I finished the first square for the blanket project, and was all ready to mail it off to Annie. I have more than enough of this yarn left to make another square, so the mailing will have to wait another day or so. These knit up pretty fast, assuming you are referring to a speedy knitter who doesn’t get sidetracked by a zillion other projects in between rows.
Here’s the first one:
And the second:
These are both out of Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. The first one is “Fancy Lozenge”, the second is “Seaweed”. I picked patterns that look good on both sides. Someday I might just get the urge to make myself an afghan using these books. Once I get the second one finished, I’ll block them both and get them off in the mail.
Speaking of blocking, here’s what’s new at my house
I finally got around to ordering these*, and am very happy that I did. Okay, maybe it’s a bit of an overkill for that one little square, but the beauty of this is that you can use just as many of the blocks as you need for the project. I actually bought a lot more of these for when I have a huge shawl or a Bigfoot sweater to block. They come apart easily enough for storage. The other really great feature of these is that they are very easy on your knees when you are crawling around pinning stuff down. That wasn’t the case for my old plywood and styrofoam board.
On the remodeling front, we’re sort of in the homestretch. The carpet has all been installed upstairs, and the new window coverings upstairs mostly got put in yesterday. We went with the Duette fabric blinds, and two of the window sets didn’t fit, and a third one didn’t get ordered with the rest so will be in next week. (Hello, didn’t that guy come out TWICE to measure?) I now have doors back on all my bathrooms, though two of the doors upstairs got damaged at the paint shop so they have to replace them. They’ll be in who knows when. Now I just have to get all the clothes out of the bathtub and back in the closet. For some reason, I’ve been putting that one off. We’re getting together with our neighbors and having a garage sale next weekend, so it’s given me an inspiration to do some de-cluttering when stuff comes back in the house from the garage.
We are going to a Tacoma Rainiers game tonight, so if it doesn’t rain, expect some knitting-baseball pictures next time. They are having fireworks after the game, so I’m going even if I have to wear long underwear (it’s been a bit chilly here the past few days).
*I ordered the mats from here.
Hi:
I enjoyed my first visit to your blog, and I had to smile when you mentioned a Walker afghan. To this day, my Walker afghan is one of my favorite projects. I’ve included a link to my project page. I’ll be looking forward to seeing your version. 🙂 Aloha from Maui, Hawaii.
Ok! You just solved my blocking dilema! I was going to go out and buy something! Now the only problem I have is finding a place where four kids a husband and a dog won’t step on it!
Love the blocking mats – thanks for the link. I went to the site and now want to do my whole in house in brightly colored number blocks. I don’t think my hubby would go along with it, though.
The square is beautiful. And you’ve come up with a great idea for blocking mats!
Great idea for a blocking board – I have mats similar to those in my boys’ basement basketball court…never would have thought to use them for a blocking board!
The squares are lovely. Great choices in stitch patterns. Can you pin directly to the mat?
I love the pattrns you chose for the squares… Ahh, I need a mat like that so badly! I might have to check that website out 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
What a great idea on the foamy blocking mats. Thanks! And by the way, you and another knitter friend have inspired me to enter the NaNoWriMo event this year. I have a plan in my head already….
Oh man that’s a neat idea to use the foam squares for blocking. And, they store easily, Who’d have thunk? Thank you for inspiring me. while I won’t be participating in a squares project I could use some pretty patterns for scarves and such for the coming winter. Looking forward to seeing more of these squares. 🙂
Lovely squares! I love the color, especially because it symbolizes joy and happy things.
i love that blocking board….so much better than my homemade job.
Lorette: What a great idea for blocking! I’ve been in a conundrum about what would be the best thing to use for blocking my knitting items as I didn’t really want to pin wet things to the beds. You gave me the best solution. Thanks! Happy knitting, Jennifer