...aK(a): grandma's 2008 holiday gift, finally done!
All About Aran afghan by Janet Szabo
Elann Superwash Worsted, 18 balls
Started: August 2008
Finished: March 4 2009
US 7 24" addi
This is the third year I've made gma an afghan (2006: Lizard Ridge, 2007: Totally Autumn Throw) for the winter holidays but the first I didn't have it done in time :( A little distracted with weaving, with baby nephew knitting... no matter. I'll be handing it over this weekend when I head off to my sister's baby shower and it'll be awesome. Grandma saw me working on it the last time I visited and made me feel like a rockstar for memorizing the (simple) cable patterns and not having to refer to a chart-- she said she never did patterned knitting (cables, lace) which surprised me because she did so much with color. I think she did a lot of feather and fan, but I can't remember and don't have any of her afghans left so I can't be sure.
All of the cables are really intuitive once you get going-- the pattern offers seven different blocks and I chose four.
rope cables
horseshoe cables
braided cable panel
moss diamond cables
I knit the afghan in strips-- 4 strips of 4-block squares each. I'm not a fan of the seaming although the garter st seaming of the panels was much easier than I imagined it would be. I *am* a fan of the fearful symmetry, so I staggered the positioning of the squares in the panels so they would alternate in a pleasing to me way :)
I will admit to not blocking the strips before seaming and not really blocking the blanket well at all-- just a onceover with my can'tholdacandletosteamy iron set to steam to try and get the edges to lay flat and get the braid panel to not pull in as much. No pinning, no measuring. It illuminated the only regret I had in not knitting the throw in squares-- it would have been far easier to coax the drawn in braid cable square out so it wouldn't pull its neighbors in as much if it had been blocked bdsm style on its lonesome instead of in a panel. Really though, I specifically chose superwash cos I know that if this gets any use (and I hope it will!), it'll be over a lap that is usually the sleeping pillow for a small dog and one of seven (!!) cats-- I'm not really worried about the blocking future of the afghan since it has washing machine written all over it anyways :)
I have no idea what next year's (this year's!!) blanket will look like... superwash again for sure, but otherwise? Maybe feather and fan, old school? I'll have to ask gma what patterns she did use in her 80million afghans served.
Just to give you an idea of the true color and lap-size...
:)
All About Aran afghan by Janet Szabo
Elann Superwash Worsted, 18 balls
Started: August 2008
Finished: March 4 2009
US 7 24" addi
This is the third year I've made gma an afghan (2006: Lizard Ridge, 2007: Totally Autumn Throw) for the winter holidays but the first I didn't have it done in time :( A little distracted with weaving, with baby nephew knitting... no matter. I'll be handing it over this weekend when I head off to my sister's baby shower and it'll be awesome. Grandma saw me working on it the last time I visited and made me feel like a rockstar for memorizing the (simple) cable patterns and not having to refer to a chart-- she said she never did patterned knitting (cables, lace) which surprised me because she did so much with color. I think she did a lot of feather and fan, but I can't remember and don't have any of her afghans left so I can't be sure.
All of the cables are really intuitive once you get going-- the pattern offers seven different blocks and I chose four.
rope cables
horseshoe cables
braided cable panel
moss diamond cables
I knit the afghan in strips-- 4 strips of 4-block squares each. I'm not a fan of the seaming although the garter st seaming of the panels was much easier than I imagined it would be. I *am* a fan of the fearful symmetry, so I staggered the positioning of the squares in the panels so they would alternate in a pleasing to me way :)
I will admit to not blocking the strips before seaming and not really blocking the blanket well at all-- just a onceover with my can'tholdacandletosteamy iron set to steam to try and get the edges to lay flat and get the braid panel to not pull in as much. No pinning, no measuring. It illuminated the only regret I had in not knitting the throw in squares-- it would have been far easier to coax the drawn in braid cable square out so it wouldn't pull its neighbors in as much if it had been blocked bdsm style on its lonesome instead of in a panel. Really though, I specifically chose superwash cos I know that if this gets any use (and I hope it will!), it'll be over a lap that is usually the sleeping pillow for a small dog and one of seven (!!) cats-- I'm not really worried about the blocking future of the afghan since it has washing machine written all over it anyways :)
I have no idea what next year's (this year's!!) blanket will look like... superwash again for sure, but otherwise? Maybe feather and fan, old school? I'll have to ask gma what patterns she did use in her 80million afghans served.
Just to give you an idea of the true color and lap-size...
:)
