Finished Project: Wool Eater lap blanket

This project has been in the works for over a year at least. It started with the intention of using up all of the purple, and blue worsted weight yarns I had in my stash. But then I ran out of yarn and it was too small to be of any use. Then I bought more yarn and it was the wrong shades of purple. Then I started a scrappy Granny square afghan for a friend to also use up all my miscellaneous worsted yarns and that took precedence. I finally finished that one (and didn’t’ take photos before giving it to her, so I have no evidence of its existence other than a much reduced yarn stash. Yay!) and could focus on getting this one done. The dark taupe yarn I used as the final rounds was what was left over from the borders of the granny afghan so I couldn’t use it here until I knew I wouldn’t need it there.

I love the texture of this stitch. It is still a fairly small afghan, just covers my lap, but it is heavy! I used the tutorial from Sarah London. (Note: “dtr” in her instructions are the same as a treble stitch in American crochet.) And make no mistake, there is a reason she named this pattern “Wool Eater”.  By the time I got to the last few rounds it was taking about 200 yards of yarn to finish the pattern of two compete rounds.

I think if I were to make it again I would try increasing the size of my hook a little to make it less dense and maybe a little larger per round. It would still use up a lot of yarn but may not be so heavy when finished in a usable size. I would also consider using her instructions for making an oblong Wool Eater.

I think my big tub of miscellaneous wool yarn can be moved out of the living room now. It is down by at least half but there is still a lot of yarn to go. But I’m getting tired of scrappy crochet projects. I’m thinking it might be time to try to tame the sock yarn bin. Haven’t knit socks in ages.