I'M FINISHED!!

I was too polite to shout on Stashalong or February is for Finishing, but this is my blog and I'll shout if I want to! (apologies to Wally Gold, John Gluck, and Herb Weiner)

I finished the Patches Wrap (afghan) by sewing in over 2200 ends. I counted to 2200 but the end was in sight and I wasn't wasting any more time counting! 2200 was close enough!

Presenting ... Patches Wrap (ta-dah!)

The photo doesn't do it justice, the purple patches stand out but the subtle gradings of colour (that's how we spell it in Oz) don't show, so here is a close up.
It's a loose diagonal knit (or I'm a loose knitter) done on 3.25 needles (US 3) using 4ply (sports) baby yarn, mostly nylon but some acrylic and some wool. The idea was to use up oddballs left over from other projects - the tan patch in the centre (top photo) was from a jumper (sweater) my mother made my daughter about 18 years ago (the jumper is long gone). The variegated yellow/white (above photo, bottom right) was left over from the first baby article I ever knitted, it was for my nephew who is now "twenty something" and a father himself. But these are new yarns compared to one of the blues which I inherited from my grandmother; I assume she used it to knit for my brother and he is now in his mid-forties! There is so much history in this wrap that I wonder if I can really give it away.

Anyway, as I was saying, the idea was to use up odd-balls, but, as is often the case, the project needed more yarn than I had so I bought more; now I have nearly as many oddballs left as when I started! No wonder the Good Book tells us to count the cost before beginning.

And, finally, here is a photo to give it scale: teddy is 13 inches tall, so you can see how many patches there are.
Teddy is my second finished project this past weekend - and my fourth for 2007! Woo-hoo, I'm on a roll!

Teddy's off to join his family and I'm off to my next WIP
- a cable jumper in 8 ply (worsted; DK) wool which I started a few years ago.
I didn't have enough yarn to finish the project (this has never happened to me before); while I waited for more yarn to arrive by mail order from Bendigo Woollen Mill I started something else and lost interest in the jumper. Now, I have to swatch again to determine what size needles I was using. Ah well, at least the stitch count is easy!