finally, the FO i've been waiting for

last night, i finished the new zealand blanket.

finished. seams sewn. ends woven. fringe embellishment added. finished.

so, for any reader who's new here, this is the blanket i started last february during our trip to new zealand. instead of buying souvenirs, i bought a skein of yarn in most of the spots we stopped at during the trip. i had managed to purchase all but three skeins by the time my granny died and we had to come back to the states, so i purchased yarn in denver and in oregon (on our last day off before going back to work after a month).

i've been knitting off and on ever since, and it seemed like i would never finish. and once i did finish, i dreaded sewing the thing together.

but all of a sudden, before i realized it, i was finished with all the squares, and the sewing took no more than two rugby matches and an episode of globe trekker (translation: about 3.5 hours, max, with some stopping in between). fringe took another hour. and voila.

it's not perfect. i made mistakes. but i love it still.

gratuitous close up of the first square i started knitting, in the rain, in kaikoura

for all the knitters, here are some details:

pattern: design source collections "four seasons throws" for 12 squares, misc. patterns for 8 squares
yarn (not in any order, including location purchased):

• utiku wools perendale ("iris", utiku; orange "traffic", utiku)
  
• shepherd colour 4 me (light blue, dunedin)
• cleckheaton country (maroon, dunedin; black, whangarei; sage, taupo; olive green, whangarei; heather grey, dunedin; butter yellow, kaikoura)
• cleckheaton country naturals (oatmeal, greymouth; grey tweed, dunedin)
  
• rainbow pure wool (teal, blenheim; red, greymouth; navy, greymouth)
• crucci, clan stewart perendale (cream, blenheim)
• ashford tekapo (rust, whangarei)
• lamb's pride worsted (blue magic, denver; mottled red "prairie fire", hillsboro)
  

needles: my granny's hand-me-down metal needles, u.s. size 10

started: approx. 2/8/06

finished: 9/19/07

modifications: pattern blocks measured approx. 11.5 inches, vs 13 inches, as called for by the pattern. i also increased the blanket size by adding 8 squares, which required the addition of different patterns than what design source called for. i found these online in various sources, plus made up a couple.

*sigh*