Looking for Pattern/Inspiration

#1

My mother-in-law just left her husband of about 3 years and has moved back to our town. She’s gotten herself an apartment that isn’t the best, but it’s close to us and a safe area. Anyway!

I want to knit her a snuggly warm blanket that will be easy to keep clean and won’t suck up dog hair. She doesn’t have a dog, but we have two who will visit her regularly as they’re as close as she’s getting to grand-kids at this point. heheh. Afghan size is good since I expect her to use this while in her recliner this winter.

I’m poking around over on Knitting Pattern Central and am now in pattern overload. If any of you guys would like to suggest an afghan and yarn combo it might help jog loose my sense of inspiration. Please!

#2

I’ll take a look at patterns, but I gotta tell you that I don’t think there is a yarn that is animal fur proof. :shrug: What content do you want the yarn? Is acrylic okay? Do you want wool? Do you shop online, LYS, or craft store?

#3

s’cool, Jan. I know I’ll never get fabric of any kind that repels my dogs’ hair. They are sheddin’ fools!

I’m not too picky about the yarn content. She has no allergies so I’m wide open. I was considering Malabrigo because everyone on here raves about it and how awesome it is to knit up and I’ve never worked with it.

I’ll buy yarn wherever I find it at a good price. I have a LYS that I really like so I’ll probably try to pick up whatever I need there. They have a really good selection!

sigh Everytime I go look at patterns I just end up finding stuff I want to knit for ME! hehehehe. Common problem, right?

#4

Malabrigo is hand wash so I wouldn’t use it for that reason alone, but it’s also expensive and an afghan uses a lot of yarn! Plymouth Encore is 25% wool/ 75% acrylic, washes well and is really soft for most people. It also comes in 3 weights and has lots of nice solid and multi colors and isn’t prohibitively expensive if you want a nicer yarn. I enjoy knitting with it and use it a lot.

Here’s a bunch of afghans from Lion Brand. I love the cable ones.
http://cache.lionbrand.com/cgi-bin/patternFinder.fcgi?search=Search&searchText=&craft=Knit&categoryKey=1694544&subcategory=21&size=&edition=&cost=Any&componentCategoryKey=Any&yarnClass=Any&searchType=0&I4.x=27&I4.y=8&I4=Search!