A Bluestocking Knits

More Squares, and an Oval

Since I don't have to wait a week for the next square for the Granny Square Sampler afghan to come out, it may come as no surprise that my turnout is starting to blend together.  Sometimes a new-to-me square takes a while to work, then by the third one it just zips along and I might start the next one right away.  I think week 3's square is one of my favorites -- something about the simplicity of it, perhaps.  It's fun to have the colors changing on each round, but I really like the nearly-solid ones.

Week 4's squares are a subtle variation on the traditional granny square, with a little "V" shape in the second-color rounds.  I realized that it didn't show up very well with the dark green, so on the second one I used a brighter color.

There are two squares for Week 5, and to revel in that, they are nearly circles!  My Circles in a Square are at upper right and lower left in the photo above, and the other two are "Squircles" -- the first has only sort of embryonic corners, and uses the wonderful blocking properties of wool to mold it into a square shape, but the second, while very similar in the middle, uses further rounds of short single crochets in the middles of the edges, then slightly taller half-doubles on either side, with taller-yet double crochets to fill out the corners.  Simple, yet clever.

As for the oval, well, our bathroom mats are getting a bit ratty after, goodness I don't even know how long, possibly twenty years!  I discovered that I could order some truly gigantic balls of Lily Sugar N Cream yarn, and so I bought three, thinking of their Oval Bath Mat free pattern.  But it isn't really oval, is it, with the increases stacked directly on top of one another -- though I suppose "Elongated-Octagon Bath Mat" doesn't sound as appealing -- so I just sort of improvised for a while, moving the increases here or there, then when it started getting big, I put safety pins around the curved ends in the spots I wanted the increases to go, so that I could see them.  I'm pretty happy with the shape, not so much with the jog where the rounds end, so if I do another one in an oval, I will try a spiral.  Still, it's much more pleasant to look at the floor in the bathroom now!  And the balls of yarn were so huge that I'm pretty sure I have enough for at least one more mat!

Granny Square Sampler Afghan, Week 2

Part of the appeal of this sampler project is that working it a few pieces at a time, squares can be finished in an hour, and I did mine in odd moments here and there.  Week 2 asks for the traditional granny square again but this time with only three rounds -- the smallness of the square means that you can make quite a lot of them fairly quickly, and the request is for "10-14 squares" with the proviso that if you've chosen a ground color -- the cream Paton's Classic, in my case -- at least four of the squares use that color as the third round.

(So glad I decided to finish and block the squares as I go!)

I made the last batch and wove in the ends watching the first two episodes of "Great Canal Journeys" with Timothy West and Prunella Scales.  It's not only a lovely travelogue around Britain, of course, but a tender and moving story of a couple celebrating fifty years of marriage by doing something that they love, both of them long-time narrow-boaters, and at the same time coping with Pru's slowly-advancing dementia.

Knitting in the Movies: "Knives Out"

I haven't seen "Knives Out" yet, but had to laugh when I read an article in the "New Yorker" this morning about the mania over the Aran sweater worn by Chris Evans as the spoiled grandson of the murder victim. 

Then the film’s costume designer, Jenny Eagan, started giving interviews that built up the mythology of the sweater. She said that she could not remember who made the sweater (she vaguely remembers purchasing it, but does not recall if it was new or vintage or one of a kind), and that it was now missing. (Evans claims to have swiped much of his wardrobe from the set.) So far, no manufacturer has piped up to claim the glory. A fashion credit that could have launched a thousand shipping boxes is now lost to the ether, which has also allowed every knitwear retailer on earth to pounce on the demand. If you Google “Knives Out sweater,” dozens of shopping results pop up. There’s this one, from Orvis (now sold out!); or this one, from Huckberry; or this one, from the Irish Store; or this one, from the Aran Sweater Market. Really, any bulky garment the tint of Taleggio cheese could be the One True Sweater.

Well, it's interesting the way that Eagan has used her costumes to comment on each of the characters in the movie (I'm sure anyone reading this will notice the holes in the Aran almost immediately!), and pleasing to me to hear that Arans are "in" again -- but really, people, you don't have to go crazy trying to buy one!  You could learn to knit!

Of course, it might be just as much the way he wears the sweater as the sweater he's wearing --

 

Granny Square Sampler Afghan, Week 1

In addition to consolidating my yarns this week, I was also inspired so much by photos of the Granny Square Sampler project at WiseCraftHomemade (I'm only seven-odd years behind the crochet-along!), that I dug out all of the odd balls and leftovers of Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK I have, stuck into various corners of drawers and boxes here and there.  I knew there were quite a few, but seeing them all stacked together, well, there is quite enough for an afghan.  These colors are for the most part rather darker than what I was picturing in my mind, but a stash-buster is a stash-buster. There are also a few non-Matchmaker balls in there of similar weight -- why not?! -- so it's a collection of past projects and projects that never really got off the ground.  I can see two Azkaban scarves and a Forbes Forest, a bit of Doctor Who, and a Smeerenburg hat in there ....

Basically, the idea is to make a pile of granny squares, a different pattern every week, though the number (and occasionally shape!) of each varies, and at the end to lay them out like a jigsaw puzzle in whatever order they fit, and crochet them together into an afghan.  Blair suggests that at the beginning, in order for a collection of random yarn colors not to seem too daunting, you set a rule or two, like "Lightest color always starts in the center and gets darker with each round, or Blue and pink yarns never sit side by side, or Always end largest rounds with charcoal heather, or Use cream in every square."  Oh! that last one is lucky for me! --

This was a blanket from Knitting Without Tears, quite a lot of Paton's Classic Wool -- I remember starting it, but I have no idea now when that was.  Never mind!

The square for Week 1 is the traditional granny square, making one with 7 rounds and two with five rounds.  I can tell the moment that I pick up the Classic that it is heavier than the Matchmaker, but I'm hoping that in the small quantities used for one round in a granny square, it won't be too noticeable.  The Classic will also be the yarn I use to connect all of the squares together, but one of the beauties of this sampler project is that you can adjust the size or number of rows that connect all of the squares, so that gauge isn't critical.

I decided to weave in the ends and block as I go, so that I'm not stuck with three thousand ends to do -- tedium, thy name is weaving in ends -- which I'm already feeling was a good decision, as this alone was forty yarn ends!  Yes, one of the squares has only four rounds, it was my swatch and I decided to use a smaller hook, though to be honest, it doesn't look much different to me now, scale-wise!  Since it is pretty close to the same size as the five-round squares, I might be able to use it to fill in an empty spot when putting the afghan together.

Visit Blair Stocker's blog for the inspiration behind the granny square sampler, and a preparatory post about yarns and color selection.  There is also a Flickr group.

Odds and Ends

The previous post was "bits and bobs," this one is "odds and ends" -- in a flutter of spring(-ish) cleaning and reorganization, I started consolidating the yarn in the chest of drawers next to my sewing machine, in order to be able to put sewing things in some of the drawers.  This meant, of course, that I came across dozens of leftover balls of yarn, sometimes two of three of a kind but often just a partial one, so not enough to make much of anything by themselves.

And so in the afternoon I sat down at the computer with a cup of tea and found a number of "leftover yarn" projects that I like, and will include at least one, I hope two or three, in this year's knitting.  I've long wanted to make a mitered-square scarf with the ends of sock yarn, but I might even have enough for a mitered-square blanket like this one by Nicolette of Knitting Squirrel!

For just a tiny bit of yarn, there is always something like the little sachet in the photo, which I came across in one of the drawers -- it was included with some yarn I bought, I'm sorry I can't remember now from where as it was a nice little touch.  This one has a ribbon drawstring and is filled with lavender.  The Treasure Pouch by Resilient Knitter (the pattern is available free with subscription to her newsletter) is very similar.

The Traveler's Life afghan by the Yarn Harlot is similar to the perennial favorite linen-stitch scarf in that you use one length of yarn per row and then tie the ends into a fringe -- easy-peasy as well as satisfying.  There are numerous versions of the linen-stitch scarf, I'm sure, but here is one, and here is another that doesn't even require turning your work! and here is one for crochet.  (This post at Look What I Made gives not only a tutorial for linen-stitch in crochet but also shows examples of how altering the number of rows per color will change the effects of the linen stitch.) 

The Fiddly Bits cowl by Jana Pihota or her Excavation blanket are a little more complex structurally but still very simple knits that would use up a lot of leftover yarns while producing a handsome and useful accessory. 

Or how about a sock-yarn rug?! -- a gloriously wild idea --

Bits and Bobbins

There are plenty of old projects still on the go to keep me busy during the coming year, but of course one can hardly help adding new ones to the queue.  There are so many wonderful projects out there ...

I found myself last summer rather taken by the Gladiolus Vest by Robyn Chachula -- to my surprise, as it's crochet!  Well, you never know.  It's in a worsted weight yarn, rather heavier than much of my stash -- until I thought of the bag of Jaeger Extrafine Merino that David bought for me in Hong Kong some years ago. 

(The top square is blocked and the bottom one isn't!)  It worked up in the swatch quite nicely, and feels delicious of course, but it's a rather dark blue, and try as I might, I couldn't seem to picture the vest in a dark color.  I set the swatch aside to think about for a while, and of course months passed.  I had for some reason the other day thought of a bag of a Japanese wool/silk blend I bought for myself in Hong Kong (!), in a pale pink -- I'd asked Laura if she would like something made out of it, and she said, "Well, it's pretty, but ..." then suddenly last night at some ungodly hour when I was still awake, I thought, "Oh! I should try the silk yarn on that crochet vest!"  It also works up into the crochet square beautifully --

The only problem is that I have 10 40-gram skeins, and by my calculation this is exactly the amount called for, which in my experience usually means not quite enough.  Do I carry on and risk it?  The problem is that being crocheted squares, you cut the yarn at the end of each square, so that if I end up not having enough of the yarn, I'm left with eighty or ninety lengths of yarn, instead of ten.

I am using up the rest of the strips of Moda "Boro" fabrics, which are, to my delight and horror both, enough to make quite a large second Chinese Coins quilt.  (Horror because, gosh, why did I cut all of them? and delight because now I'll have a Boro quilt of my own.)  I have sewed most of the remaining strips into five "stacks" and now must hunt down some coupons and get fabric for sashing and backing.  And I also now have a charming stash of two Karen Styles collections from Marcus Fabrics, "County Clare" and "Meridian Stars".  I really like this version by Sandra Clemons of the traditional "Cross and Crown" block, and was delighted to find that it's available for free.  The two fabric collections play well together, too, I think, and there will be less of a contrast between reds/browns and pinks/blues when they are interspersed --

On one of our recent trips to Pasadena for Parade rehearsals, David and I spent a few hours at Vroman's -- as one does -- and I came away with Blair Stocker's Wise Craft Quilts.  The book impressed me not only with its collection of beautiful quilts, but with Stocker's gentle emphasis on artistry and creativity as well as meaningfulness, and that it isn't just "here's how you do it" but also "here's why you do it," how to balance light vs. dark colors, or odd shapes, and so on.  I was delighted to find that Stocker also has a blog, with lots of beautiful things to look at and make.

And I must say I'm rather taken with her Granny Square Sampler afghan project ...!  She has provided patterns or links to patterns for a variety of granny squares of different sizes and textures, and, like the quilts in her book, tips for piecing them together into a quirky afghan.

Oh, yes -- and Rose Parade, of course!  This will be Julia's last year (aging out at 17!), so it's a little bittersweet.  But what a stirring sight they were!

Some time ago, Julia said, apropos of nothing it seemed, "Mom, I want to learn how to make bobbin lace."  Julia, my intelligent and deft yet rather defiantly undomestic teenager wants to learn a centuries-old needlecraft!  "Hm," I said, trying not to let my delight show, "well, let's see what we can do."  And not long after that, we happened to come across a demonstration by a group that holds monthly meetings -- so we went, and then took a day-long class.

This is my first sample piece, in a stitch called cloth stitch -- this particular one happens to have "winkie" edges, I'm told, those little picot-like bumps that occur when you wrap the weaver threads around the next pin in the sequence.  I did a fairly long length during the class, trying to keep the threads snug and the tension even, and then the next day when I worked on it some more, I had to laugh when I saw that I had been snugging up the weave quite a lot more the second day!

Lace has taken a bit of a back-seat lately, though, as I am still enchanted with the "Froth and Bubble" sampler, and finished the bottom panel last night.  I started in the middle, so have two panels left!