hexagon

I learned something new, so I'm making a blanket.

Failed Afghan Intentions

When I began knitting these blue, white and gray strips I had every intention of turning them into another afghan similar to the one I knit for my mom. I was using the same pattern (pdf) but made a slight change in the edges (seed instead of garter) and the cable - knitting them in a small braid rather than a plain twist (which I actually think I like better anyway, but oh well). My problem came when I went to sew the strips together and realized I had accidentally knit some of them on the wrong sized needles. I guess my attention to detail is lacking from time to time.

I re-knit one of the strips on the smaller sized needles (because that was the original plan and most of them had been done that way). However, for several reasons I decided not to continue with the afghan and a week or so ago I started giving the strips away as scarves. They are warm and cozy and everyone liked them.

Macro

Over the past several months the bottom kind of fell out of my life. And I stopped knitting. I think things could be getting back on track now. I've picked up my needles again! Pictured above is the project I've been working on. It is a Christmas gift.

Every year my girls take photographs for the state fair. This year they entered a couple in the macro category. Since then I've been thinking how very much I like super close pictures, so that is what you are getting here. A macro of my knitting.

A small update on me: My mom is still hanging in there. This fall we left the ranks of the home schoolers and enrolled the three big girls in our local elementary. They love school and it's been very quiet around here. My small daughter (4 y/o) is starting to feel lonely though. She's becoming good friends with the dog.

Anyway, I'm happy to be knitting again.

A Contest

A contest as a thank you for contributing to Aaron's Afghan - a project meant to comfort a family whose little two-year-old son and brother recently passed away.

Contest details

prizes include: one set of my favorite type knitting needles, clover bamboo, in size 10 (new - I removed them from the packaging just to take the picture); one set of five stitch markers (hearts - as this is a project of love); a pretty yellow pottery bowl made by a local potter - it is the perfect size for little candies, pocket change, or just about any other small item; finally four 50 gram hanks of a beautiful cranberry-colored Flureece yarn from Knit One Crochet Too's Gourmet Collection. This yarn is 75% merino wool, 25% nylon and very soft.

how to enter: simply send a 7x7 inch knit square to Jen (email her at njbush at netins dot net for the mailing address). The squares should be knit with a soft acrylic (I recommend Caron Simply Soft) in shades of green, blue and also cream. Then leave me a comment telling me how many squares you sent. For each square you knit and send you will receive one entry.

deadline: Squares need to be postmarked by March 13th (that's a Tuesday) to be eligible. The contest is retroactive for squares that have already been sent.

winner: I will post the winner within a few days of the contest and ask that they contact me by email (for some reason blogger does not include email addresses for comments on my blog, I could probably change that in my settings somehow but I don't know enough about computers to figure it out).

Please join us as we reach out to a hurting family.

*** a little addendum - I've heard that my silly blog won't let some people post comments. To remedy the situation, I decided to open an email account in case you'd like to email your name and # of squares: aarons_afghan at yahoo dot com ***

finished afghan

Dear Mom,
It is my hope that as you wrap in this blanket, you can know how much I love you. Not a single moment spent on even one stitch was wasted. Each wrap of the yarn around the needle was a prayer for you.

Because I could never thank you enough ...

Love,
Marcia

Well, I wanted this to stay serious but because my mom has such a funny sense of humor, it can't. The pillow reads: "Maybe the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about!" Mom was given this by a friend one Christmas and faithfully it sits in her living room. She even made a few of her own to give away to other friends the following Christmas. The afghan does not live there on the rocking chair. I don't know that it actually has any one place where it belongs. It kind of migrates around the house as far as I can tell - and that is fine with me.

Afghan

Afghan. The word sounds intimidating, almost as frightening as “sweater”. I am an in-the-moment kinda gal. I don’t tend to be especially patient and this shows through in my knitting. I like to knit things that I can finish quickly. I do not want to spend a large amount of time on any one project. The idea of a full-sized baby blanket practically sends me into a panic attack. Can you imagine spending an entire week or two of knitting time working on one project? Perish the thought.

But what do you give someone who has a terminal illness?

For Mothers’ Day I did not know what to get my mom. I ended up having the girls make her a stepping-stone from a kit I purchased at Michael’s. While the girls and I worked on the project in the back of my mind I thought of the day I would get it back. I wished that I didn’t have to be so aware that such a day would come.

Just before Christmas last year my mom was diagnosed with systemic sclerosis (or scleroderma), which had triggered pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung disease. It is fatal. Always.

Another aspect of the systemic sclerosis is raynaud's syndrome. Mom is always cold. I had in mind that I would like to knit an afghan for her birthday, as intimidating as they are. Mom and I share a favorite color: green. I knew the blanket must be green. I found a free pattern (pdf) that I liked online. The pattern is knit with a cable running the length of each of the eight strips that make up the afghan. The yarn I chose to use was Caron Simply Soft in two shades of green along with a raspberry and bone. Each color would have two strips.

I spent not just a few weeks knitting this one project, but an entire summer. I finished the final strip late last night. I did knit other things from time to time, for a change of pace and because I have knitter’s ADD. I can’t have just one set of needles busy at any given moment. The afghan though, was the project in my bag. It was the one that went everywhere with me.

Many hours were passed knitting in the car to and from Southeastern Utah. It went to the library many times, to the children’s museum, to riding lessons, gymnastics, once to a political meeting but most often to church. There was something comforting about working on my mom’s blanket while listening to a teaching of the Word of God.

The eight row, repeating pattern is now burned into my brain. In the beginning I counted every row. Then I went on to only counting every cable twist. Eventually I just knit until it looked like I was close to the end of the strip and counted. I only over-knit once!

I will miss having Mom’s afghan with me, but at the same time I dread the day I'll get it back. While at gymnastics this evening I glanced into my bag and saw the bamboo size 10.5 shorts that I purchased specifically for this project. There they both sat, unemployed. It made me feel a twinge of sadness. Finishing the strips is one step closer to finishing the blanket, which is one step closer to giving it to her, which is one step closer to saying good-bye to her. I sighed and went back to work on another dishcloth.

The pictures above: first, the finished eight strips; second, the final order for the strips - this one was suggested by my husband with a little help from my daughter (it was the fourth one tried); third, the stitch pattern

It really surprises me that I am a tight knitter

My friend's daughter is a knitting maniac. She's fast and furious and uses the strangest method I've ever seen. I can never remember what it is called. One day while knitting around my friend's kitchen table we were chatting about cast-on methods and such. Friend was using the double cast on method for socks. When I commented about how I wouldn't dare use that cast-on for fear I'd never be able to stretch the sock to get it on, Friend's daughter said it was because I am an extremely tight knitter. Huh. The thing is, I can still get the stitches off pretty easily. I would think that if I were to knit much looser my needles (almost typed "kneedles" LOL) would fall right out of my knitting. *shrug*

So as you can imagine being a tight knitter is a bit frustrating to someone who doesn't normally check gauge.

I decided a couple of weeks ago to knit an afghan for my mom for her birthday (and if you know my mom, please, please don't give away the surprise!). A week or so ago I finally settled on a pattern, the cable twist throw. That night I ordered yarn from JoAnn's, which incidentally was my very first internet yarn purchase! Mom can't wear wool so I wanted a soft acrylic. I chose Caron Simply Soft. I wanted 4 colors for my afghan, dark sage, sage, raspberry and then couldn't decide between bone and off white - so I ordered both. And too much of all 5 - plus some yarn to knit up for babies and LucyBug.

I was so excited when the UPS man made a stop at my front door yesterday!


The pattern calls for size 8 needles. Silly me, I tried knitting it on 8's but fortunately this one time I did pause to check gauge. Waaaaaaaay off! I couldn't believe how much smaller my knitting was. The piece was supposed to measure 6 inches across and 1 inch in length. I had about 4 and a quarter or so inches and about 1/2 in. long. Ugh. So I tried again with 9's.



Hmmmm still wouldn't work. I couldn't find my 10's, but did have some 10.5 circular needles. I tried those and the gauge was right on. One problem: I really detest circular needles. No problem, I asked my nine-year-old daughter if she wanted to go to the craft store with me (on the promise of new needles for her too) and she agreed. A while later we were back home, new bamboo straight (phew!) 10.5's for me and bamboo 3's for her (she doesn't like needles larger than 5 but also doesn't care for her 1's very much).



So this is what I have so far. I decided on bone for my fourth color. I really like the color as well as the feel of the yarn. It is so very soft. I can't wait to give this afghan to my mom. I hope it will help keep her warm this winter (her birthday isn't until November, so I ought to be able to get it done on time, right? LOL!)

a close-up of the stitch pattern: