A gift from a friend

Most of my friends know what I get up to of a evening.  Several have received the fruits of my labour as birthday or Christmas presents.  Occasionally one will find a ball or two of yarn and donate it to my ever expanding stash.  One day I got a knock on the door to find a friend with a huge massive laundry bag, crammed full with all sorts of woolly goodness.

It's always exciting when you find a new stash to root through, and this was no different.  Among all the usual half used balls of acrylic were several brand new packets of wool.  Wool.  Proper wool.  Wool from a real sheep. Undyed, unbleached, naturally coloured wool.

So, I'm making her a blanket!  (What else)  Partly as a thank you, and partly to use up this vast resource of wool that I'd struggle to find another use for.

One problem is, that it is really scratchy.  I did hook up a quick sample square, and ran it through the washing machine.  It came out much softer and after a couple more washes it was really nice.  But, I need to finish the blanket before I can wash it.  I've not made as much progress as I'd of liked, as it even irritates through my clothes, so I end up wrapping a baby blanket round me before I start, and that gets a bit warm in the summer!
Now the nights are drawing in, and it's getting a bit chilly-er of an evening I hope to make a bit more of an effort to get it finished.  Ah well, I've got till Christmas and that's aaages off yet!