Finally! A knitting update!
I'm trying to catch up on blog posts for FOs that I've posted to Ravelry. I guess I'm kind of working backwards with this one. Instead of posting about something I made, oh, 6 months ago, I'm posting about my most recent completion.
CRAZY SQUARES!
(Plus Toby)
I started this what feels like eons ago now. Back at the beginning of July. After feeling a little less despairing, I decided to knit a mitered square blanket. At least that way, if I felt really lazy and didn't want to knit again for a long while, at least it would be something that I could easily pick up again down the line.
It started out as a 3x3 square (of 4x4 little squares) blanket. It was going to be a little kitten blanket for Toby. Which, in retrospect, it's probably good that it didn't turn out to be that because Toby just sort of lays wherever he pleases and doesn't care what is specifically for "him". However, by the time that I set down my needles, took a step back and counted my squares, I had more than the 36(?) squares that I needed to make this little blanket.
Then I started to feel artistic with it all. I decided that it would become a 3x4 square blanket (which was quickly updated to 4x4). I knit a "center" square that would be composed of two solid variegated yarns and two of the standard striped squares and decided that I would knit one solid square for each of the 4 corners. Alas, with this plan in motion, I would have to make the blanket 5x5. I did the calculations and I had a whopping 64 more squares left to knit! (Shoot me now, right?!?)
So I knit, and I knit, and I knit some more. I decided at a couple of different times to lay down the knitting needles and pick up a couple of different projects (like my sweater to be posted at some point here...). I was also at a loss of anything except for towels to block the pieces on so the individual squares remained unblocked and unseamed for a long time as well.
I finally bought some "blocking boards" (toy foam puzzle pieces from Toys 'R Us!) and got to work with blocking all the pieces. Then I got into seaming and was having a great time seaming them all up. Once I had seamed up all the squares I had knit, I stopped again. The basket of squares went back in the closet and they remained untouched until probably November when I finally decided that I was going to finish the blanket once and for all!
Counted all of the squares, laid all of the squares out on the floor. I can't even count how many times I did just that. And the worst part abo
ut laying this thing out on the floor was that Toby went nuts for it and would roll around in the squares and drag them off in all sorts of different directions. Crazy feline.
...Nevermind that I still needed to weave in the ends and trim away some of the excess yarn that spilled out of the center of each mitered square.
So finally, this past weekend for the holidays, I took the blanket up to my grandparents' house with me so I could weave in all of those ends. I ended up tying a lot of knots (because good lord that was a lot of little loose ends!), but it looks good now. Though the front looks much better than the back. ;)
I'm still contemplating whether or not to add a back onto the blanket. I'd really like to add flannel or something back there. I realize that it would make it super warm (and even heavier than it already is!) but at least it would hide those icky knots and little bits of loose yarn.
I'll keep it as it is for now though. It's a great afghan. I absolutely adore it and I'm already in the process of planning what I'm going to make next...another blanket. Though the next one will be made from a machine washable cotton. Or maybe a superwash wool if I can find some for a relatively inexpensive price.
Now the boring stuff (or interesting if you're a knitter!)
Pattern: Mitered Square Blanket from the book Mason Dixon Knitting
(I found a free copy of the pattern at this website. I used the pattern for the smaller squares.)
Yarn: So many I lost count (not that I was keeping count to begin with). Most of it is Cascade 220 and Cascade Heathers. There is a teeny bit of Patons and Knit Picks dye your own. There's also a ball or so of a hand dyed wool yarn that my mom gave to me for Christmas one year that she colored herself. That is what the two center squares are knit of.
Needles: My trusty ol' Crystal Palace US Size 8s
CRAZY SQUARES!
(Plus Toby)I started this what feels like eons ago now. Back at the beginning of July. After feeling a little less despairing, I decided to knit a mitered square blanket. At least that way, if I felt really lazy and didn't want to knit again for a long while, at least it would be something that I could easily pick up again down the line.
It started out as a 3x3 square (of 4x4 little squares) blanket. It was going to be a little kitten blanket for Toby. Which, in retrospect, it's probably good that it didn't turn out to be that because Toby just sort of lays wherever he pleases and doesn't care what is specifically for "him". However, by the time that I set down my needles, took a step back and counted my squares, I had more than the 36(?) squares that I needed to make this little blanket.
Then I started to feel artistic with it all. I decided that it would become a 3x4 square blanket (which was quickly updated to 4x4). I knit a "center" square that would be composed of two solid variegated yarns and two of the standard striped squares and decided that I would knit one solid square for each of the 4 corners. Alas, with this plan in motion, I would have to make the blanket 5x5. I did the calculations and I had a whopping 64 more squares left to knit! (Shoot me now, right?!?)
So I knit, and I knit, and I knit some more. I decided at a couple of different times to lay down the knitting needles and pick up a couple of different projects (like my sweater to be posted at some point here...). I was also at a loss of anything except for towels to block the pieces on so the individual squares remained unblocked and unseamed for a long time as well.I finally bought some "blocking boards" (toy foam puzzle pieces from Toys 'R Us!) and got to work with blocking all the pieces. Then I got into seaming and was having a great time seaming them all up. Once I had seamed up all the squares I had knit, I stopped again. The basket of squares went back in the closet and they remained untouched until probably November when I finally decided that I was going to finish the blanket once and for all!
Counted all of the squares, laid all of the squares out on the floor. I can't even count how many times I did just that. And the worst part abo
ut laying this thing out on the floor was that Toby went nuts for it and would roll around in the squares and drag them off in all sorts of different directions. Crazy feline. Once I counted it out for the last time, I had something like 24 or 25 squares left to knit and I think that I breezed through those pretty fast, really. Then I blocked some more, then I seamed some more. Then I laid the squares out on the floor again and tried to figure out how I was going to pattern it. Really, I could have planned the patterning a lot better but...whatever. At that point, I just wanted it to be finished with and I really didn't care anymore. As long as there were no two same colors matching up together, I was happy.
(Unfortunately, there are maybe 2 or so spots that do match up with the same color...kind of a bummer, but oh well)
Seaming together the 4x4 squares went so fast, I was really surprised. It also kept me really warm as it stretched across my lap while I was sitting in my freezing cold bedroom! It probably only took me a couple of nights to get all 25 pieces together and believe me, when I was finished with all of those seams I just about threw myself a party.
(Unfortunately, there are maybe 2 or so spots that do match up with the same color...kind of a bummer, but oh well)
Seaming together the 4x4 squares went so fast, I was really surprised. It also kept me really warm as it stretched across my lap while I was sitting in my freezing cold bedroom! It probably only took me a couple of nights to get all 25 pieces together and believe me, when I was finished with all of those seams I just about threw myself a party.
...Nevermind that I still needed to weave in the ends and trim away some of the excess yarn that spilled out of the center of each mitered square.So finally, this past weekend for the holidays, I took the blanket up to my grandparents' house with me so I could weave in all of those ends. I ended up tying a lot of knots (because good lord that was a lot of little loose ends!), but it looks good now. Though the front looks much better than the back. ;)
I'm still contemplating whether or not to add a back onto the blanket. I'd really like to add flannel or something back there. I realize that it would make it super warm (and even heavier than it already is!) but at least it would hide those icky knots and little bits of loose yarn.
I'll keep it as it is for now though. It's a great afghan. I absolutely adore it and I'm already in the process of planning what I'm going to make next...another blanket. Though the next one will be made from a machine washable cotton. Or maybe a superwash wool if I can find some for a relatively inexpensive price.
Now the boring stuff (or interesting if you're a knitter!)Pattern: Mitered Square Blanket from the book Mason Dixon Knitting
(I found a free copy of the pattern at this website. I used the pattern for the smaller squares.)
Yarn: So many I lost count (not that I was keeping count to begin with). Most of it is Cascade 220 and Cascade Heathers. There is a teeny bit of Patons and Knit Picks dye your own. There's also a ball or so of a hand dyed wool yarn that my mom gave to me for Christmas one year that she colored herself. That is what the two center squares are knit of.
Needles: My trusty ol' Crystal Palace US Size 8s
