Martha’s Gingham Blanket, part 1

 

It happened last week.  I was just innocently flipping through the November issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine, probably also watching an episode of Downton Abbey, probably still wearing jammies and a bathrobe, when I was suddenly, and without warning, inspired.  I saw that picture and everything just stopped.  You know that feeling? Before I even had time to finish my coffee, I was racing to the yarn shop to buy an armload of yarn to make another blanket.  Actually, more than an armload:

Enough?  Too much?  It turns out I actually have no idea whatsoever how much yarn goes into making a blanket.  I’ve always just used scraps.  This seems like a pretty enormous amount of yarn.  In fact, it’s so much yarn that there’s absolutely nowhere but right there on the table to put it, which is why it was in a bunch of last week’s photos (you guys notice everything!)  It is all Patons Classic Merino (Erin, how did you ever spot that?  This girl knows her Patons) in three sock monkey colors, which made me laugh, wondering if the cashier thought I was planning on some kind of sock monkey bender.  That’s it, everyone I know is getting a handknit sock monkey for Christmas!  That would be kind of awesome.

There’s just these three colors, and that’s it.  Cream, taupe, and a marled cream/taupe mix.  A little subdued, no?  It may require a zen-like discipline I don’t currently possess to accomplish all that garter stitch in nothing but three very neutral hues, but it never hurts to grow a little, right?  I’ve already had to counteract it by crocheting a bunch of circus-colored granny squares and dishcloths, but I’ll tell you, this blanket is so amazingly comforting to work on.  There’s nothing I love more than an endless, mindless project.  Martha, you had me at hello.