I didn't forget the fabulous prizes

I'm going to send those to Sarah, so she can have the fun of presenting them at the next guild meeting. Stay tuned.

:)

Flickr Slideshow of Sarah's Gift Event

I just put up something like a dozen photos on Flickr of the Tuesday night festivities. It's at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/colorjoy/sets/72157600093378052/

LynnH

Hi, Sarah!

Hope you like your blanket, and the saga of its creation!

Mailed!

Bordered, ends woven in (mostly--there are a few strays, but I was at the end of my lunch), wrapped in tissue paper, packed in a box and entrusted to the UPS. Nancy at Woven Art should have it tomorrow.

Phew!

Hope you're all there on Tuesday. And I hope she is too! Take lots of pictures...

: ) Abby

Done!

Ends are woven (mostly--I have a few more to finish up during my lunch break tomorrow) and the whole thing is bordered.

Contrary to what Sarah has been saying, I do think she will be going to the meeting on Tuesday. The great saga of deception is, in short, that she thinks I put together a care package for her but sent it to Woven Art because I lost her address. Nancy is going to bring her the package at guild. Sarah is hoping to swing by Woven Art to get it earlier, because she knows that the contents of the box are, ah, highly perishable and she HAS to get it that day. But alas--UPS is going to be unaccountably late, and Nancy won't get it until very very late in the day, at which point it really will only be possible to rendezvous at the meeting. Sarah has been instructed to leave time in her evening to at least stop by the meeting, just in case of such an eventuality.

You know, it's really a good thing I did not head into a career of international espionage or other sneakiness. I'm not that good at it. I hope it all works!

The Great Warming-Up, redux

Okay, we have a new date and time. Let's hope this one does not conflict with the scheduled arrival of any harlots or bunnies.

The Great Warming-Up is now scheduled for the Mid-Michigan Knitters' Guild meeting, on
Tuesday, April 17th. Nancy tells me that the official beginning is at 7, but get there at 6:30 for socializing. The meeting runs until 9. It's at the University Lutheran Church, on 1020 South Harrison Street in Lansing.

I still can't come (Amtrak schedule changes, grrr) but hope you all do!

Second Square

I sent a second square last Monday after touching base with our listmom the week before. This one is just a garter-stitch diagonal square, because I could just cast on and knit to fit. Unfortunately I ran out of yarn halfway across (I forgot how much yarn garter can slurp up) and so I did my famous semi-random yarn blending thing and it looks good with a second yarn on the second half with a bit of striping in the middle.

Fortunately, I'd already been doing some random stripes where I knit a very fine thick/thin handspun strand along with the main yarn. I think I spun this when I barely knew how to spin and it was definitely the first wool roving I ever dyed. It is a bit pinkish-purple and a bit bluish-purple, fairly pastel, and that worked really well to unify the two yarns. The first half (top right in photo) is WoolPak of New Zeeland 14 ply and the second half is Nashua Creative Focus wool/alpaca (left over from my first square). The WoolPak is dark blue-purple and the Nashua is a little lighter and more on the pink side of purple than the other. It also is a singles which reflects light a lot more than the darker yarn which is a multiple-ply yarn.

I expect that the square has "landed" safely by now and our listmom is no doubt very busy sewing together. Just in case she gets one more than needed, she has permission to hold my second one out. I already got one in and that's fine with me.

I have a square to spare

My second square is done and will be in the mail today. Pattern is from Beautiful Knitting Patterns by Gisela Klopper. Yarn is Heilo something or other, leftover from my Introduction to Aran cabled bag. I also knit this continental style, which is the third class of Sarah's I've taken so far.

Rats

This is what you get for using Outlook for all your calendaring needs. The eighth is Easter. Can't have that!

I'll talk to Nancy and see what we can come up with that's not, you know, on a major religious holiday.

The scene of the crime

I've been told that the book club meeting conflicts with the Yarn Harlot's visit to Ann Arbor--we can't have that.

So the new and, I hope, official date and time is now the Second Sunday knit-in at Woven Art. That's Sunday the 8th, 12-4, at Woven Art, 325B Grove Street, East Lansing. The phone number of the shop, if you have questions or need directions, is 517-203-4467; Nancy says there is free parking on Sundays across the street. I can't go, alas, but will be there in spirit--and hope you all take lots of pictures!

Remember, it's a surprise, so sally in all nonchalant-like, please...

: )

Just when you think it's safe to check the mail...

Two more squares!

That brings me to four extra squares, which means of course that I need two more so that I can do another row. I'm doing one and Cecilia is doing one that she is going to send me from Australia; if anyone has one that they could finish up quickly, I'd be happy to take it so I can seam and border and block some more instead of doing another square.

Tentative presentation date and time is Sunday, April 1, at 2 pm at Woven Art. (Hey, April Fool's!) Once the date is set--meaning, I am close enough to done to be sure I can have it there in time--I'll send out an email to the list (since only about 2/3 of the knitters are on this blog.)

And now, what you've all been waiting for...

Natural light!

Here's the best I could do of a whole-blanket shot, standing on the couch with my arms stretched waaay out. You can see most of it, along with the feet of the small person who is preventing me from doing this blanket much more quickly.

Half the blanket...

The other half...

And two as-yet-unphotographed-in-any-meaningful-way squares.

It looks as though I will not get enough squares to make another row; what I will do is seam and border in such a way that Sarah can add another row if she chooses to.

We're working on a time and place for the great presentation; it's looking as though it will be at Woven Art. Details TBA as soon as Nancy and I figure them out. I still have to do one more long seam and the border and the ends, which will take some time.

Math I did while seaming last night: 30 squares, times 4 sides, times 50 stitches picked up per side=6,000 stitches picked up.

In which I quit apologizing for the lousy photography and just post pictures already

Oh, this is awful. I have no idea who did which! I wrote the name on each envelope but now can't see it in the picture--gah!


Like I said, knitting I can do. Pictures...

Oh, wait. I said I wasn't going to apologize. All right, okay, here are the awful and uncredited pictures of lovely lovely squares for lovely lovely Sarah...
It looks like Cascade Quattro, and has very cute ladybug buttons that I have not let either of my kids touch. And was knit by... someone whose name begins with an M. Oh wait. If I expand the picture to fifty times its normal size I see that it was knit by the very talented... Marjorie!

Hey, I can see the name on that one plain as day! It's from Debbie!

And that's from Lynn H., who also included some of her very lovely sock yarn, which I'm hoping to use in the border...
I think that mystery-and-shadows square is from Erin, and apologize unreservedly if it's not... it's purple, it's beautiful, trust me for now and see evidence the next time it's sunny...
And I'm pretty sure that's the square from Eunice that must have come by way of Mexico, because it took two weeks to travel two states. Also purple, also beautiful, also underexposed.

I said I was going to stop apologizing, right?

The seaming, it is progressing, and I still have some feeling in my little finger so I can probably go pick up a few more billion stitches before I go to bed. See you later!

I must be out of my mind

But if I can get two more squares, I can get to 36. No, I didn't get any more in the mail... but I'm looking at those two orphan squares and thinking, oh no, those poor squares, how awful to be left out...

I have a half-done square that I can finish up, and I'll do something really really bulky for a second one. Does anyone else, um, have anything lying around that might work? See, the thing is that I'm going away for two weeks on April 1, and after that work will be crazy because I'll have so much to catch up on, so I really have to have this done and in the mail before I leave.

Anyone...? anyone...?

Seaming updates

I have 32 squares right now, which I'm seaming up in 5 rows of 6. If I get another 3 squares, I'll knit another square as fast as I can to make it 6 rows of 6; if not, I'll give the extras to Sarah to do with as she will.

All 30 squares are now seamed into rows. Because I hate sewing, I'm picking up 50 stitches per side of each square and knitting them together with a 3-needle bindoff. (My 100-cm Addis are coming in very handy here.) I'm using Lamb's Pride in Dark Charcoal--my all-time favorite all-purpose yarn. Two rows are seamed, and the stitches are picked up for the third, so by the time I go to bed tonight there should be just one row left to seam. Then the border, then the ends.

My square

I never posted information on my square, which you can see in posts below. It's dark, sort of spiral looking, and labeled with a green star-shaped tag.

The yarn is Pomfret, a retired sport weight from Brunswick. It's left over from my very first sweater (which means it's been in my stash for about 10 years), through which Sarah held my hand the entire time. I forget the color name, but it's, you know, purple. In fact, Sarah had finished a sweater in the very same yarn just before I knit mine. Now that I think of it, I may have even bought the yarn from her.

The pattern is from the first Great American Afghan, designed by Joan Schrouder (Knitter's Spring 1996). It's knit from the center, with 4 increases every round instead of 8 increases every other round. The increases are always in the same place instead of mirrored, and this gives the 'square' it's spiral vortex-like look. I swear it will look less wonky once you get it in place. I knit it with two strands held together, as I wanted to give it a bit more structural integrity.

Terri

Decisions

I could blog about the squares I just got, and the ones I sewed up last night...

or I could do some more sewing up.

I think I'll do some more sewing up. The crappy pictures are on my camera though; stay tuned.

Lookit!

A sunny day in the living room led to this...


And this...

And this...

And then the sun went down. And then the mailman came. And he brought us these!
Wow!!!

This is what I get for hiring non-union labor

So, you know my really cheap in-house mail opener? The one who is not quite three years old?

When we got all those envelopes on Friday (seven! seven envelopes!) he got a little, shall we say, enthusiastic. He opened each of them, one by one, under supervision, and I carefully put each square back in its envelope with whatever accompanying note. Then I put them on a shelf.

This morning, I discovered that he had opened them all. Again. Along with two envelopes from the day before. And stacked all the squares neatly on my dresser, with all the [identifying] packaging materials and notes dumped on the floor.

So now I'm trying to figure out whose is whose. I think it goes like this:

Diana: diagonal garter square in purple and white (Araucania?)
Pat: Noro cabled square
Michele: handspun alpaca with vertical ribs in the middle
Angie: two (two!) Trekking XXL squares
Anna: green openwork cables
Wendy: dark purple garter in what looks like Manos

This leaves me with a totally unidentified white Aran square (that one I know came without a return address, so I can't blame the mail opener) and a striped square knit from the center out. That one looks like half the stripes are handspun and the other half are commercially spun Aran-weight purple yarn.

Sigh. It occurred to me while trying to sort the mess out that probably Sarah would be able to pick out who knit what just like your second grade teacher could identify all the homework by the handwriting. Still, I'd like to get it right!

Right now I have 22 squares in hand, and I know of 2 more coming. If I get just one surprise, I'll be at 25!

Two More Squares

These two are headed out this afternoon!The top one is Crystal Palace Taos in Knitty's Lizard Ridge pattern.
The bottom one is Kathmandu Aran in a pattern from Barbra Walker.

Only problem... I seem to have deleted the email with the address on it. Can anyone help me?
~Rae
rach_2001 AT hotmail DOT com

Twenty!

I have twenty squares! And two more on the way that I know of?

Think there are another three coming that I don't know about, so that we can get to 25?

Here's hoping.

Sorry (again) about the appalling pictures. I'm hoping for some sun this weekend to do a slightly less awful job. But don't worry, Sarah will be sure to take better ones.

Speaking of Sarah, we have to give this to her sometime. I was thinking of a surprise presentation at a knit-in. Other ideas? I'm probably going to have to hear about it afterward, because I'm not in Lansing--but if anyone knows anyone planning a trip from here to there who'd like a passenger (the train schedule is hopeless, I tried) I might be able to swing it.

Off to seam. Stay tuned!

Now we are thirteen

Five more squares!

From Deirdre...

From Kathy...

From Terri...

This fabulously blocked item from Nancy...

And--hello! all the way from Australia, from Cecilia!

square done

Square is packaged and will be on its way tomorrow with usps.com tracking # 03061070000561468438

Image taken before blocking, and is more purple than the image shows :-}

A square is always a rectangle, but a rectangle is not always a square

Rectangle (7.5 x 13.5):

I squished it
And stretched it
And poked and prodded and pressed it

I soaked it
And sprayed it
And in the end I made it...

Square.

Soooo...blocking wires, huh? I'll have to look into it.

Now we are eight

Really we're ten, but the new two came after I took the pictures.

I am fortunate to have an in-house professional mail opener...
When he was done, I got to take a picture of this, from Ann

And this, from Nancy

And then I put them together and admired them, like this.

What's that on the upper right hand corner? Why, it looks like the logo of Woven Art! Ooh! Nancy did intarsia! It looks like Araucania worsted-weight nature wool to me, though that's just a guess. I couldn't get the pattern to photograph--I'll try that one again on a sunnier day.

More pictures to come...

Basketweave Square is Done

I ripped out about 1/3 of the square I'd done with the wonky gauge and reknit it. Miraculously it turned out well this time (on the same needles as before).

Because I was working a repeat that did not turn out even for a 12" length, I bound off so that it would look symmetrical and then I put a single crochet on the top and bottom to make it the right size. The edges look 12" exactly (well, as exactly as knitting can be when blocking without wires). I will shake it around a bit now that it's dry and decide if I need any more crochet top and bottom, I may need something as small as a chain stitch if I need another 1/4" but it may be OK. It was OK when I put it down wet on the sweater dryer last night, but dry fabric is not as forgiving.

I had started a second square but ran out of my knit-along yarn. Boo Hoo. No more of that yarn to be had (it was handspun) so I'm going to have to rip it out and start again with just plain solid commercial yarn. I may do a garter diagonal square so I can make it measure properly as I knit. These days I am really enjoying the texture and warmth of garter fabric. Maybe I can find some laceweight mohair in my stash as a knit-along to make the color more interesting.

It looks like I may not get this square into the mail until Wednesday but it is done!

Almost there...

I knit the last 3/4 of my square yesterday (3 DVD's + the Oscars). I had sad little claw hands by the time I was done. Tonight will be for blocking. I really want to win the Fabulous Prize but it will be a miracle if my square ends up exactly 12x12. I'll take before and after pictures because right now it's probably 8x15! The cable pattern pulled in so much that I had to knit extra to make sure that when I stretched it widthwise it didn't end up too short lenthwise. It was all just guesswork so we'll see what happens. I don't have a blocking board or wires (or pins, now that I think about it) either. I do have water. Wish me luck!

Check In

I just wanted to check in & let you know my first square is finished & blocked and my second square is well underway.
I'm so in love with the second square. I'm knitting in with Crystal Palace Taos in the Lizard Ridge pattern (from knitty). I had to cast-on an extra repeat to make a 12" square, but it seems to be turning out really well.

A hint for those of you blocking squares. I use blocking wires to make sure my sides are really straight. However, even with blocking wires your square might not really be 'square'. You should also measure the diagonals to check if they're 17". If the the square measures 17" corner to corner (both ways) then you know it's not leaning to the side or off in some way.

I can't wait to see the blanket all put together & the look on Sarah's face when she receives it!

Hi, checking in

Hi, I'm Diana, Lynn's Sis-in-Love :-}
I'm well-started on a diagonal square of lilac flammegarn tip-toe sock yarn (double stranded). No pics yet, but soon.

The Gauge of the Day

I finished my square yesterday night. I looked at it today and laughed. Some of you know that I have gauge issues which I call "the gauge of the hour." My mood and tiredness changes, and how much I am looking at my knitting changes, and along with those things my gauge changes.

This square I started at Rae's on Thursday night. Then I knit a bunch of it on Friday, mostly at home while reading blogs (I tighten up a little when I'm not looking at my work much). Then I finished the last few inches at Little Red Schoolhouse while chatting with Linda, who I enjoy and don't see much.

The square had about 2" just a tad looser, the middle was dead on with 5st/inch, and the last few inches are SO loose it is laughable. I tried to block it square, but the loose parts got even looser. The photo you see here is after I wet the fabric, trying to block it.

I just had to laugh. I'll be ripping out 2" and knitting that again. Except, what size needles should I use? Should I use the same ones, and just get worried about something and knit it while reading blogs again? LOL

I'll get the squares out this week but now it won't be Monday as my shipping date. Pooh.

LynnH

Three more!

I got three more squares yesterday! I photographed them and will post details when I get a chance, but right now my kids are asleep and I'd rather take the time to work on the blanket.

The squares are coming in something of a range of sizes, and this has motivated me to announce a Fabulous Prize for the knitter whose square comes at exactly 12" by 12". So far, we have a couple of close calls but no one is exactly there. If I end up with multiple perfectly sized squares, I'll pull a name out of a hat. I haven't figured out what the Fabulous Prize will be, but it will be something from my stash and I will do my best to ensure its fabulosity. (I have a good stash. Trust me on this one.)

And thank you thank you to those of you who have volunteered to knit a second square for the people who couldn't do theirs... you rock.

Okay, off to border and seam...

I'm Almost There

I am working on a basketweave square using a dark solid purple Nashua Creative Focus worsted (75 wool/25 alpaca singles). It is soft and fuzzy. I know Sarah likes basketweave, she made a sweater with this texture once. I like it too, have designed a rug and a baby blanket in larger versions of this pattern.

I don't have a photo yet. I just wanted to check in that I am on a roll at this point.

LynnH in Lansing

Look! I am blocking...

This silly square has been a 'first' for me in many categories of knitting. And most are hard to admit :-)

• 1st was going into a LYS for yarn for a specific project. (I didn't have anything good enough for Sarah in my stash. Most yarn I buy is bought online. I get overwhelmed with selections and frankly prices when going to the LYS. But for Sarah, I forged ahead. Made a few minor/major mistakes in the LYS, but not on this project. I love this yarn!)
• 1st time I bought very nice yarn. I am cheap, and not really confident in my knitting - but I am getting there. (My main excuse is that I am the breadwinner of the family and my 4 kids... but really, I tend to be cheap.)
  
• 1st in knitting a square, then add a specific size - oh, baby - silly thrill.
• 1st group knitting project
• 1st blocking to a specific size. I do block, but normally not worried about exact sizes.

My original plan was to knit this in a lattice stitch through the entire square. I fell in love with the color changes and wanted to show off the yarn. So about 3" of lattice stitch I went to straight stitch, then put in a strip of lattice, then reversed what I did to balance off the square.

The great sewing-up begins

Since I don't have a lot of knitting time in any given day, I didn't want to wait until I had all the squares to start sewing. So I decided to start by sewing--well, knitting actually--pairs of squares together, to arrange artistically later.

Ooh, it looks nice.

But I can't take a picture yet. I need more squares! So if you have a square that's sitting there done, just waiting to be mailed, how about taking a trip to the post office? Tomorrow? Please?

Especially if you live in Australia.

: )

progress

Tamsyn's is on the upper left--a little natural light is a wonderful thing.

Upper right is Kristi--ooh! (Knitting squares with newborn twins... color me impressed.)


And Louise-- ahh!


That one on the lower left-hand corner is mine. Wait a minute, I can hear you saying--that's not a square! That's a tube! Yeah, well, look closely--do you see the steek stitches on the left?

Mwa ha ha ha. And no, I haven't really thought about how I'm going to deal with cut stitches on the back of an afghan square, but I made a good generous steek to work with. I'll keep you posted.

Two more!

Guess what was in my mailbox today?

Wait. How did you know?

You're right--squares! Two of them. One from Kristi, and one from Louise. I'm going to wait till tomorrow to try to photograph them a little bit better in daylight. (And rephotograph Tamsyn's square, to hopefully do it justice a little bit more.)

Three down, twenty-seven to go.

And while I'm uploading awful pictures

I have two squares in progress. One of them will (when it gets done) look familiar to anyone who reads Sarah's blog. It uses the same partridge-stitch pattern I used in her Serial Killer sweater, but I did the stitch in the same yarn that I used for her mittens (Socks that Rock in Sherbet, but I call the colorway Cyndi as in Cyndi Lauper.) The base yarn is the same as I used in the sweater--KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in black. I have not, however, gotten very far with it, as you can see.
This past weekend involved a long car trip, much of which was made in the dark. I decided to take advantage by starting a second square, one that could be done in the dark with occasional busting out of a flashlight for stitch-picking-up purposes. The square in all its [badly photographed] glory:
The yarn that looks blue in the picture is actually a deep dusty purple. It's Stahl Socka Big, and the black is the same KnitPicks yarn I mentioned above. The log cabin square is the same pattern Cecilia talked about a couple of posts ago, inspired by the blanket I made when pregnant with my older son. Oh, what the heck, I'll show you that too:
I attached the squares by picking up stitches around each square and knitting them together with a 3-needle bindoff. I already bought the yarn to knit together Sarah's afghan--Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride in worsted-weight deep charcoal. Probably one of my favorite yarns ever.

And now with atrocious pictures

I stink as a photographer. I should just let you all know that if you want decent pictures of your squares on this site, you'll have to send them to me. There are several things I can do well but taking pictures of handknits is not among them. Alas.

With that disclaimer:

Here is the woefully poorly photographed square sent by Tamsyn! Not that you'd know it from the picture, but it is a lovely heathery purple yarn that looks to me like a Bartlett yarn. Oh, and it's absolutely perfectly, gorgeously blocked to exactly 12 inches.

Go Tamsyn!

Log cabin square

A few years ago, Uberimma got me completely addicted to knitting log cabin squares. When I couldn't think of anything more exciting and Sarah-specific to knit for Sarah, I thought I'd go with the tried-and-true. And it required no thinking and I was using up my stash so I could feel noble while knitting it!

I made it in purple-y, pink-y, blue-y shades as requested. Let's see if I can figure out what yarn I used:

(going from the middle, then up, then clockwise)

Lamb's Pride
Handspun from some roving I bought from some place in Australia that isn't in business anymore
Knitpicks Wool of the Andes
Handspun from all the little bits of pink/purple fluff I had
Cleckheaton 8-ply
Brown Sheep Naturespun
Lite Lopi
Manos (?)
Handspun from roving I bought the first (and only) time Uberimma twisted my arm and forced me to go to Lisa Merian's to buy spinning fibre. I think that was 1998?

The next trick is to make it to the post office in time. I have been known to leave things around until friends post them for me...

Cecilia

Yay Tamsyn!

The first square is here!

As soon as I can find the camera, I'll take a picture and upload it. Stay tuned.

So, how are the squares coming, everyone? Plans? Progress? Pictures?

The Spit Thing and Other Tales

How do you pick a pattern that is worthy of my knitting sensai Sarah??? NOT EASY!! I had lofty goals of picking out these very intricate cable and Celtic patterns that would make her mouth drop in amazement and invite me to me a master knitter. Alas, two newborn boys prevented this fantasy happening (read - using them as an excuse because I still am a cable novice).

This is a simple stitch pattern adapted from a dishcloth design. However, I did cable the cables without a cable needle - something she taught me in her Aran class but something I wasn't confident enough to try - this was my first attempt. I chose wool because of that whole spit and felt the yarn ends together thing that she taught me in her Entrelac class (don't worry Sarah, no DNA on this square - only had to use one skein). I also used purple - not my fav color but like Sarah, she knits for others and causes without always thinking of what she likes.

Sarah also taught me how to read charts - a skill that has really enabled me to try patterns that would have made me run in terror in the past. She has taught me confidence in my knitting - that is something that really is hard to teach or bring out in anyone.

I'm glad that I could be part of something to give to Sarah as she has given me so much.

Questions

KathyK said...

Are we supposed to incorporate some kind of border stitch on all four sides? most of the squares pattern I've seen have them.
I'm thinking of a cabled square too.

Up to you. I plan on picking up stitches on each side of each square and knitting them together with a 3-needle bind-off, and then knitting a 3-row garter stitch border around the whole thing. I haven't decided what yarn to use for the border, but it will probably be either worsted-weight Lamb's Pride or Baa Baa Joes. So far as I am concerned the weight doesn't matter much, but probably worsted is best--just because a finer yarn is more likely to stretch out with the weight of what is looking like a substantially-sized blanket!

A square is born

I picked out this pattern (the middle one) from Beautiful Knitting Patterns by Gisela Klopper. It includes cables and charts, two things I've learned from Sarah so far, and also it looks really cool.

I have about 2 inches done so far, and I'm hoping to get 2 pattern repeats total. This is the first time I've taken a stitch pattern and attempted to calculate the number of stitches/rows to get a certain size. We'll see what happens.

The yarn is plain ol' Cascade 200, but it's a very lovely dark heathered purple and me likes it a lot. I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of you are planning (hint, hint)!

Welcome!

Welcome, participants in the great Warm Up Sarah 2007 Project!

(If you're wondering about the weird blog title, well... we wouldn't want Sarah to get suspicious, would we?)

This is the blog for participants, which means access is restricted to those who are planning on making an afghan square. Sarah, of course, doesn't have access, but she will get an invite when she gets the blanket. Please post your plans, progress, whatever, along with pictures if you have them--that way she will get the retroactive pleasure of watching the afghan grow.

Ground rules for the project are as follows:

1. Please knit a 12" x 12" afghan square. Any gauge, and any material that is compatible with wool is fine. The wool need not be superwash; if anyone is capable of washing wool, it's Sarah! Purple is encouraged.

2. Please attach a tag to your square, so Sarah knows who made which square.

3. Feel free to make more than one square.

4. Please, oh please, block your square to size before you send it.

5. If possible, try to do a pattern incorporating something you learned from Sarah.

6. When you're done, please send your square to me (uberimma) for assembly. If you're reading this, you should already have my address; if not, please email me at uberimma@gmail.com.

7. Deadline is March 1, 2007.

Let the squaring begin!