Log Cabin Blanket almost done

Here's the Log Cabin Blanket with the 4 'granny squares' sewn together. The pattern suggested using a slip-stitch crochet seam to join the squares, but I'm not very proficient at crochet and wasn't happy with the results, so I just used good ol' mattress stitch. Now I just need to knit on the borders on all the sides and I'm done. Woo hoo!

Prairie is finished!

Prairie is finished, I decided not to do the neck and armhole finishing because it would have made them too small, and they aren't curling, anyway. I think I'll like it, we'll see this weekend in Lake Tahoe! Woo hoo!

A Study of I-Cord Bindoff

Been nosin' around the internet for techniques for an I-cord bindoff for my Log Cabin Blanket. There are various ways to do it. They all agree that after you are through knitting, you cast on 3 sts (or however many you want, depending on the thickness of the cord that you desire) at the beginning of the row using backward loop e, chain or knitted cast on. You knit 2 stitches (or all of the new stitches except for the last one), then perform a decrease with the last new stitch and the first stitch of the main piece. How you perform the decrease dramatically affects the look of the cord:

This one from Knitty.com uses K2TBL. I like the look of it, but the thought of doing K2TBL for the 12-foot circumference of a blanket makes me want to run screaming into the street naked. Okay, not naked.

This one from wikiknitting.com uses K2tog. I don't like the zigzag ridge at the bottom of it.

This one from Knitpick's website uses SKP, I like this one the best and plan to use it.

So here are the directions that I plan to use. At the beginning of the bindoff row, cast on 3 stitches using cable cast on. Knit 2 stitches. SKP (Slip one, Knit one, pass slipped stitch over). Slip the last 3 worked stitches back to the left hand needle and repeat. I haven't worked out yet how to end the cord. Each side of the blanket is knitted separately. I think I'll have to leave the last 3 stitches live, add on the next side, pick up stitches along the edge of the new side, and possibly continue on around the corner. We'll see when we get there.

Oh, and here's a picture of the first square of the blanket. Went really fast.

Prairie is still languishing on top of the dryer, I may not have time to finish it before we leave for Lake Tahoe, I have appointments all day today and we leave tomorrow.

Log Cabin Baby Blanket

My husband's best friend in high school just became a grandfather. That rates a baby blanket, not just some quickie cap and sweater. I found several with techniques that interested me, but finally settled on the Valley Log Cabin Blanket in the interest of finishing the thing sometime before the little nipper graduates preschool. And of course, it was going to be a throw-in-the-washer and generally mistreat it sort of yarn. Vanna's Choice didn't have enough bright colors, so I settled on Caron's Simply Soft Brites in 7 colors bright enough to interest any baby that's been plopped down on it so that mother can go pee and get a cup of coffee. It's constructed of four panels with 14 strips in each panel. Here's 7 strips done in about 2 hours:

Should be good airplane knitting next Wednesday.

Have also made great progress on the Master HandKnitting Level I, finished up through swatch 15 and wrote up the pattern for it. All that's left now knitting-wise is to knit swatch 16, which is color work and not my strong suit, and the project hat. Then it's answering questions and writing a little report.

What has happened to Prairie, you may ask? She's languishing in unfinished sweater land. Front and Back are knit, blocked and dried, just need some kid-free time to figure out the crochet trim around the neck and armholes.

Knitting Progress

Since being essentially stymied by knitting mishaps the last couple of months, I have now managed to ACCOMPLISH something. The front and back of Prairie are now knitted and are drying (yarn faded somewhat, no longer that Aegean blue, but more sky blue now). Still plenty of finishing to do on it (must investigate crocheted crab stitch), but should be finished in time to take on vacation next Wednesday to ACTUALLY WEAR. Woo hoo!

Met with the girls today to work on the TKGA Master Handknitter Level 1 course. Am now on swatch 13, breezed right through the lace swatches already. We may fool around and finish this program by the end of summer!

Going to be going to South Lake Tahoe next week for Terry's stepdad's family reunion. Have never been, so of course have Googled yarn stores, one store in Lake Tahoe, 9 others in surrounding towns. Should be good shopping.

Educational Yarn

I was running out of my pale pink yarn for the Master's program and stopped by Gourmet Yarn and bought two more skeins of the Cascade 220 I'm using. When I walked in with the telltale Gourmet Yarn bag my husband, who knows I'm trying to de-stash by knitting for charity, looked at it and raised an eyebrow. I defended myself with, "it's for my Master's program, I ran out." To which he replied, "Oh, it's EDUCATIONAL yarn, huh?"

Prairie almost thrown out on the prairie

Finished the front, the double decreases look a little wonky, but it was that or huge armholes. I washed the front piece in Knit Wash that I bought at Hancock Fabric's and set it out to block. That's when the pain started. That thing grew and grew until it was absolutely huge. It could have wrapped around myself twice. I was so disapointed. So I set it on the top of the washer and went on to do other things. Changed it's status in Ravelry to frogged, added my 'angry' pic to it to designate it as a TOAD, put the needle back in the case and threw away the directions. Came back to it later and held it up to myself, and all of a sudden it wasn't huge anymore. Guess it contracted as it dried. I'm going to go ahead and knit the back (after going back into Ravelry and fixing that, and making new copies of the pattern after my kids dumped a wet paper towel on top of them in the trash).

I've also finally taken pics of my blocked swatches for the TKGA Master Handknitter Level 1 course. I have more finished, but ran out of blocking pins last night.



Sorry for the crappy pictures, it's cloudy today in OKC.