Scarves, a Sock, and a Blanket

I know it’s time to clear the yarn, patterns, needles, and empty ball bands off the couch when there’s no room for my kids to sit down…

Craft Show/Sales Event Knitting

I have about 50 ruffle scarves packed up and ready to go for tomorrow. Most of the checklist is complete. Just waiting on the hubby to get home, so he can dig out the table & canopy. I’ll then get the Jeep loaded up and finish all the last-minute stuff (pack my lunch, etc). In the meantime, I’m sick of ruffle scarves. I have one more color I can add to the pile, but I’m not sure I have it in me to finish it before tomorrow. Haven’t started it yet, for one thing… I may just pack my spindle up and take it with me to work on during lulls tomorrow. Maybe this time I’ll manage to remember to bring BOTH needles on the road.

Cameo Tree Socks

I cast on the mate the other night and worked all the way up the foot and turned the heel yesterday. Got started on the leg pattern stitches, then put it down to finish a couple more scarves. So the mate is currently a bobby sock. One day, it will grow up to be crew-sock-length just like its mate. But not today.

“Precious” Baby Blanket

After getting bored to tears with the ruffle scarves, frustrated with inventing a way to attach the clip covers to the clips, and momentarily uninterested in the Cameo Tree sock, I decided to dig out some pink acrylic I bought almost a year ago to knit a baby blanket. I’ve knitted several items, but not a baby blanket yet. I started an afghan for myself back in December, but ripped it all out when I discovered it would soon transform into a UFO due to boredom with the stitch pattern. Alas, this will become my first ever blanket of any kind. Unless you count swatches. Those could be doll house blankets, right? Okay fine.

The pattern is a Red Heart freebie: www.redheart.com/free-patterns/precious-baby-blanket

I’m halfway through the first pattern repeat (repeat row 8 of 14; pattern row 15 of 21), but I’m not sure if I’m happy with it yet. I cast on to a much smaller set of needles, for one thing. Pattern calls for US 8, and I opted to use US 2. They were the points already attached to my 24” cable from my interchangeable set. (The US 8 tips were way over there. And I have to do about 20 different things to change them.) After I finished a swatch, I found the gauge matched what was called for in the pattern, so I pressed on. Only issue I’m having now with the gauge is the tightness of the fabric. I’ve crocheted many blankets with this brand & weight yarn to rave reviews, but knitting produces a much tighter “weave”, so I’m afraid the blanket won’t be as soft or drape-y as my crocheted versions. I may need to find myself a lacier pattern. Or I could try following the directions with size US 8 needles and see what happens…

Another issue I have is the directions for the ends of the pattern rows: repeat from * to the last XX stitches, then work the following stitches (which don’t fit tidily at the end of the row before the border stitches, so pick an option on your own and hope for the best):

1. Finish the stitch repeat on the last stitch of the pattern, then work the first few oddball stitches until you have to work the border stitches – there will be a few stitches from the pattern that end up left out altogether.  
2. Just stop knitting the stitch repeat and start on whatever the oddball stitches are.

They don’t even wish me good luck. Guess it’s a free pattern for a reason…

To make my math problems worse, I stuck two extra stitches on either edge of the blanket to account for a decent edge stitch. That means, when the pattern says to repeat from * until 17 stitches remain, I have to remember to repeat from * until 18 stitches remain… And I’m horrible at both math and remembering things. This bodes well for no one.

I don’t know if I want to commit any more time to a blanket whose pattern is frustrating me. Maybe I’ll look around for something different. Or I could try to alter the pattern somehow. Or I could finish the Cameo Tree sock. Or knit another scarf. Or stab myself in the eye with a bamboo US 10.