This was a new knitting technique for me. I've never done mitered squares before, so I was excited to give this a try. It really is a simple process, when you get right down to it. It's just rows of garter stitch with a central decrease in the middle, which makes for a simple enough pattern to memorize. After the first square I no longer needed to refer to the pattern, not really, at least not to give me instructions on how to knit it. I was pretty pleased with myself for the first square I finished. It looked really good, which was exactly what I was hoping for.
Though, I have to admit, I was a little surprised at how bright the yarn was for this kit. When I looked at the pattern it looked like pretty bold colors, nothing bright and garish. I'd expected a little more subtlety, I guess. As you can see from the picture, the purple is pretty intense. It looks pretty shockingly bright, which caught me off guard at first. I had to admit, I was thinking I might not love this pattern after all. It's made with acrylic, which I'm not a fan of, and it's incredibly bright colors. Shortly after I ordered the pattern I decided to make this for my daughter, so I'm kind of glad I had that in mind. Acrylic yarn doesn't bother her. Actually, it's best for her because it's easy to clean, which means she can be curled up in a blanket with some soup and not have to worry about spilling. Better still, the bright colors are totally her style.
When the striping started, I thought the contrast was a bit intense. The first row being purple against a really bright pink, it seemed like it was a little much at first, but by the time I was halfway through the square I was really kind of digging it. It's a pretty cool color combination. I almost wish the whole blanket was made of squares those colors, and maybe mixing in the red that comes later. With the red it had a cool Valentine's look. I thought it looked pretty awesome, honestly.
Though, truth be told, I was a little worried about how some of the other colors would come together. The way the pattern works blends orange with pink and purple. I thought those might be a bit much of a contrast, that an the gold. Eventually those colors come in contact with blues and green as well. Those colors all will cross and mix as a part of the pattern, though I'm not nearly that far yet. I'm starting on the first block of the four that will eventually be sewn together, then surrounded by a border. It's a surprisingly huge blanket, meaning I'm going to be working on this one for a long time to come.
Yet when the colors in the first square have started to blend together, I have to admit, I haven't hated it. Section 1 is coming right along and I'm making good progress. At this point I have the first 10 squares done of the 25 in each section. The whole blanket totals to 100 squares and a border, which means I'll have a lot to work on for some time to come.
So far there haven't been a whole lot of snags in the process. I did have to pretty much frog an entire square because somewhere the central decrease became off centered. I couldn't find where it was by tinking it back, so I finally decided to just frog the square and start from pretty much the beginning. I left the picked up stitches and the first two rows of color, but everything else was ripped back. That was the red and pink square. As I'm sure you can see, I've progressed a good deal since then. I've managed to get on a couple more squares at that point, and to weave in the ends, which is the part I've hated most about this project. There are so many ends to weave in!
That's one thing I've learned in all of this, weave in the ends as you go and it won't be so bad at the end. I've been making sure the row gets done, then the ends get woven before I start the new row. This not only makes it easier to pick up the stitches, but it means there's less work to be done at the end of the blanket. Plus, I think it makes the whole thing look neater as a whole. It would be a mess if there were a whole bunch of colored strands just dangling from the back. Now I can hand it to someone and it looks like a somewhat finished piece of work.
All told, for a first larger than baby sized blanket project, I'm pretty happy with the way this one is turning out. It's obviously going to take quite some time to finish. I've barely made a dent in it and I've been working at it pretty steadily for the past couple of days. I think when I have other projects to mix in with it, I'll make a requirement to knit at least one square every day, just to keep me motivated. I think if I can keep moving on this project, it'll slowly get done, even if it takes me months. At least I know I won't be without something to knit for some time now!
No comments:
Post a Comment