One of my mentors in graduate school recently fell ill. In an effort to alleviate her discomfort, I put together this care package: 100% alpaca blanket, and aromatherapy hot/cold packs. Directions for hot/cold packs here. I used whole flaxseed, chamomile and lavender essential oils. 

Lunar New Year Blanket - Finished Product

One week's time and we have a blanket!


With a flash:

Without a flash:

In detail:

Wrapped up and ready to go, 23 days early :]

A Happy (early) Lunar New Year to all.

Lunar New Year Blanket - Half Way Mark

We've reached the half-way mark, give or take, based on ball of yarn use. All that remains is on the left.

Next to a can of chili, so you can better judge the size:

A little closer for detail:

I'll do a boarder of the yarn seen in the middle when I reach the end of the tweed.

Lunar New Year Blanket - In Progress

Results from Day 1 on the Lunar New Year blanket. I'm working in a Granny Square pattern with a size G or 6-4.25 mm crochet hook from Boye.

Yarn Review

I'm working on a blanket as a gift for Lunar New Year . I bought ten skeins of baby alpaca grande tweed (the mostly orange one) and two skeins of baby alpaca grande hand dyed (the multicoloured one) at Woolcott and co. in Cambridge, MA. Both are products of Plymouth Yarn. This yarn feels absolutely delicious. Its incredibly soft, but does shed a bit as you work with it. There is very little vegetative matter in skeins, and it rolled into balls fairly easily. Its working very easily into the blanket, and it splits/catches infrequently. Although pricey I really enjoy working with this yarn. I was able to get it 20% off due to an after Christmas sale, it was retailed for $19.00/skein. I took the photos below in different lights to better show the colors/how it can vary from the website.

I'll be using this yarn on project tagged as mm1.