Jon's Knit Blog

It's Not Easy, Being Green

But it's fun to knit. And it's minty fresh!

I know, it's sideways... but it hasn't been blocked yet, and it's easier to look at this way.

The next square, which knit up a lot more quickly, also didn't compress as much horizontally, but I think it's rather pretty:

I finished that square this afternoon, around 6 or 7:00pm. The hole you notice in the lower left corner is where I joined in the new ball (I actually posted this photo upside-down from how the square was knit, as it turns out). Once I start in with the finishing, that hole will disappear. Anyhow, after I finished that square, as I posted earlier in the day, I wasn't sure which square I would start tonight. I was debating between two in particular, one of which was noted in the book as being among the five easiest, and one of which was noted as being one of the five most difficult.

Being the kind of knitter I am, I guess you won't be surprised to find out that I chose the tougher one:

Although so far, I don't think this square is all that difficult. I've learned a lot from doing it - I used a new technique for provisional cast on, and I also did short rows and wrapped stitches for the first time. Even though they're not perfect, they'll look just fine to the "non-knitting" eye, so I'm really not stressed out about it. I guess they think this square is more difficult because once I knit this much more border, I'll have to graft the two ends together, pick up a ring of stitches around the center, bind it off and then pick up another round (why twice? I'm guessing it's to make a more decorative line, but I'm not entirely sure yet...), then knit seed stitch in to the center where I'll graft it together.

I've learned a lot of fun techniques on these Aran squares in general. I've never twisted stitches before, and I even tried cabling without a cable needle, although I found I didn't seem to like doing it. I also learned that I did know the proper way to purl through the back loop of a stitch, and that's a good skill for a boy to have! Know what I mean?

Posted by Jon at March 23, 2006 01:28 AM