Birlinn Blanket

The final pattern from the wonderful Inspired by Islay collection/club by Kate Davies was the Birlinn Blanket, a gorgeous modular blanket which Kate knit up in rainbow shades. Despite having many other projects on the go (including two from Inspired by Islay) I cast it on almost immediately. It is the most fun project to knit, each little square is both logical and enjoyable knitting. I hadn't any Buachaille in my stash but I keep a rolling sort of stash of Shetland Spindrift by Jamieson's so I was able to put together a selection of colours. Many of the colours in this blanket were originally purchased so I could knit Marie Wallin's Sage Tunic. I had to scrap that idea due to the charts, I find Marie's charts quite difficult to work from. It's great to have Spindrift in my stash though for any random cast-ons.

The pattern fits logically if spread over 4 dpns although many people are using two circulars to knit each square. I find circulars a bit whippy and annoying so I'll stick with the dpns.

I kept finding a little bowl of water leftover from the boys' bathtime, useful for soaking each square (when I was knocking out one a day!).

First 12 squares joined together. I'm very pleased with the fabric, it's light and warm and woolly. The Spindrift colours are just perfect, I'm a huge fan of Spindrift and really enjoy getting my shadecard out to plan new projects.

My joins are wonky but I'm not much of a perfectionist with my knitting so it's not a problem (although I know eagle-eyed fellow knitters will spot that issue). I loved joining the squares, I'd imagine it wouldn't be so pleasant if you weren't keen on picking up stitches. I never used to enjoy picking up stitches because I had never learnt how to do it correctly. I used to literally pick up loops of the already knit fabric in a haphazard sort of fashion. A couple of years ago I read something about picking up stitches on Kate Davies's blog and looked up how to do it correctly, it was a bit of a revelation and I enjoy picking up stitches now!