Lotus Pond

My Lotus Pond Blanket is finally finished! This project began back in 2017 when Josh and I were living in our first apartment in Taiwan. Originally I was going to make pink flowers attached to vines that would hang down from our balcony. It was my first summer in Taiwan and I was unbearably hot most of the time. Knitting wool was difficult so I began making small pink petals. I had a sweater’s worth of Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend that I had brought overseas. After creating my petal pattern I decided to keep knitting petals until I ran out of yarn. Little did I know how long that would take.

The petals made for the perfect travel project; I even brought them on our trip to Australia. Back home in Taiwan, I would knit up a petal when I needed a break from writing my thesis. The project continued when we returned to the US and we were housesitting in Boston when I made me last petal. The vine idea had been abandoned but nothing had replaced it. Winter was fast approaching so I put the project into hibernation and turned my attention towards making warm felted booties.

Months later, in between knitting projects, inspiration struck. I decided to make Frankie Brown’s Ten Stitch Blanket out of blue yarn. Years ago I had knit one for my ex and left it in New Mexico when I left him. To challenge myself I decided to only use yarn from my stash. My vision was to create a water pond for the lotus flowers to “float on”. When we were in Taiwan we often saw lotus ponds and I missed them. My Taipei doctor’s office had a particularly lovely pond with a whole family of turtles.

There was no particular size I wanted for the blanket-just enough to mostly cover a bed. When it seemed big enough I stopped at a corner. Though we hadn’t been back in the States long my stash had grown enough (Thanks knitting friends!) that I didn’t need to buy any blue yarn.

After the pond was finished I pulled out the petals and sewed them together. The center was created with crochet. Since the project already featured various stitches I designed a lotus petal using seed stitch. Once I write up the pattern and have it test knit, it will be for sale on my store and on Ravelry.

 

This project was still ongoing when Granola came to live with us again. He and Ursula both helped me as I attached the flowers. Just as I imagined it looks like they are walking/sleeping on water whenever they’re on it. It’s a funny visual pun but I also like to think it shows how magical cats are.

 

This blanket took over four years to complete. I love that it was created in multiple countries. Many of the yarns are leftovers from previous projects or yarn Josh bought for me on his various travels. Snuggling with it brings back happy memories. We like to meditate on it and of course the cats love sleeping on it. Making this project reawakened my fiber art energy. I love working on long term fiber art projects.

Name: Lotus Petal Blanket
Genre: Fiber Art
Technique: Knitting, Crochet
Pattern Source: Ten Stitch Blanket (free Ravelry download) plus Lotus Flower Pattern (coming soon)
Yarn: Blanket-blueish yarns from my stash, Flowers-Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend, Colorway 3113
Needle Size: Blanket-4.5mm, Lotus flowers-4.0mm, Flower centers-F hook, Lotus leaves-5.0 mm
Size: 58″ x 58″
Created: 2017-2021