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?