Is Less More? Nope! More is way more fun!
Often, as soon as we complete a pattern, my very first thought is: I wanna make another version of this; one that’s marled, or at a different gauge, or with a different colour palette, or with longer sleeves… The design process is a like a never-ending journey down the rabbit hole, and my ideas for how to remake, adjust, or hack our own designs is a very long one!
The Polygon Blanket was designed in Tanis Fiber Arts Yellow Label DK, but you can easily work this modular design in any weight of yarn!
As Mad Colour was launched, I simply couldn’t resist casting on for a super-sized marled version of the Polygon Blanket. I used 6.5mm needles, and held 3 yarns together, a DK (or light worsted) plus a couple of skinnier ones; sock or lace.
I’ve only knit a few hexis so far, but I’m sure one day I’ll add this blanket to the pile of woolly goodness that is drowning my couch!
Super Sized Blanket obsession?
You can see in the Marley Blanket (also from Mad Colour) and the great big Tunisian Crochet Stashbuster Blanket, AND the super gigantic Bonfire Blanket I made this year, I have been more than a little bit obsessed with making gigantic blankets at super bulky gauges! Looking back, this all seems a little bit unreasonable…
This bulky bad boy was knit on 15mm needles! To make this Marley blanket I combined a ton of random leftovers and odd balls to create a fabulous ombre.
Mega bulky satisfaction, this is the Bonfire Blanket, learn more here.
A gigantic Tunisian Crochet Stashbuster Blanket, learn more here.
I don’t know what had gotten into me. OK, strictly that may not be true! I think a lot of these blankets were cast on during my pregnancy, and could be blamed upon the unfortunately termed but quite strong urge to ‘nest’ (yup, like I was a rotund hamster shredding old toilet paper tubes). Regardless of intent, seriously woolly blankets happened, and now everyone is very cozy around here!
Other ways to hack Polygon
Another hack I tried was knitting a striped hexagon, using a self-striping yarn (Noro Kureyon) and a solid white yarn (Cascade Eco). You could create a similar effect to the POP blanket if you started with a main colour, then switched the a CC for the final 8-10 rounds of the hexi. You could also do like @karenelisepage who shared her self-striping hexis on Instagram (she used Noro Kureyon too).
My striped version of Polygon
These hexis were made with Noro Kureyon, with beautiful gradual colour shifts
These ideas could be applied to many of our modular blankets; they’re all quite easy to hack. The squares of the Vivid blanket can be worked in different weights, or with a contrast colour garter border (like Alexa did). You could used marled scraps to make the centres of a POP blanket. The Fly Away blanket can be put together in so many different configurations (we love the ones by Tanis of Tanis Fiber Arts, and Undone57).
What Should you MARL?
Well, really, what shouldn’t you marl? OK, I’d say that where projects have a more complex stitch pattern, this probably won’t read very well if you have a high-contrast marl. But if you’ve been following Tin Can Knits for awhile, you’ll know that we have a pretty extensive stable of basic patterns, which keep it simple for the most part!
Join our fabulous #TCKhackathon
Want to get started on something a little bit different this holiday season? Our holiday KAL is a hackathon! Choose a Tin Can Knits pattern, and then change it up, add stripes, an extra pattern, or work it at a different gauge. There is a super fantastic prize… but the real joy is knitting along with others! Share with the hashtag #TCKhackathon2016
Modular TCK blankets:
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save