i've made colinette afghans before, but have strayed further and further from the colourways in the kits. this one isn't even all colinette yarns. it's a wedding present for amy (and scott). the wedding isn't until october but, i figured, so what, and gave it to them already, this past saturday, after brunch at carman's (we were apparently the first party of the season to enjoy the "outdoor seating", which is located in the back of carman's pick-up truck.)
here are a couple of close ups of the various yarn and color combos in the afghan:
amy is a toy designer, painter and illustrator. here are three of the paintings of amy's i had in mind when choosing the colors:
but of course i included lots of extra orange mohair just for scott, because scott is a rat packer and scott therefore knows that you cannot spell "the original ocean's eleven" without "orange mohair". he knows that.
the orange mohair is specifically for scott, and yet ben kept lamenting throughout the knitting of this afghan this past winter, "this is a gift for amy. it's not for scott at all."
he was wrong.
a strange coincidence involving colinette afghan-making and celebrity sightings. i made a colinette afghan a few years back for ben's folks, and saw jim carrey on the street while i still had the bag of yarn in my hand. this time, right after giving scott and amy their finished afghan, ben and i chased willem dafoe around and around the art museum area. these are the afghans of the stars!
how weird is it when you complete not only all the holiday knitting on time, but a completely unrelated project on christmas day?
coming in at half the size originally imagined (for the better, je crois), is the Couch Moebius Number One. it has long seemed to me that a large version of a moebius would be perfect for snuggling up in, with none of the tucking-in-of-ends one normally has to burden oneself with when using a plain old afghan.
i went to work with no idea of gauge or any method of sizing other than shoving as many stitches as i could onto the needle i was using.
ben
chose the yarn; in the long run, i only like the yarn enough for a couch moebius this size, and if i ever choose to make a larger one -- which i might, given this one's instant popularity and use -- i'll choose the yarn myself. this yarn looks like port wine cheddar cheese spread to me. not that there's anything wrong with that.
try this on for size if you need a new couch afghan! it's wonderful to be able to just have it already attached to you more or less, when you get up for a drink or to go to the bathroom. it's an afghan that follows you anywhere, easily. it's not big enough for two -- which had been my original vision -- but, like i said, i think this idea is going places in this house.
i spun it, i knitted it up in mistake stitch ribbing. and it's an afghan; a relatively normal-sized afghan.
it's got a bit of a hairshirt quality to it. itchy. plus, with my amateur spinning skills, there are thin places that i fear would be too brittle for the wear and tear of hardcore napping. i can easily picture a foot breaking right through the stitches! maybe i'm being overprotective, but i think this'll just live on the rocking chair like i originally planned.
there's something about the wobbliness of the stitches, due to the twist of the yarn, that reminds me of my grandfather's printing.