100% Australian merino wool

June 13, 2015 10:03 AM

‘Chunky Knits’ by Anna Mo
posted by the man of twists and turns (30 comments total)

Those look like they would be better to lay on than under. More like futons than blankets. Plus I wonder what the cost would be for a whole blanket.
posted by Bee'sWing at 10:25 AM on June 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

Depends on the size, apparently. Plus a probably non-trivial shipping cost.
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 11:05 AM on June 13, 2015

I kind of want a single-stitch hat....
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:08 AM on June 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

As a person who prefers the heaviest of blankets year 'round, those things are a dream come true. As though a giantess freed you from her cruel hisband's cage and then gave you one of her hand-knit pot-holders to use at bedtime.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:21 AM on June 13, 2015 [25 favorites]

It depends on how cheap you get your wool. Basically, rather than spinning them down to finer yarn, she's using wool tops as the yarn, then getting broomsticks and the like to knit them into large awesome things.

Other people do this too, and, dude, if you got me enough wool tops and some big-ass needles, I would make you something. Especially with some crazy large cabling all in there.
posted by Katemonkey at 12:39 PM on June 13, 2015 [9 favorites]

As a person who prefers the heaviest of blankets year 'round, those things are a dream come true. As though a giantess freed you from her cruel hisband's cage and then gave you one of her hand-knit pot-holders to use at bedtime.

TELL ME MORE.
posted by lollymccatburglar at 1:00 PM on June 13, 2015 [7 favorites]

I can't afford one, but these look wonderfully cozy.
posted by Dip Flash at 1:06 PM on June 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

ahhhhhh those look so awesomely heavy. I'm having whatever the thundershirt equivalent of ASMR is.
posted by threeants at 1:59 PM on June 13, 2015 [7 favorites]

Is that the actual knitting process in the last picture? Making these things must be an insane workout. Imagine twirling around two outstretched baseball bats for any length of time.
posted by univac at 2:37 PM on June 13, 2015

100% Australian Marino wool ships from Ukraine
posted by sconbie at 2:59 PM on June 13, 2015

Just bought a couple blankies. So great. Thanks!
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:13 PM on June 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

I love Etsy and eastern Europe. We bought a clock from an artist in Ukraine - a simple circle of birch plywood transformed into something amazingly unique by the artist's brush... and it tells time. I bought my wife a leather purse from Romania, hand-stiched from some quality hide of a tastefully unique color, with cast brass fittings. It's so well put together, our daughter will inherit this thing, even if her mother uses it daily until the day she dies at a hundred and twenty. My wife's co-workers have been pestering her non-stop to get her to reveal which edgy, underground boutique she got it at, and none of them believe it's a woman working out of her small studio in Bucharest who charges a couple hundred bucks for a couple grand's worth of craftsmanship and style.

So, yes, of course it's an artist in Ukraine making something practical, necessary, economical and lovely and delightful beyond all reason. Putting this on your couch would make you feel like a Borrower, to expand on the giantess-pot-holder riff...
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:19 PM on June 13, 2015 [5 favorites]

(RE: "Economical" - check out the prices on "designer" comforters at the "Nice" department store at your local mall sometime. Made with sweatshop labor on machines.)
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:26 PM on June 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

Is Merino wool worth the extra cost, either for blankets or hoodies?
posted by Beholder at 6:46 PM on June 13, 2015

I think I'm the only person who has no great love for chunky yarn. I do like how fast it is to make even quite large projects, but I forever prefer actually knitting with dainty yarn.
posted by Aranquis at 7:00 PM on June 13, 2015 [6 favorites]

Is Merino wool worth the extra cost, either for blankets or hoodies?

I've got merino wool underwear and it's fantastic, although you have to be careful washing them. The sales lady said her partner and a friend took a bet in secret to see who could wear the same pair of merino underwear longest, they went 23 days before the girlfriend found out and forced them to stop.
posted by furtive at 9:17 PM on June 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

Ugh I want this so bad!! But it is so expensive and I have too many cats. Probably not a good combo.
posted by mokeydraws at 10:16 PM on June 13, 2015

I differ to memory of Thelma, knitting diva, Queen mother of yarn.
In my samples of family work, dating a early piece of hers from 1919 to her last piece, 2001. And her mothers last piece, 1954, she was born in 1874, the big blanket one, looks just like most samples, fine threading, even knit. She would have adored this and probably would have wrote a small monograph on its storage.
posted by clavdivs at 10:39 PM on June 13, 2015

I think I'm the only person who has no great love for chunky yarn. I do like how fast it is to make even quite large projects, but I forever prefer actually knitting with dainty yarn.

Aranquis, you are not the only one - if I'm using needles larger than 4mm, it feels weird.

However, I have already made plans for the next EMF Camp to take my copy of The Manly Art of Knitting, two broom handles, and some rope and make myself a hammock.
posted by Katemonkey at 11:28 PM on June 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

Merino can be worn insanely long without stinking. (Just to be clear: you will stink unless you shower, but it doesn't.) I wore the same undershirt day and night for three weeks in Nepal, sweating a lot by day and freezing at night, and it was fine. Cotton or synthetic options would have been unbearable after a few days. I might have managed four showers (ie, a cup to pour hot or cold water from a bucket) during that period.

Super fine Merino boxers do have a problem, however: any rubbing on your outer pants rapidly produces holes in the fabric, which makes them a hellishly expensive proposition. Still, being able to carry two pairs for three weeks' hiking, without having to wash them at all, is a huge bonus. I guess I should also admit that this is merino from New Zealand, rather than Australian merino.

As for the topic at hand: I don't think the chunky knit style really lends itself to compact, lightweight underwear...
posted by pjm at 11:58 PM on June 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

Want. want want want want want want want
posted by harriet vane at 12:30 AM on June 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

Slap*Happy - do you have a link to the leather work store? The description has me intrigued!
posted by Gin and Broadband at 2:50 AM on June 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Corys Bags - the exact model my wife has isn't there, but I get the impression most of these are one-of-a-kind.
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:04 AM on June 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

I love these. I'd bring one to work and live in bliss
posted by biggreenplant at 5:22 AM on June 14, 2015

Looking at the photos of the ladies completely engulfed in the chunky blankets makes me start itching, kind of like when someone mentions fleas. Maybe in my next life wool won't make me itch because they do look lovely.
posted by Athanassiel at 5:25 AM on June 14, 2015

There's a knitting pattern for a similarly giant-stitch blanket that made the rounds a few years ago. The yarn is made from roving that's slightly felted so it doesn't come apart or pill. I planned on making a super-chunky scarf but never finished it - I didn't care for the felting process.
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:00 AM on June 14, 2015

Ok, now to figure out how to do this on my own.
posted by KernalM at 6:56 AM on June 14, 2015

Merino wool, huh? Well, if it's anything like my Merino sweaters and socks, the moths will gobble those blankets up while I'm asleep.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 7:15 AM on June 14, 2015

If you're really interested in DIYing this, but find the wool undesirable (cost, itch, vegan, etc), you can buy a bolt of white jersey knit, aka: tshirt material, cut into strips, make the strips join end to end, stretch your string so that it curls into itself, and make a ball of cotton yarn fit for a giantess.

Or for more human size, you can do the same to a bunch of old tshirts.

Takes dye too!
posted by fontophilic at 11:14 AM on June 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

I like heavy blankets, too. But when I see these, all I can think is large yarn=large holes. So not so warm.
But yeah, awesome idea for a hammock.
posted by bluefly at 3:26 AM on June 15, 2015