This blanket was such a delight to design and knit and it all began with the center stitch pattern and a cold January day. I was flipping through my stitch dictionary just browsing for inspiration and kept flipping back to the page with the center motif on it. Something about that geometric pattern was so appealing to me, it spoke of warmer places, of sand and sun and dry warmth. Perhaps tents in the desert with deeply patterned textiles, the smell of smoke and reverence for nature and the divine in tandem. With the dreary January rain outside the window in my poorly insulated upstairs studio I dreamed of red heat, of travel to distant places, the clatter of a well traversed bazaar and friendly crowds. Since a trip wasn't really in my immediate future I figured I could just bring the experience home with a deep red worsted weight wool combined with a lace weight mohair for halo and a romantic lace pattern that would take me travelling from my own couch. The initial center section is that self same stitch pattern that so captured my imagination. The border rounds were created by marrying two stitch patterns together, creating a motif that speaks of mosaic tiles, embroidered pillows and peacock feathers.
Tamazya is begun with a provisional cast on for the center section and worked back and forth. Then stitches are picked up along the sides and the work is joined to work in the round for the border. Don't worry about picking up the stitches, all the math has been worked out for you so you can pick up the correct amount the first time and avoid frustration on your warm vacation. The bind off is a picot bind off worked on the WS of the work, this means that you will turn the work to bind off with the wrong side facing you and use the tail of the yarn at the end to seam the small gap.
