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.

Knitting Today: First Effort With Mosaic Knitting

 Recently I saw several "mosaic knitting" projects on YouTube.  One was a gorgeous shawl by Andrea Mowry.  I had done a tiny bit of mosaic knitting when I knit the Barbara Walker Learn To Knit Afghan a few years ago.  I gave that one away and am now working on another iteration of the afghan to finish up the yarn that was left over.  I am just beginning the mosaic/slipped stitch patterns.

Since I saw that shawl, and also the Pressed Flowers Shawl by Amy Christoffers I got hyped up to work on mosaic.  This picture below is my first try:

The colorwork is so easy as you only work with one strand at a time...and you knit stitches in the "new" color and slip the stitches in the other color to make up the pattern.  Using a variegated yarn gives even different effects.

This is going to be a little bag.  I think the next one I try will be knit in the round.  Knitting flat is fine. I just have to mattress stitch it together...!  Mattress stitch is not my best work....

Barbara Walker Learn to Knit Afghan Square 31

Square 31 is called Twisted Panels.  There are panels of 5, 6, and 10 stitches across the block.  Because this is a mock-cable design in twisted stitches, both left and right twists, it is best to knit this block in a light plain color.

There are multiple ways to knit the left twist and the right twist  For the left twist, I chose to skip one stitch, insert the right hand needle into the back of the second stitch to knit it, then come forward and knit into the skipped stitch then dropped both off the needle at once.  For the right twist, I skipped the first stitch, knitted regularly into the second stitch (keeping that one on the needle) then knitted the skipped stitch and dropped them both off the needle and carried on knitting.  The first few times this was a little awkward but very soon it became automatic and easy.

There were 48 stitches cast on to make this panel of twisted stitch designs.  It took me about twenty-five minutes to knit each pattern repeat.  There were six and three-quarters pattern repeats ( total of 54 rows of knitting).

This pattern is one where I would have appreciated a chart, too.  Having become a chart reader, I find them much easier to knit with fewer errors than a dense line of knit 1, purl one, left twist, right twist verbiage!  Having said that, it was not hard to follow the pattern and it makes a pretty nice block.

 

 

Square 31-Twisted Panels...unblocked.

This was a pretty enjoyable square to knit...easily finished in two days since last night was another wake-up-at-2 AM-and-no-going-back-to-sleep-for-hours night.  I was able to do well over half the block to get it finished before trying to sleep again.

Now:  on to the the cables!  I love cable patterns.  I love the feel of them. I love the spectacle of them.  I love how gorgeous they can be when finished.

Barbara Walker Learn To Knit Afghan Square 24

Square 24 is called  the Cottage Check block.

Two colors are used for this square, one light, one dark.  There are a  multiple of 4 stitches plus 3.

Cast on 43 stitches.

This square was knit differently from other squares as sometimes the work needed to be turned and knit back and sometimes the work needed to be slid to the other end of the needle.  Because of this a circular needle, preferably a 24-inch circular needle, needed to be used.  A long double-pointed needle could have been used but I did not have one long enough in the correct size for this block so it was a circular needle for me.

Square 24 on the blocking board...bottom side up!

 The square was a little (but ONLY a little...) challenging to knit in that there was no chart and I had to keep my eyes on the book.  Eventually I photocopied the page and held it on my music stand with magnetic strips.

There are twelve rows in each pattern repeat.  Each one took me about thirty minutes to knit.  There were five and a half pattern repeats to make the square.

Knitting Today: The Blocking Board Project

Many knitting patterns end with the words: "weave in ends and block".  I always weave in the ends and but usually leave it at that.  The Barbara Walker Learn To Knit Afghan project has changed all that.

Recently some friends decided they wanted to knit the same afghan and learn all the stitches. This seemed like such a good idea that I decided to go back to the beginning of the book and read the introductory parts again so I could be a real mentor to these friends.  I found two things of particular interest:

 1. Barbara Walker seems to encourage knitting a gauge swatch!  What?!!! For an afghan square?  

In looking at my box of afghan blocks I discovered that knitting a gauge swatch would have been a very good idea.  At least one of the blocks will have to be re-knit because it is about 14 by 14 inches instead of the 10 by 10 inches that the garter stitch block is...the garter stitch block (Block #1) being the one by which all other blocks should be measured.

Box of completed Barbara Walker Learn to Knit Afghan squares

You will notice particularly that the stocking stitch square is rolled up like a scroll! 

SO...

2.  Blocking really does matter!  When I measured the blocks that I had completed they were all over the place in terms of sizes.

So blocking here we come...  I have blocking wires.  Somewhere stored carefully away.  The other night I was in a semi-sleep state (sadly, a rather frequent situation) when it occurred to me that 14-inch straight knitting needles would make great blocking wires for 10 by 10 inch afghan squares!

Having realized this, I went to one of my knitting needle stashes and found a pair of US size 0 needles and a pair of US size 1 needles in the 14-inch length.  This made me very happy.  Immediately threading the size 0's through one side I realized that even though these are metal needles, I should probably get another pair of size 1 needles as the size 0 needles will become curvey needles instead of straight needles if much stress is put on them for very long!  I will have to be very careful which sides of the squares I use to insert those very slim needles...

Homemade Blocking Board!

So, since I needed a blocking board, and did not have the money to purchase one, I looked around the house for something that could be used.  Several people suggested pinning the blocks to an extra bed.  Knowing myself, and my proclivity for failing to pick up EVERY LAST PIN, I decided that would not work for my family and friends who come to visit and stay overnight.

Some years ago we purchased a very nice elliptical trainer and the pads to go underneath to protect our nice floors.  There were several left over so one of them because the blocking board.  I marked out 10 by 10, 11 by 11, and 12 by 12 inch squares thinking that one of those sizes would work.  It turned out that 10 by 10 was what we needed.

 An essential part of blocking is to dampen the knitted wool for some little time before attaching it to a blocking board.  Here I had the block already "wired up" sitting between two damp washcloths.  After blocking this square I thought I might want to actually soak the squares in a sink of warm water for a while.  That works pretty well, too, but takes longer to dry out.

This  photo shows the block wired and installed on the blocking board.  It has not yet had its ends woven in...that will be coming soon!