The Big Marl again

I made a big marl in 2018 as I had splurged on lots of hand-dyed yarn I had no idea what to do with, also because it looked so cosy, also because it is garter stitch! I love garter stitch! The blanket worked up fast, I remember taking it along with me to a wedding reception and working on it both en route (was a long drive) and while we waited for the food to be served.

I gave this first Big Marl to my sister Sam but it ended up downstairs as my mum also likes to use it, when Josie visits she also likes to curl up underneath it (Josie is the most nesh person I've ever known!). As Josie really liked the blanket I decided to knit her one for her 30th birthday present.

I've used more colours than I first intended. Josie is really fussy about colour, loves lemon yellow, dislikes mustard... I had forgotten just how much yarn this blanket takes to knit however and ended up just having fun with it and using colours I felt worked fairly well together. I added pom poms because Josie likes that sort of thing :-)
It's been a good project to be finishing up over the last 48 hours after the boiler broke, it's been lovely and warm on my lap... Every year the boiler breaks, always when we really need it, it never likes to break in the Summer! Unfortunately replacing it (as I would like to do) isn't up to us as the house is rented. I can't tell you how much I hate renting, everything simply being left to break before it gets fixed or replaced. The carpets.... The carpets are always the cheapest thinnest carpets and always seem to have been fitted by an odd-job man (because it's cheaper) and they subsequently ruckle up because fitting carpets is similar to stretching a canvas, they need stretching and fixing into place by a professional! Oh well. I have to remind myself that life isn't about home ownership (although that is one of the reasons I am re-training, so we can get a flaming mortgage).

But the Big Marl! The pattern is a free Hedgehog Fibres one, the only modification I made was the increases, I did a single increase per row into the second stitch, decreased the same way (into the second stitch of each row) and I omitted the I-cord edging.