Knitting Today: Midwinter Blanket Square Two

 A few months ago I decided that the time had come to really go to town on using up yarn in the yarn closet.  When the yarn is all gone then I can plan new knitting projects and buy new yarn with a clear conscience.  I have a feeling it will take me two years to complete this use-up-the-yarn project but I am confirmed in my idea to do it.  

Since I had a fair amount of the Hilda Yates yarn still in a bin I decided to make another Barbara Walker Learn To Knit Afghan.  I may have mentioned this before.  So I got started.  I started in with Square One which is a striped garter stitch block and planned to just knit as far as I got in the 63 squares from the book until the yarn ran out.

At one point I decided I did not need to knit every one of the blocks in order but could pass on the ones I did not like very much.  I knitted most of the squares up to number 12 then the Martin Storey Midwinter Blanket Make A Long was hatched out by the Rowan yarn company. There are six squares in that blanket.  The reindeer below is the second square.

You will notice that I am actually blocking this square, along with the garter stripe square (Number One in Barbara Walker's book), something I rarely do.  Because garter stitch is a square stitch, that square is supposed to actually be square and so is how all the squares in the book are to be blocked.

The reindeer came out okay but is not stellar.  It was meant to be knit either stranded or stranded and intarsia combined. I did not want to bother with the intarsia and all the hanging balls or bobbins of yarn which will explain the nasty vertical lines of blue yarn showing through the white.  Since I have such a high tolerance for error, I am just letting it go and will not re-knit the square.  It is just a blanket and will lie on a bed or over a chair after all.  

There is a lot to learn in knitting and even in these two squares.  I suppose I will need to do better in staggering the floats on the back of the next Martin Storey square so we won't have this mess again.  Still, I like it well enough to just leave this one.  At least, I think I do. We shall see.  Square 3 will be released this Thursday.  I think we are expecting it to be a heavy weather day so I can happily stay home and knit.  We shall see.