In 2011, I decided to knit something giant. But I didn't really know where to start. There were no tutorials available, so I was flying blind.
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First, I bought six pounds of unspun wool roving, then I went to the hardware store and bought broomsticks to act as knitting needles. When the broomsticks were too small, I went back and bought 1.5" diameter PVC pipe. I turned each five-foot length of pipe into "knitting needles" by adding duct-tape tips, and just started knitting. A few hours later, I had my Giganto-Blanket.
When I posted a video of myself knitting the blanket, I was suddenly getting a lot of requests for the pattern. So I wrote up the Giganto-Blanket pattern and put it up online, and now I even sell the finished blankets on Etsy.
More info: nocturnalknits.com | Etsy
Like Atlas, but with wool
Don't look now, but you've got a giant ball of yarn behind you...
On the needles
Those knitting needles are five feet long. Seriously.
Playing with scale
Tiny bed or giant blanket? Oh wait, is that a cat?
All balled up
These balls of yarn are ready to be knit into a Giganto-Blanket.
It's so squishy
Really, you can't imagine how soft it is.
Free People custom design
Free People asked me to make a version of the blanket for their holiday shop.
Giant yarn, cat + spinning wheel
Neither the cat nor the spinning wheel is required for making the blanket, but they sure to do look cute sitting there.
My first attempt
It turns out knitting on broomsticks wasn't good enough. I had to go bigger!
Cabled Giganto-Blanket
The giant scale of the knitting makes for really dramatic cable patterns.
Free People custom design
Free People decided to call it the "Big Sky Blanket" - they sold out almost immediately.
Quality assurance
My cat Magnus likes to inspect each blanket and give me feedback.
Tiny cat?
Molly is a small cat, but next to the Giganto-Blanket she looks downright miniature! (She loves "helping" me knit my blankets.)
Pure comfort
It turns out the blanket is my cats' favorite place to sleep.