on and off the needles

Last month I didn’t do much sewing but I definitely knitted!

a black beanie ( no photos – sorry)

a cowl which I designed on a train while taking my mother to Strathfield to meet her country train – it’s hard to see but it has a textured zigzag pattern

a blanket for a local animal shelter (approximately one metre – 40 inches – “square”) – unblocked because I don’t think animals care!

a pair of socks for mum (Baby Mock Cable - which look so much better than this photo shows)

a pair of “plain vanilla” socks for me (Patonyle, purchased 2008)

four sample socks for the workshop I gave on 16th June

a single repeat on these socks (pattern: Ribbed Ribbon Socks from “Socks from the Toe Up” by Wendy D Johnson)

and 40 rows (8,000 stitches) on this blanket (not 80 rows - 16,000 stitches as stated on my progress report – I counted the ridges and doubled twice but some thing told me that couldn’t be right!). I have added another 26 rows (5,200 stitches) to that this week.

And to think I nearly frogged it when I was just past that pink stripe!

I frogged this blanket (which wasn’t working for me).

On Thursday night I cast on and knitted twelve repeats of Wendy D. Johnson’s Lacy Rib pattern on a bed sock for DD.

I think there are two problems:
1) the toe shaping isn’t quite right for DD’s narrow feet and there are too many stocking stitch rows before the pattern begins
2) I’m knitting DK weight on 2.75mm (US 2) needles; I think the fabric is too tight for bed socks and I need to go up to 3.25mm needles (which DD has and therefore I couldn’t use them in the first place)

What do you think?

What would you do?

Before I explain my latest dilemma, I must tell Jessica (and any one else who's wondering) the answer - there are 63 different yarns used in the the intarsia jumper shown in yesterday's post!

Also, as far as the Pinwheel Blanket is concerned, WM was only able to get one of the two colours I need so I have to rethink the blanket design. I really don't like when someone sticks a bit of "nearly the same colour" yarn in and hopes no-one notices! I'd rather redesign the top and bottom edges than have it look 'tacky'!
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So, dear readers, please indulge me: what would you do in this situation?

I have worked on my Modified Feather and Fan Baby Blanket for about eight hours and knitted about 33cm (13 inches).

I am not feeling the love. I don't like the way the colours pool in the variegated yarn. It's not that I am so naive as to think that the colours shouldn't pool, I just don't think the pooling works with the Feather and Fan pattern. I think they are competing.

Generally, I have fairly simple rules for knitting:

fancy yarn + simple stitch pattern **or** fancy stitch pattern + plain yarn.

What do I think is a simple pattern? Well, obviously stocking (stockinette) stitch, but also garter stitch, moss (seed) stitch or even basket weave.

Stocking (stockinette) stitch isn't good for blankets, it rolls towards the 'right' side. Stocking stitch, moss (seed) stitch and basket weave all have 50% purl stitches, and that means slowing down the speed of my knitting - so I opted for a pattern which has only knit rows because I wanted a quick knit in this situation.

So, why did I break my own "rules"?

I really don't know!

After knitting the Feather and Fan for about 30cm (12 inches), I decided to knit plain garter stitch for 30cm. I want to knit the other side of the blanket separately and graft the two pieces together.

Why?

Because Feather and Fan has convex (curving outwards) scallops on the cast on edge and concave (curving inwards) scallops on the cast off edge. As "out there" as I sometimes am in my colour choices, I find asymmetry hard to live with so I want both edges to have convex (outward curving) scallops. This necessitates casting on twice and grafting the two pieces. Because both pieces would curve in opposite directions - the nature of the pattern - when trying to join them, I have decided to put plain garter stitch between them.

So, having made that decision, I found that the plain garter stitch not only looks better in my opinion (not that I have knitted enough to know how the colours will pool) but is also softer than the part of the blanket knitted in Feather and Fan.

Last night before I went to bed, I decided to rip it all off the needles. But I was too tired to do it there and then so left it on the lounge (couch/sofa). This morning, before I got up, I had decided that I would rip it out if the blanket was too wide; that is, greater than 100cm (40 inches)

What would you do?

After taking the photo, and without measuring the width, I have decided to leave it as it is! I can live with it - and some people at Knitters' Guild yesterday thought it was pretty (even if I'm not entirely convinced).