Knitfession – The unraveling of a baby blanket – do you hear the frogs?

29 12 2009

Yes, my many hat productions of late are due to the sad demise of my latest (possibly longest) frogging of a project: Mira’s baby blanket.  I originally designed a feather and fan pattern for the baby afghan, yet 10″ in, I noticed an odd leaning in the blanket. I took out the needles to lay the blanket flat and, sure enough, it was the yarn equivalent of the Tower of Pisa. I started to rip to find where the error lie, but as I ripped the lacy nature of the blanket’s rebellion only became worse.

I ripped the whole thing out and spun two center-pull skeins out of it on my new ball winder (great deal at Knitpicks.com).

I had to mourn and start fresh with new eyes. Hence, the crochet and other hats.

And the finish…fantastic!

4 01 2010

Tonight I finished Mira’s redone blanket (pattern from Weekend Knitting edited by Melanie Falick, “Fluffy Afghan”, p. 20) and love it.

Mira's blanket completely redone!

I used two new (to me) techniques on this blanket:

Knit Cast On (aka Knitting Cast On) (link to Techniques with Theresa from Knitty.com) – a very easy to learn, simple cast on (I learned long tail in my first classes 20 years ago)

Sewn Bind Off (link to Techniques with Theresa from Knitty.com) -  wonderful bind off that matches the knit cast on edging well, invented by Elizabeth Zimmerman.

Click here for a great video of the sewn bind off by KanD86

Finally KWWIPing!

7 01 2010

It has finally happened; inspired by the ever great knitter, Turbo (aka Meg White), I finally Knit While Walking In Public (KWWIP). I walked a mile today while working on my 4th attempt (gauge issues that plague my loose knit hands and heart) at Calorimetry (also inspired by Turbo’s lovely execution of this pattern, originally printed in Knitty Winter 2006 – click link to go directly to pattern). It is a very simple pattern, once memorized and I actually was able to knit, enjoy the weather around me, avoid dropped stitches and avoid inattentive drivers to boot.

KWWIPing is definitely in my future again. I can finally comprehend how Megs does it while walking ANYWHERE. With a simple pattern and no gloves (need to feel the stitches on the needles) little attention was needed and I felt most like the many devout Orthodox Greeks I saw through out Greece with small hand rosaries constantly in motion as they walked. It was a little bit like walking prayer. I loved it.

How did I achieve KWWIP? I knit cast on while riding the bus home – finally realized that twisting the stitch on the right-hand needle, before placing it back on the left-hand needle, made the stitches truly vertical and much easier to count plus manage – and simply had to continue the project while walking home.

When this Calorimetry (for my friend Melanie) is completed, I’ll post the pictures both here and on Ravelry.com

So, have a small, easy project? Give it a try for your next KWWIP!