On The Needles: Elder Throw

I mentioned in my previous On The Needles post that when I was on the hunt for a pattern for my son's temperature blanket I stumbled across a number of blankets that sparked something in me. 

I was particularly drawn to the patchwork or sampler style of blanket, where you have a number of panels in different stitches. Once I had established that none of these designs would be suitable for the temperature blanket I had in mind, a new seed started to grow: I would make a blanket for myself.

This new blanket would be a patchwork one and it would challenge me to learn some new stitches or techniques. It would be a slow burn project which I could work on over the course of the coming year. I would start on the 1st of January 2025 and by the end of the year I would (hopefully) have my very own blanket to snuggle under. 

Through all my searches, there was one pattern which kept cropping up; the Rowan Elder Throw pattern.

Mitred square making early in the year.

It had originally been released in 2020 as a knit along project from Rowan and had become a lockdown knitting project for many people. It was initially released in eight parts so I estimated that I'd be able to dedicate about 6.5 weeks to each one.

My colour inspiration came from one of Attic 24 blanket patterns. I loved the Stylecraft Special DK colours in the Cosy Blanket, so approximated the Yarnsmiths Create DK equivalents. The original design was to be knitted in Rowan Felted Tweed, but I have set myself the challenge of getting one of each colour of the Yarnsmiths acrylics, so it made sense to shop my stash for this one.

Lovely warm colours.

I was worried that I would get hung up on colour combinations, so decided to go totally random. I numbered each of the 15 colours I'd chosen, then used a basic random number generator to select which would be used for each part of the project. Each colour gets ticked off and I won't return to it until all the other colours have had a turn to be worked.

The first release called for five mitred square panels, four of these consist of four squares and one features nine. Initially, I felt like I needed to concentrate quite closely on these squares; it had been a while since I'd tried using the mitred corner technique. Now I can work the initial two squares on virtual autopilot and just need slightly more attention to pick up the stitches in the third and fourth squares.

I optimistically planned to finish these by the middle of February. And here we are, into April, still no nearer to getting started on release two. But I don't really mind. This one is all about the process, if it takes me a little longer than the year that I'd originally planned, so be it. Along the way, I'm learning some new things, so that makes it all worthwhile.

I'm now at the same point with my final square for this one as I was with the third square when I took this photo.

Expect to see more photos of this one cropping up here this year.