Oh to Curl Up With a Cup of Tea

If you already know me, or are perhaps very observant, you may have noticed, through my relentless desire to wear sweaters and cozy things no matter the time of year or practicality, that I want all of the coziness that I can possibly attain. These beautiful rainy days in Oregon are no exception to my bundling-standard and I will go to great lengths to assure that I spend my mornings wrapped in something soft and warm to either sit and sip tea or venture out and tromp through ankle high mud on a farm.  

Which makes this project an inevitable creation of mine.

I started the main body of this blanket disguised as a cardigan a year ago.  I packed it around on public transit and worked on it during every spare moment I could.

The yarn was extra super bulky and 100% wool.  I used size 15 (US) needles and still managed to get a rather tight knit going.  

However at the time, I had only ever made scarves of varying sorts, and as you can see from the sleeve on the right -- I had a lack of experience that was worth a good cringe.

I resorted to putting it in the corner, where all good projects go to think about how they wronged me, and didn't touch it until just this last week.

Being armed with having made a sweater before, I made sure that the base of the sleeve actually fit the hole in the cardigan and made the decreases far less severe.  

Obviously this meant I didn't challenge myself enough in this project, so to stitch up the seam of the sleeve I came face to face with my old foe.

Crochet.  

After looking up many tutorials on Pinterest I found that this great and powerful enemy of mine was the best way to securely stitch together my sleeve and complete the long-abandoned project.  This wasn't the time to be weak or show fear.  I had to be strong.

I unsheathed my crochet hook and made my first advance into the lair of the beast.  

It fought valiantly and, even though I totally did everything the way I was supposed to, it had too much heart and refused to be anything other than a chaotic mess of fluff and fury.  I further researched the monster that is crochet and attempted yet again to conquer it.

I had to move quickly before it caught my scent and discovered me for who I am -- a knitter.

Readying myself with an extra long tail from the end of the sleeve, I picked up stitches on either end of the knitted piece and swiftly pulled the yarn through giving myself a loop and the leverage I needed to defeat this thing once and for all.

With each piercing lunge of my crochet hook I pulled loop through loop, again and again.  Each time picking up my frightened knitted stitches, and escorting them to safety.  

The loop I would leave would be the loop I ventured through the next time, only to pull the old one tight thus sealing its fate.

After many minutes and much swearing- the beast was defeated.

I then of course had to stitch up the other sleeve in the same fashion and then stitch those sleeves onto the main body.  

In case you were wondering, it weighs a whopping 5 pounds.  

It definitely looks like a blanket with sleeves draped around me, but that's exactly what I wanted for winter mornings with my tea or late nights working on a good pair of socks.  

The colours of this happen to be one of my dream palettes of colour, so it was nice to finish something that embodied so many things I love together.  This was further improved by making it into an epic tale of triumph.

To all of you crocheters out there: your talents are remarkable, and I admire you greatly.

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.