Reader story
Jolie McCarty’s GOT-inspired blanket
Self-proclaimed bookworm, dog person and feminist, Jolie McCarty always makes room in her life for a new knitting challenge – even while earning a degree and getting married.
“I recently graduated with a master’s degree in history, from New York University,” says Jolie. “My then-fiancé, now husband, and I were apart during our studies. He was finishing a master’s programme in DC, while I was in NYC.”
They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, but did you also know it can turn you into a knitting designer? Jolie and her husband’s families are huge fans of Game
of Thrones (GOT) and spent the summer watching the series together. “We’d cluster around the TV yelling loudly!” she says.
WINTER IS COMING
Once back at university, with summer long gone, Jolie decided to fill her downtime with knitting. “It was a huge stress reliever for me while I was working on my thesis. And as it was winter, and very cold outside, I was curling up inside plenty of the time.”
Looking for the perfect project, Jolie reminisced about the weeks spent watching epic battles and dramatic adventures and decided to surprise her fiancé with a blanket with a theme.
She used www.stitchfiddle.com to design magic symbols, or ‘sigils’, each knitted individually in stocking stitch. “Then I knitted linen stitch for the inner borders and used mattress stitch to seam it all together.”
Jolie finished o her blanket with a sturdy four-stitch i-cord border and lined the back with warm fleece. GOT fan or not, that sounds like one cosy blanket! It took Jolie just a few months to design and knit the entire project – which measured large enough to fit a double bed in the end.
HANGING OUT WITH FRIENDS
Jolie learned to knit at a young age, from her aunt, but admits to only really picking up her needles when she reached college. “My girlfriends and I loved to hang out in the cold Minnesotan winters with a good movie, our knitting and some wine,” she says.
Over the years, family and friends have been the lucky recipients of knitted hats and mittens. Since her GOT-inspired blanket, however, Jolie has been taking on knitting challenge after challenge.
Knowing that a close friend was an avid Harry Potter fan, Jolie got to work and surprised her with her very own magical (and self-designed) blanket for her wedding.
LABOUR OF LOVE
For her own wedding, Jolie worked on a labour of love. “I knitted myself a silk shawl with beads,” she says. “It turned out beautifully, but the beads definitely added to the time it took.”
In the middle of all her wedding planning and knitting, Jolie still found time to start her Christmas knitting (usually mittens) and even whipped up a stunning map of the world blanket for a friend’s newborn baby. “Knitting is fun. It’s hard to feel discouraged when you can literally watch the progress you’re making as you go!”
Although she has fallen in love with colourwork, Jolie is ever the knitting adventurer and has already taken on a fresh challenge this winter. “I’m trying something new again,” she says, “a cable-knit sweater in fisherman’s wool.” We can’t wait to see how it turns out; we’re sure it’ll be amazing!