Greetings and Dear Laura:
The blanket is finished! Thank you all for the support and encouragement as I was madly knitting to the end! I cast off at around 2 pm on Saturday, so I was a full three-hours ahead of schedule. The blanket was wrapped and presented at the party - a first for me!
I ran out of pink yarn at about 55" and then began the border. I was amazed by the fact that my gauge was considerably different at the end than at the beginning. I would have assumed that if my gauge were to change, it would be tighter because of the stress and tension of trying to finish on time. Turns out it was considerably looser than when I started out. I had changed my "grip" somewhat in an attempt to relieve the pain in my wrists, shoulders and hands, so I suppose that accounts for it. The top border was a bit "wavy" because it was looser garter-stitch, but I'm hopeful that it will block out. Which I do still have to do - blocking. Hopefully this week I'll be able to give it a bath and square it up.
And so now I'm off and running on my Sockapalooza 4 socks. I had several inches on the cuff of the first sock, but Saturday evening I had to admit that something was wonky and ripped back almost to the heel. This was distressing to my aunts and uncles who were watching me knit. One of my aunts said, "It's a sock! Won't it be covered up by the pants anyway????" I explained that these socks are a gift. For a KNITTER. Who will know wonky when she sees it!! I'm still not sure that I went back quite far enough, and even though I'm back into positive progress, I'll be taking a closer look again tonight to see if it needs to be ripped out again.
The center cables alternate between right-left turn and left-right turn. At the very bottom of the cuff, in the back, I did right-left turn 2 times in a row. It wouldn't bother me so much, but I didn't make this mistake on the front 1/2 of the sock. While it's not something you'd ever really notice unless you were working hard to find it, it means that I have to consciously remember to do the back cables differently than the front cables. This is making me crazy and would have to continue for the rest of the cuff. EEEEKK!
I do have another project that I'll be working on in July - I'd like to do a sweater in a size 18 mos for my great-niece who is turning 1 at the end of this month. I'd like something in wool, preferably worsted weight. I'm perusing the stash and pattern collection and I'd like to start this week. Other than that, I'm not really going to have "GOALS" for the month. As much as it has been helpful and I've appreciated the discipline (such as it was,) I'd like to have a break this month. Just knitting. No crazy impossible goals. And....I don't think I want to cast on anything else, and I don't want to be bound to finishing anything else off....I may cast on something(s) and/or finish something(s) but I'm just going to follow the mood this month.
What I am hoping to concentrate on in the near future is STASH. Stayed tuned to this station......
Keep knitting!!
Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)
The blanket is finished! Thank you all for the support and encouragement as I was madly knitting to the end! I cast off at around 2 pm on Saturday, so I was a full three-hours ahead of schedule. The blanket was wrapped and presented at the party - a first for me!
I ran out of pink yarn at about 55" and then began the border. I was amazed by the fact that my gauge was considerably different at the end than at the beginning. I would have assumed that if my gauge were to change, it would be tighter because of the stress and tension of trying to finish on time. Turns out it was considerably looser than when I started out. I had changed my "grip" somewhat in an attempt to relieve the pain in my wrists, shoulders and hands, so I suppose that accounts for it. The top border was a bit "wavy" because it was looser garter-stitch, but I'm hopeful that it will block out. Which I do still have to do - blocking. Hopefully this week I'll be able to give it a bath and square it up.
And so now I'm off and running on my Sockapalooza 4 socks. I had several inches on the cuff of the first sock, but Saturday evening I had to admit that something was wonky and ripped back almost to the heel. This was distressing to my aunts and uncles who were watching me knit. One of my aunts said, "It's a sock! Won't it be covered up by the pants anyway????" I explained that these socks are a gift. For a KNITTER. Who will know wonky when she sees it!! I'm still not sure that I went back quite far enough, and even though I'm back into positive progress, I'll be taking a closer look again tonight to see if it needs to be ripped out again.
The center cables alternate between right-left turn and left-right turn. At the very bottom of the cuff, in the back, I did right-left turn 2 times in a row. It wouldn't bother me so much, but I didn't make this mistake on the front 1/2 of the sock. While it's not something you'd ever really notice unless you were working hard to find it, it means that I have to consciously remember to do the back cables differently than the front cables. This is making me crazy and would have to continue for the rest of the cuff. EEEEKK!
I do have another project that I'll be working on in July - I'd like to do a sweater in a size 18 mos for my great-niece who is turning 1 at the end of this month. I'd like something in wool, preferably worsted weight. I'm perusing the stash and pattern collection and I'd like to start this week. Other than that, I'm not really going to have "GOALS" for the month. As much as it has been helpful and I've appreciated the discipline (such as it was,) I'd like to have a break this month. Just knitting. No crazy impossible goals. And....I don't think I want to cast on anything else, and I don't want to be bound to finishing anything else off....I may cast on something(s) and/or finish something(s) but I'm just going to follow the mood this month.
What I am hoping to concentrate on in the near future is STASH. Stayed tuned to this station......
Keep knitting!!
Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)
Congratulations! The blanket looks lovely. Every project of that size I've ever made has been two different sizes on the edges. It's always blocked out just fine for me. :)
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny how people get all freaked out when you frog in front of them? I admit that I've done it just to see the look on someone's face before. Tee hee.
Great work on that blanket. It looks wonderful.
ReplyDeletecongrats! that blanket looks Really Really NICE! and Kayla looks very happy to be modelling it too! :o) can't wait to see what kind of sweater you end up making for your niece! cute baby sweaters are always such great (relatively) quick projects.
ReplyDelete