Long ago, when He Who Wears Levi's and I were first married, I sewed slip covers for our sofas from canvas drop-cloths purchased from our local hardware store. At $29.00 per drop-cloth (which if pieced together just so was just enough fabric to cover an entire 3 cushion couch) it was the bargain of the century -- those of you who have ever priced enough canvas fabric to cover an entire sofa know what I'm talking about. I restored flea-market finds and "recycled" my own older pieces with coats of fresh paint or faux finishing of various types. Essentially, being a stay-at-home mom of three, I decorated on a dime and loved every minute of it.
Now-a-days our finances have improved somewhat, but I still like to think that I'm practical when I can be. Take the Babette Blanket for instance from the Spring 2006 issue of Interweave Crochet Magazine. When I saw it, it was love at first sight. Until. Until I priced the "called for" yarn to make it. "What yarn does it call for?" you ask? KOIGU, people. KOIGU!!! An entire blanket made from KOIGU! I don't know about y'all but I'm doing good to afford enough Koigu to make a pair of SOCKS, let alone an entire blanket! I know, I know..... "but it's KOIGU....", I can hear you all saying with a melodic sigh. But here, let me show you the math. The pattern calls for 22 skeins of Koigu at $12.00 per skein. That comes to a mere $264.00. Not too bad for a blanket made from KOIGU, eh? But wait. According to the pattern specs, the finished "blanket" is a whopping 43" wide and 40" long. My bath towels are bigger than that!!! That's about the size of a baby blanket at just over 3 feet long! See my point? So. Here's what I'm doing. I'm making a Babette Blanket, but instead of 
the Koigu, I'm using (some of you may want to look away) COTTON EASE! That's right! The new colors of Cotton Ease just happen to be the EXACT colors of my current home decor and I just couldn't resist! I'm not sure how much of the Cotton Ease I'll have actually used when this Babette's finished, but at $4.00 for 205 yards of Cotton Ease versus $12.00 for 175 yards of Koigu, I'm pretty sure it'll be substantially cheaper. PLUS, my Babette will be about twice the size of their KOIGU version. Now THAT'S a blanket! And THAT'S practical!
I'm with you on practicality - just because you *can* afford to do something, doesn't mean you should. I love the pic of that room - I like the uncluttered style of it, the color of the walls and the light fixtures. You're a great decorator!
Posted by: Robin | January 18, 2007 at 04:52 AM
well you know how I feel about Lion Brand anything. as a mother of 5 I am all for the practical and affordable, but most importantly, the washable. I will say this for almost all the Lion yarns, they wear like iron and I think they look fantastic. and what is the point in making something in a way more expensive yarn just so you can say you did. Would anyone else KNOW besides you and blog world? I love cotton ease and I love you and your creative genius. I can't wait to see it all done
Posted by: shannon | January 18, 2007 at 10:33 AM
Oh I just absolutely love that blanket. And I am all for practicality always always always!
Posted by: Stephanie | January 18, 2007 at 07:15 PM
A Koigu blanket!?!? And I thought a sweater I saw in Touch Me was outrageous.
It is lovely yarn, but at $16 and 60 yds. per skein, I can only imagine the amount of yarn needed!
Posted by: maureen | January 19, 2007 at 08:18 AM
A koigu blanket is just rediculous. Fantastic, but rediculous.
I'm diggin' your blanket in a million ways, and it's making me want to drag out my blanket squares and start back up on them. I can't wait to see yours finished!
I love your home! It's actually very similar in colors to mine, I think I have more goldish colors on my walls though. (I like yours better.)
That's a great idea about the canvas dropcloths! I'll have to remember that one. I'm all about being frugal, I'd rather spend my money on yarn. :)
Posted by: heather | January 19, 2007 at 05:30 PM
How in the world do you keep your couch with all those kids?
Magic, I say. Magic.
Posted by: Nancy | January 21, 2007 at 09:56 PM
As much as I love the Koigu, I still remember seeing that pattern and thinking that that was just CRAZY.
Would you come and decorate my house for me? Pretty please?
Posted by: Christine | January 22, 2007 at 11:05 PM
I am brand new to crochet thanks to seeing the Babbette Blanket and like you I did the math...I knew from the get go that I would have to figure out a different brand of yarn...I would love to know how you are making it bigger...remember I am a newbie. Your blanket looks beautiful!
Posted by: Stacey traister | January 27, 2008 at 05:56 AM