Talk About Progress

My blanket has grown by leaps and bounds once again. One of my friends once said to me I probably don't see the progress in my blanket because I look at it everyday as I'm adding squares. She is correct. The growth of this blanket just hits me from time-to-time.

The latest growth is partially due to the fact I purchased one of our newer Limited Edition Kits.

Normally, we do not incorporate the minis from our kits into our blankets. We put these special kits together especially for you first and foremost. However, this time I couldn't resist! I had to have these yarns in my blanket. Then of course, I had to take pictures! (That's part of the fun!)



There is also . . .

AND

You get the idea? They are really pretty colorways! Well, it's time for me to get going. Time to knit up some more squares!

Hope everyones blankets are coming along nicely!

Summer May Have Come To An End

But we're not going down without a fight!

That's right! The temperatures may be chilling out a bit, but we're still keeping things warm with our new Salad Days Mitered Square Blanket Kit.




This latest mitered square blanket kit give you a tasty mix of Cherry Tree Hill, Opal and Araucania sock weight yarns. Each mini-skein of this Knitters Dozen (14) is approximately 20 yards long, makes one if not two squares and comes in a variety of colors.

It's the perfect ingredient for your mitered square blanket!

To purchase one of these delightful treats, check out the Tadpole Knits Esty shop.

Leaps and Bounds

We've been so busy coordinating new colorways and products that our blog has been very quiet. However, that doesn't mean our blankets haven't gotten attention.

My blanket turned 100 last week. I was so proud! I marked the occasion by using yarn that was very special to me. Also, I added my first big square. The funny thing about this milestone is that 100 square is exciting, but then you realize it's just 100 squares and there are so many more to go. Then, you go back to the feeling of amazement. Wasn't it just yesterday that I made the decision to embark on this journey?

Yes, journey. I feel like this project is a journey. The hours of work that have been put into this blanket have been many hours of deep soul searching on many parts of my life. Many hours of fun conversations and laughs. Many hours of memories. In the end, it will be a physical record of one point-in-time of my life.

When I first started, I would joke about its alternate uses. Coaster, laptop cover, shawl. I could practically put it down on most anything to photography it without a problme. Now the best place I've found is the floor or my sofa.

At the end of the day, I am in awe of how it has grown . . . . kind of how our life changes and grows. . . by leaps and bounds.

Hope your blankets are progressing nicely!

Mitered Square Blanket Club

We’re dropping by to share

some BIG news with you!

We are excited to announce our Mitered Square Sock Blanket Kit club. We’ve partnered with three talented Independent Dyers who will be creating unique colorways just for club members. That’s right! As a member of the Tadpole Knits Mitered Square club you will receive colorways that no other knitter will have in their Sock Yarn Blanket. Additionally, club members will have the option to purchase full-size hanks of featured club

colors for six months.

Club Specifics:

• Three Months – October, November and December 2009

• Three Independent Dyers – To be announced each month

• 14 Exclusive Colorways, made of 75% wool/25% nylon or 90% wool/10% nylon, Fingering (or sock) weight yarn

• Option to purchase full-size hanks for six months after the colors are first released to club members

• Priced at $80 (including shipping and handling).

To join the fun e-mail us at tadpoleknits@yahoo.com by September 8th. In turn, we will send you 3 fun filled boxes of yarn to make squared for your blanket!

We look forward to having you join the club!

What to do when it is over?

I have been thinking about this. Should I let my kids use my blanket?? I have 3 kids, they range in age from 9 to 3. They tend to eat sticky foods on my sofa, and use blankets during the winter. They pretty much destroy everything.

My kids will want to use the blanket, it will be warm and snugly. I don't heat my house very high. We live in the arctic that is Chicago, and I am super frugal and we don't heat our house above 62 degrees. Yes, if you are cold you can get a sweater.

I digress for a moment, but I was gone for a weekend came home and the house was warm and toasty. My husband who is always cold, had cranked the heat up to 70 for the weekend. I was ready to kill. He is afraid to use the thermostat in our new house.

Back on topic, I imagine because the blanket is warm AND special, they will want to use it. Should I let them? It will probably have 100's of dollars worth of material in it and hours of time... Granted, I have a long time before I get to the finished/fighting over using it period in my blankets existence, but I was just wondering. Your thoughts??

Ivan turned 50 today

Well, it is a bit of a milestone. I finally completed 50 squares. I decided, or rather committed to a width. 17 squares across is how wide my blanket will be. I didn't really want a bed covering, but rather something 2 people (one adult, one smaller person) could snuggle under. It always seems someone wants to be under my blanket.

I choose our favorite blanket and have been using that as a size guide. 16 squares wide was the same as the favorite blanket, but then I noticed that Shelley Kang's blanket was 17 squares. I pondered this for like 2 weeks, and finally decided to go the follower route and add the extra square. I think this will add about 20 or 30 extra squares to the whole finished project, and heaven forbid I not do it right.

Some day I will learn how to take a picture of the blanket and get it all in one frame. Some day my blanket will be longer than 3 rows. But for now, it is 3 pictures to get the whole of it!

Left side:

There is Tadpole Knits kit yarn in this section. But more importantly, this section has Fire (dyed by M), Pony (dyed by H) and S Lost a Tooth (dyed by S). My kids loved dying yarn and it was so much fun to knit their artwork into my blanket.


Middle Section:

Nothing very notable in this section, but it does contain my very first squares.


Right Section:

There is some squares made from Tadpole Knits kits in this section too.


Does anyone else feel that this blanket is sort of like a blog in yarn? Every square has a story, every section reminds me of what was going on when I knit it. I started this blanket when I was in a very bad point in my life, and it is a reminder of how much better things have gotten for us. I am looking forward to what other stories this blanket will tell.

Anyone Got Fiber?

One of the things I love most about the summer is the many fairs and festivals that take place. Especially when the weather is nice.

This past weekend I went to a Fiber Festival. It was such a lovely day! Upon my arrival, the first thing I did was head to the marketplace. If I had all the time in the world, I would just spend hours at a time staring at the beautiful colorways and petting the soft yarns these colors adorn. Unfortunately that isn't the case. Over time I have come to develop a knitting show routine when it comes to the marketplace. First, I do a lap of the marketplace floor to see what catches my eye. I take note of the vendors I want to go back. After my first lap, I proceed to take another lap around the marketplace floor. This time I spend more time looking at the goods. Somehow I managed to make it through the festival without purchasing a single hank. This is not normal!

I think a call to my doctor's office is warranted so I can get this problem fixed.