Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Whew!!

 

Ta Daaaaa! Introducing my Barbara Walker Learn-to-Knit Afghan! How's that for a mouthful?

I learned about this afghan from a knitalong group on yahoo groups back in 2004...which was also back when (nostalgia coming up)....

...I'd been knitting for less than a year. If I recall correctly, I was dying to start LTKA, but made myself wait until after the 2004 holiday knitting was completed.

...There was no ravelry, so I can't remember what I knit and there are no photos, but if I look in my knitting notebook, I bet I'd find a whole list, with one page devoted to each yarn label, with info on whom the object the knitted for, what size needles were used, where the yarn was purchased, and when it was started & finished. [Hey Jess & Casey--you guys did everything I was doing!!] Oh, and there's also a scrap of yarn taped to each project page.

...I had to spend more time documenting and less time knitting back then, obviously.

...I was still single, so I had more time to spend doing all that knitting & documenting.

...I wasn't sure if I'd actually finish it, so thought I'd be "safe" by "investing" less than $50 on all acrylic Red Heart Super Saver and Walmart Homestay yarn just in case in just became stash in my closet

...I didn't even have a stash closet.

...I had not discovered that wool, even if it makes me scratch when I wear it, can be really nice to knit with (A quote here from my friend AkamaiKnitter "You really should try knitting with natural yarn.")

...I had not discovered the convenience of interchangeable knitting needle sets, and so amassed a collection of "singles".

Sigh, if I only knew then what I knew now.

I actually managed to knit the squares in about 2 years' time, while I was dating my now husband, and then planning our wedding, plus knitting lots of other stuff on the side. While I was completing square 61 or so, I occurred to me "Crap! I wonder if you can actually block acrylic??" Nope. Double crap! Too late to stop now, although those lace squares at the end nearly killed me. So, slightly disheartened, I started trying to "block" the acrylic, which was mostly what people call "killing acrylic", and started crocheting edges on each square. That was a huge task, which got put on a long hiatus (1.5 years long!).

The hibernation finished when mkcarroll announced that Aloha Knitters was invited to show our work at the Honolulu Academy of Arts Family Sunday event on 9/21/08. She was planning on making a few swatches to show different textures in knitting...I just so happened to have 63 of them! While the squares were on display, what better time to work on the dreaded edging after all that time, so...the awesome HawaiiHooker offered to help me do some edges, and while we sat & chatted, we got all but 10 squares edged. The momentum had set in, and guess what I did for the past 9 days? I'm not much of a crocheter, but I even found, and figured how to do a "biscuit edge" as my border. HawaiiHooker even told me to toss the whole blanket in the washing machine & dryer with some fabric softener, and it would help to block up the thing a little...and make it really soft. I was so anxious to see how that worked, I tossed it in last night, even though there's a whole mess of stray ends still waiting to be woven into the back. Ok, so at least it's mostly done!!

I couldn't figure out how to photograph the whole blanket in one shot, so until I get get my photog friend, Tommy, to help me figure that one out, partial shots will have to do. Or, if you have photosynth I tried to put something up. I'm in there as tink, just like in ravelry.
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3 comments:

Unknown said...

Whew! Indeed. Your squares really looked great on display that day at the Academy' Congrats!

bockstark.knits said...

Congrats! It looks fantastic! Oh and btw, I will be coming back to Hawaii this year!!! :) Cannot wait for portuguese sausage!!!!!

Kate said...

just beautiful, tink!