I'm going backwards....and proud of it!

Dear Laura:

Well, it was quite a weekend!

I've been working on "the blanket that will not die" pretty steadily. It's complex intarsia, with beads. After finishing the baptismal shawl, I dug it out and untangled all the yarn and "located" the directions and charts. I determined that I had 3 striped squares (easy-peasy) and 3 crazy intarsia squares left to knit.

I've finished one of each and am on the 2nd-to-the-last intarsia squares. Here's a picture of the process.

Is it any wonder that I don't love intarsia!?!?!

On Saturday, Not Worthy and The Rebellious Pastor's Wife came over to knit and watch a ball game. The big event was that Not Worthy finished her very first project!! She made a hat from Cascade 220, a basic hat pattern knitted in the round with a picot-edge hem. She did a great job! (Stop by her blog to see a picture!) She is now hard at work on her second project, a pair of Fuzzy Feet slippers. I think it's a great intro to socks - it goes quickly because it's going to be felted. She has already finished the cuff and the heel flap - she off and running now!

(I also had a report back from The Rebellious Pastor's Wife. While here (working on her lace scarf) she even mentioned that she can't work on lace in a group setting where she will be talking. She reported the next day that she is going to have to redo everything she did while telling us that!)

I worked on a stripe block of the blanket, so that was pretty mindless stockinette stitch. I also paged through The Knitters Handbook by XRX to see if there was information that might be helpful to a beginner. Then I noticed that in the knitting intstructions, they included a great demonstration of knitting backwards, which I have been curious about and unable to imagine.

That evening, when I started the next instarsia square, I gave it a try. I knitted the first row, then instead of turning and purling back, I "knitted backwards" across the row. It worked so well that I continued to do that, even when I got to the place where I was changing colors. In fact, I can see using that instead of purling fairly often. It seems particularily well suited to the Continental or left-handed knitter.

The baptism on Sunday was wonderful. I got all choked up, seeing my very first Godchild bringing her first child to the font. And wrapped in the lace shawl that I made as well! ;) They really loved the shawl, and that was great. We had a dinner at their house after the service and I got to hold that pretty little girl for quite a while.

Click on the picture for a summary of the project in pictures.....


Whew!

Keep knitting!!
Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)