The last of the squares

Not been doing much in the way of blogging recently because I’ve been acting as an Extra in a movie – Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton.  It was a brilliant experience and whilst waiting around between filming scenes I managed to do a bit of knitting.  Lots of people commented and asked me what I was doing.  The only negative comment I had was from an elderly gentleman who told me that I must be an old woman to be knitting!  I wasn’t impressed, especially coming from a person who was probably in their 70s themselves.  I thought an older person might have liked to see younger people doing such a hobby.

All of the blanket squares have finally been completed…  I especially like the white, red, pink and blue striped one.

2 row garter stitch stripes

Forgotten what this is called

Garter Stitch Stripes

I’ve sewn it all together now and have done one round of crochet edging.  Another round of edging to do (tonight in front of Strictly Come Dancing) and then it’s done!!! Whoopie!!

Block 9

Here’s the final block of squares…

There’s a single row which runs along the bottom of the these blocks, and in fact I’ve only got 3 more squares to knit and then it’s done.. well the knitting bit is.  Sewing it together might take a little while! And weaving in all those ends will be tedious to say the least!

An abundance of squares (part 4)

And yet more squares… (I’m omitting ones which are repeats of previous ones in different colours)

Square with diagonal eyelet panels

Cross stitch diamond square

Stocking stitch square with lace panel

Can’t remember what this one is, but it was from a stitch pattern book, rather than doing the magazine one.

Fair-isle pattern

I really like this one.

Moss Stitch Diamond Square

An abundance of squares (part 4)

Nearly there…

Square with diagonal eyelet panels

Stocking Stitch diamond square

Reverse stocking stitch with star

Cross stitch diamond square

Stocking Stitch with Lace Panel

Can't remember which pattern this was!

The last square here was meant to be yet another stocking stitch and diamond square so I chose another stitch pattern, which I really like, but I can’t remember what it was called or how it went!

Over 20,000 visitors

In blogging news… Just been taking a look at my stats and I noticed that I’ve gone some way over 20,000 visitors since I started at the beginning of last year. Thanks to everyone for stopping by and reading and commenting!

In knitting news… I’ve completed the back piece for the new top and am sewing up blanket squares this week. It would nice to catch up and complete the blanket “on time” as it were.

There just aren’t enough hours in the day though. I’m busy at work, need to do some maintenance on a couple of websites, have ideas swimming round my head for writing a book on building church websites, letters to write, have landlord type stuff to do, and a possible new venture which I can’t divulge just yet but is very exciting and I’ll certainly tell all if it comes to fruition.

An abundance of squares (part 3)

I haven’t shown you any blanket squares for a while so here are a few more:

Honeycomb panel square

Honeycomb pattern

Textured square with rope cable

Stocking stitch square with intarsia heart

Eyelet striped square

Stocking stitch with textured blocks

The end of the blanket is in sight. It will be a shame actually as I’ve really enjoyed doing this one. I guess I’ll just have to do another one!

An abundance of squares (part 2)

Vertical Threaded Square

This has eyelet holes every 2nd row to thread strips of yarn through.

Framed moss stitch square

Moss stitch framed by stocking stitch. Very nice I think.

Woven pattern square

A type of basketweave stitch pattern.

Lacy ladders square

Horizontal bands of garter stitch interrupted at intervals by single vertical stitches and openwork decreasings.

Stocking stitch with vertical cables square

An abundance of squares (part 1)

I’ve got a whole load more squares to show you:

Basketweave Pattern

1st row: K2, P2
2nd row: P2, K2
3rd row: as 2nd
4th row: as 1st

Checked Pattern

The magazine just asked for a garter stitch square, but I decided to try this checked pattern which was in the Stitch Library pages.

Cable Block Square

Building Blocks

I love bank holiday weekends and we had a very relaxing one here. I got lots of knitting done and it felt so indulgent to be knitting on a Monday afternoon in front of the TV, catching up on “Flood” from the previous night.

Mostly blanket work the past few days and I’ve got lots more done. I’m almost up to date with all the squares (just two left to do) and I sewed another two blocks of squares together.

I wasn’t very happy with my seaming though. I haven’t been all along really. The magazine suggested backstitch to sew the squares together, but that looked dreadful. I had been doing mattress stitch which looks neat, but leaves a ridge on the back and that’s what I wasn’t happy with. I think the fact that I’m using acrylic for this blanket, makes the ridge even more prominent and quite stiff. So I with these blocks I decided to seam them slightly differently.

I am much happier with the result. The pieces lie much flatter now and I won’t have knobbly bits should I want to wrap myself up in it! It does sort of show on the right side of the blanket, but it looks like a feature rather than just a seam, so I’m going to go back undoing all the bulky seams on my other blocks and redoing them. It will be a nuisance to do, but I’ll be happier in the long run.

Avoiding difficult stuff

I’ve been avoiding working on the cropped cardigan because it’s just not quite right, so I’ve been catching up on the blanket squares.

Stocking Stitch with four hearts

I tried about 5 times to doing the vertical white stripe with the intarsia method and it just looked rubbish. So it’s all swiss darned.

Little Flowers Square

Eyelet holes make the flower shapes. I quite like doing lacey stuff.

Embossed Check

This square was meant to be another textured wavey rib square, but I didn’t want to do another repeated pattern so found this one in the stitch library pages of the magazine.

Ribbed Basketweave Square

Alternating blocks of rib stitch and reverse stocking stitch.

Square 60 is just another reverse stocking stitch with a star embroidered on it, so I won’t bother with a picture of it.

Woven Pattern Square

The magazine calls this a woven pattern square and is what I would call a classic basketweave stitch. I really, really like this one.