2 posts tagged “mitred squares”

Mighty Mitres

2 comments

My mitred square blanket is now a rectangular! Since taking this photo on Sunday night, I've completed the last two squares in the third row of my blanket, meaning I'm now halfway!

I would be more pleased with the progress if I hadn't just noticed (thanks to the last photo update) that it has taken my more than one month to complete four squares. Oh, bugger it - I'm pretty darned pleased anyway! Gotta love a project that'll keep your toes warm while you're knitting it.

I'm still stoked with the colours and how they're working out together. I was asked at Knit Rangers if there was a pattern to the placement, or if I am just making it up as I go along. Well, there is a set repeat, or at least a plan. Basically, I worked the first row using each of the seven colours in a grouping I liked. Then, the second row started with the fourth colour in that set,and then cycling through in the same order. The third row started with the fourth colour in that second set, and on I'll go.

I sat for ages with paper and coloured pencils plotting how I'd work the three solid colours and four variegated yarns into a "pretty" arrangement, with some attempt at symmetry. I gave up on that after much frustration, and I'm glad; the ordered randomness is working out great.

I do have additional balls of the charcoal grey to work a border, but the more I think about that, the less likely it is that'll actually happen. I don't think it'll be necessary to add to the size, or the "finish" it off. So, there'll probably be something grey being knit in the coming year - no doubt inspired by the abundant rain clouds.

Mitred Square

As I mentioned earlier, I'm not really much for sewing pieces together. This aversion, along with limited patience or bigger projects, was the main reason for my decision not to knit a blanket this year.

So, here I am, knitting a blanket! I had a handful of Patons Jet (70% wool, 30% alpaca) that didn't have a project in mind (why I thought I'd make socks out of the colours I'd bought, I don't know), so in looking for ideas, I bought a ridiculously large amount of the same yarn in other colours to make myself a blanket.

Having knit a large blanket several years ago one Christchurch mid-winter, and then finally getting around to crocheting it together the next winter, I knew I had to take a different approach. So, rather than using the method I used back then (starting with 3 stitches, gradually increasing, and then decreasing to form the square), I opted for mitred squares that I'd seen used to great effect with many wools by my Mum. Begin able to pick up stitches towork the squares together without a need to sew up later, and still have the flexibility to use many coloured yarns (and so not be bored to tears), it really is a great option for me.

Blanket

2 comments

And of course, with an ever decreasing number of stitches per rows (60 down to 1), coupled with 12 ply yarn, it's not going to take me forever to complete (at least, it feels quick, and that's what really counts). Each square is 30 grams of a 50 gram ball; the blanket should be 7 by 6 (with seven colours), and will be a about Queen sized without a border. I hav purchased enough yarn to work a border in charcoal grey, but I'm not 100% sure I'll do that - time will tell!

Not a project I'll be lugging around with me to work on for much longer, though I did take it to both my WW meeting and Knit Rangers last week. I had to laugh at my WW meeting, where a woman who is visiting from the UK for a couple of months, and has gotten used to me knitting socks during the session, remarked that I had her all confused sitting there with my blanket! Can't be too predictable!