April Mystery Blanket

Ah, the April Mystery Blanket... not a mystery of construction as EZ suggests, but a mystery as to why anyone would want to knit this twice.

a maze of ends to weave in (at least two per square, plus perhaps 6 where I miscalculated ball endings, times 24 squares; plus 2 for each of the 15 corner-centers; plus 2 per each of the 38 sides to be woven, and at least 4 more for the border... more than 150 ends to be woven in)

a fuddle of fiddly little 4-round medallions

a devil of tiny pulling holes at each juncture that proves either I am not a good knitter, or EZ was an impossibly perfect knitter (perhaps both)

Knitting each square was oddly satisfying, and gratifyingly portable, but after the 10th square I found myself dreading the end of a square, knowing it meant that much more weaving (aka Kitchenering). I was not a fan of EZ's alternate weaving method described in this chapter (perhaps my yarn did not lend itself to this, and I'll be damned if I am going to "delicately steam" each little block.) I got fairly proficient at the two-needle method of weaving and I think I shall never forget it.

All in all: a learning experience, a good gift for the arsenal, and no regrets... but this pattern is definitely on my black list.

Co-worker Gifts

For thoroughness's sake, here are three more gifts that I knit for coworkers. First, a My So Called Scarf, started a looooong time ago, but too turquoise for me to have ever kept it, and thusly it became a gift knit. I enjoyed the pattern well enough, though I got right sick of it by the end. Also I think I did it wrong, twisting the knit stitches instead of knitting them regular. The yarn is from handpaintedyarn.com, knit on 4 mm needles.

  

Next, the super fastest knit, Fetching! So fast they were off the needles and given away before I could get a really decent picture of them. Knitted on 3.5 mm needles with ColourMart 100% extra fine merino 15/44 NM. I felt like these were a little short around the fingers, so I added 4 extra rows before bind off on the hand and also lengthened the thumb a bit. 

And, the funnest gift knit: a mini-Casino. Knitpicks Shadow knit on a 3 mm needle. Horribly photographed due to the northern latitude that I live in. Knitting this started out a little slow because you start at the long side, but it flies along as you get towards the pointy end. It took about 5 days. And the blocking... ah, the blocking. That's seriously fun. Except for when my cat slept on it, with the pins still in it. My really heavy cat who I couldn't manage to lift off of it without snagging it.  

But anyway, blocking is magic! 

Gifts of Tangled Up Yarn

Here's a set of gift knits that went to a whole family. Done on time, mailed late... should have arrived by now! 

First: random cables! This one was really fun. I took a basic reversible cable pattern (Rav link), but at each row where there should have been a cable, I rolled a die. Evens, I cable, odds, I don't. Lots of fun to knit with a die. Kinda confuses bystanders! Yarn was Knitpicks Comfy, and boy was it ever comfy. Squishy, held cables nice. I knit one other project with this same yarn, and it held up well over time (no pilling, still soft).

Number two: a very pretty hat! Bloody Stupid Johnson outa Knitty. I used odds and ends of Noro Silk Garden. The cable motif was really neat, but it ended up really really wide. Initially the ribbing section seemed like it would fit a normal head, but after I knit the horizontal cable band onto it, it was really pulled wide. I ended up ripping out the bottom band of ribbing and reknit it with a lot less stitches (I think 30 less?), also eliminating the short row shaping there. But now it fits great. And I knit the crown to pattern specifications.

And lastly, a half-and-half gift ... fitted for the little one, designed to amuse the big one. Last year I knit a Jayne hat (another Rav link) for the Daddy of this family, this year a baby Jayne. Yarn was Per Tyving pt2, same as Daddy's but I think it was kinda itchy for a kid. We'll see how it goes over.

All in all, yay for gift knitting! One more gift-knit post to come...