was probably the most fun part of the entire project, except perhaps the last five minutes of applied i-cord knitting.
Before long, I was pretty darn well buried in yarn. The cats loved it…
Some of that yarn went to other blankie knitters, more of it went to charity knitters – my favorite was Jo-Ann in Ontario, who knits bears for various children’s charities.
The blankie (and I) have gotten to meet the Yarn Harlot once in Eau Claire.
And again in St. Paul…
And hopefully we will get a third picture with Stephanie when she comes to St. Paul again in April. She has been so gracious in the past, I’m really looking forward to thanking her one more time with a final product in hand.
And before we get to the pictures you’ve really been waiting for, I’ll announce the
Contest Winners…
Part the first was sock yarn identification.
Sock yarn C
was the most contentious, and at least a couple of people guessed that it was Fortissima Socka color Mexico 9072 Sundown. And it’s funny because I actually knit a sweater for Julie when she was little (and which Sophie still wears sometimes) and a pair of socks for myself out of that color, or one in the series.
Sorry, but that ain’t it. Fortunately, ikkinlala came up with what I believe to be the right answer, which is Opal Brasil #5001. She even found it available here, which is great, but I chose to order a skein of it through an e-bay seller because I found the whole “every fifth stitch is for g*d” thing a little creepy, and also her ordering system was kind of confusing.
Sock yarn A
turns out to be Trekking #131, correctly identified by Razor Knit Girl. Thanks for the help, RKG, and I left a comment on your blog asking you to e-mail me. On further reflection, I’m not sure that I’m going to order that one after all. As much as I enjoy looking at those colors playing together on the blanket, they are totally not colors that I would wear. So I will at least hold off on them for a while.
I’m a little disappointed that nobody even guessed on squares B
or D
because those are probably my two favorite and I would totally buy them if I could get my hands on them. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? I’ll extend the offer of a set of notecards and a little surprise to the first person to comment with good information on what these yarns are.
The second part of the contest was giving away the remains of the blankie scraps. I did get a few responses on this one, including an offer to buy some of the yarn. Sorry, but there is no way my conscience is going to allow me to *sell* yarn that was gifted to me! But there is enough to pass along at least a little something to everyone who responded with a link to a picture.
Sandra is churchlady on Ravelry, and is blogless, but has a teeny little beginning to a blankie.
Sopranospinner linked to her latest picture on Flickr.
Jesse has pictures of her newly-started blankie up on Ravelry
Knit & Purl Mama showed me her little chunk of blankie
Alice debuted her blankie on her blog just for the contest.
All of you are winners! E-mail me with your mailing addresses and color preferences (I’ll do my best – there is an awful lot of blue, brown, black and white in the mix). I’ll get some packages in the mail soon-ish. Just remember – you’re taking on responsibility for the care and wellbeing of this yarn – don’t neglect it!
Okay, and finally the “show me the blankie!” portion of the contest…there were 116 entries, and the random number generator chose 53, which turns out to be StaceyK, aka moonlightknitter, aka moonlightknitter on Ravelry. Stacey, e-mail me your mailing address and I will get a fabulous package out to you soon!
Thanks to everyone who spewed happy comments on last week’s post – it was so much fun reading them all this week, feeling your excitement along with my own.
Now for the real goods…
The photos speak for themselves, no? Happy Friday, everyone! Blankie Fridays are over for now, although I’m sure Blankie will be showing up again from time to time. I will enter it in the Minnesota State Fair this year, and I will bring it with me when I go see the Yarn Harlot in April. Oh, and I’ll probably have it with me at Yarnover this year as well. If you see me with it, come say hello and give it a squish.
Thanks so much for sharing this journey — I’m only a recent reader but I’ve enjoyed getting swept up in the excitement. The blankie is truly fabulous: may it bring you lots of snuggly joy for many years!
Congrats on the finish! It is stunning.
That is an amazing blanket. Congratulations on your accomplishment. It looks as if it’s already a favorite blanket for snuggling under.
Congratulations again & thanks for sharing this! I would never have had the confidence to start such a huge project myself if I hadn’t seen how you managed to make this beautiful xxxxxl-sized blankie!
Congratulaions, Shelly. Job well done. My blankie has only 30 some squares so far, but I plan on adding more soon. I just got some scraps from a fellow knitter on Tuesday, so am anxious to add it to the blankie.
MN State Fair, here you come!
That looks so cool, and like the culmination of SO much work! I’ll definitely be at the Yarn Harlot’s thing in April, and maybe at Yarnover too, so I’ll get my chance to squish it in person!
Funny- I must have missed the post where you asked what yarn Square B was. I made socks and a camera case from the same yarn about two years ago and recognized it immediately.
It’s Online Supersocke in the Fun colorway (766). I don’t know if they still make it, but there you go! You can see my socks here: http://weesheep.wordpress.com/2006/01/22/random-happenings/
What a great recap!! IDK, but you might have to make another one (or something like it) because it’s truly an heirloom and not the kind that the kids can split! I’m grinning like an idiot when I think about actually having a picture of me with you & The Blankie!!
Oh, and the blankie looks great!!
Great post and one absolutely gorgeous blanket!
C-O-N-G-R-A-T-U-L-A-T-I-O-N-S! What an amazing journey and story you have. It will definitely be a family heirloom for generations to come.
Absolutely gorgeous – I’ll definitely have to try to make one at some point (hopefully sooner rather than later!) Congratulations on finishing it.
Congratulations – it looks fabulous! I was more that half way done mine, until I widened it by adding four squares to the side this week. Oh well… It’ll just take a little longer. Thanks so much for sharing your blankie journey with all of us.
What a beautiful project. Congrats!
Oh, hooray!!! I will miss seeing the progress of the blankie each week and seeing the girls take turns laying on it. It’s such a wonderful project and well done to you for every last stitch. The last photo of the 3 of you and the blankie is my absolute favorite. Thanks for sharing it all with us.
D looks like one of the Koigu colorways, but I cannot for the life of me figure out which one.
Super congrats on finishing! It is just beautiful.
Congratulations on finishing a long project. I’m sure the Yarn Harlot will love to see it finished.
What a lovely post– congratulations on a beautiful finished project. I’m in awe of your determination, and admire this lovely bit of family history-to-be that you have created. I’ve really enjoyed my vicarious participation in Blankie Fridays!
That is SO cool – I’m printing out each post of your tutorial now… what a great idea!
Congratulations! The blankie looks great.
Incredible! Now I’m going to have to go start my own.
Thanks for sharing!
Awesome! The blanket looks really great.
Thank you for sharing your life stories as well as your progress on the blanket. It’s SO BEAUTIFUL, and a great accomplishment!
B is Lana Grossa Meilenweit Fun in color 83, shown . Mine came from Borealis sometime in 2004 or 2005, I believe.
Congratulations on finishing the blankie – it’s very cool!
I take that (and my bad HTML) back – Julia is right that it’s OnLine Supersocke in color 766. My notes (and blog post) are wrong.
That’s beautiful
I especially love the shot of the girls on the sofa where you can see the other blanket in the background with your wedding date. Two really awesome “heirloom” type blankies…the sort of things that would be fun to grow up with.
I can’t remember when or how I first found your blog. I’m sure I was just *cruisin’ on the net* one day and one click led to another…and another… and POOF there you were! Anyways, I feel so privileged to have journeyed (however long) with you and your beautiful blankie! I hope you and your family spend many hours all snuggled together in it’s cozy warmth!
The blankie looks like a work of art. Congratulations on the completion of a comfy project and all the memories it holds past, present and future.
It’s amazing! Congratulations on finally delivering it and on time even!
Congratulations!
Oh wow – the finished blankie is absolutely stunning! You guys look so cozy sitting under it! It’s great to finally see it finished! (And my bad for lurking for a long time in admiration of your project!)
I will email you my info shortly (thanks for sharing the extra leftovers love!)
Knit & Purl Mama
Congratulations!!! The blanket looks wonderful.
Rats! I got sucked into ravelry and totally almost missed this! Congrats. I really hope you bring the blankie to Yarnover…it would be cool to know when you would be there, and I could bring my tiny beginning of a blankie to meet your “all grown up” blankie and maybe it’ll be inspired.
Congratulations and good luck at the fair – it’s fantastic!
Beautiful! What an accomplishment. Everything else will feel so easy now (knitting-wise, I mean.)
Wow, just found you and your blankie through Ravelry and it is truly amazing!!!!! Well done, I am soooo tempted to try it, if only I could pay someone to weave in the ends for me…….
Wow!!That looks great! thanks so much for sharing
I am a few days behind in reading blogs because I had a paper due. But square B is Online Sock Yarn. I can’t find my label but I have socks to match your square. I checked at some local stores and the store where I bought it said it was a discontinued colorway. I am thinking that it was called City Socks.
Anyway the blanket is beautiful and I can’t wait to see it in person at the Harlot.
Your blankie is gorgeous. I saw the beginnings of it early on via YarnHarlot, and it is so cool to now read how it all came to completion. Congrats.
(oh, and btw…I think it’s hilarious that the “Fifth Stitch” yarn store place that you avoided is in based in a town called “Defiance”…hahahaha)
The similarity between square B and this photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gftc_knits/2314592638/
makes me wonder if perhaps square B is another colourway of Fortissima yarn?
Unreal…magnificant!! Thanks for sharing.
This is the awesomest thing ever.
I am a crocheter, but am trying to become an ambi-needler (? lol)…anyway, I hope to do something as cool as this one day!
That is truly an incredible blanket. You should feel so proud to have created such a beautiful family heirloom – congratulations!
Thanks to the yarn harlot, I finally ended up here. Your blanket is so famous. A friend of mine started one last year…she is still at it…no shortage of sock yarns, so far.
You did a wonderful job, and also I really enjoy your writing.
All the Best!
Holy Moly!
That blankie is a thing of beauty. Kaffe Fassett will be jealous.
WOW.
Just wow.
Enjoy it 4ever!
Kay
“D” has a similar style to Schachenmeyer Regia “Ringel” (5045 “atlantik” if the colour I was thinking of) but it’s not quite right. Close, but not quite.
I was watching your progress when you started getting inundated with yarn, but unfortunately I got a bit distracted by life. So I’m glad I got un-distracted and reminded of your blanket by the YH — I LOVE it, it just gives me joy to look at it.
That is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I lovelovelove it. Thank you so much for sharing that, the pix and the story.