hip to be square

i recently learned how to miter a square in tunisian crochet.  it is fun, easy, and goes really quickly, like most tunisian projects.  then, kay of mason-dixon knitting published a blanket pattern, knit from mitered squares, with a neutral corner on each square, and surrounded with the neutral in a log cabin fashion.  GORGEOUS!  and supports aid for japan!  go buy the pattern! (link goes to mdk blog, "buy now" button in upper righthand corner of page)

i mention all this because, from this confluence of knowledge and ideas, i was inspired to crochet a blanket using mitered squares, a relatively non-neutral neutral, and eliminating the log cabin surrounding portion.  a natural evolution of thought, no?  シ

i've never knit a blanket.  too much boring work.  but noro, dear noro, with its crazy ever-changing colors, keeps it interesting.  i'm using noro aya, primarily cotton and silk, as the exciting colorful part.  i selected three main colorways, because i want a lot of variety and fun in this blanket, and frankly, i just don't care about having perfectly color-matched squares.  i'm hoping to have it not look too random, so after crocheting the first 10 or 11 squares as they came out of the ball, i'm now doing a minimum of planning and selecting the colors as i place the squares. 

i believe i'll do 36 squares.  i've already completed 13-3/4.  i'd like to use that bluish green as a border all around.  that yarn is rowan wool cotton, soft and produces about the same gauge as the noro aya for me.  part of what has made this project fun is that, in order to produce a square containing four squares, i had to figure out an appropriate method for casting on after i picked up stitches along an edge.  woooooo!  shivers of problem-solving delight! シ if you are familiar with the modified crochet cast-on in knitting, you will know how i decided to proceed.

finally, if you've been reading here for a while, you may remember the tirelessly blooming orchid my mother-in-law gave me for my birthday 1-1/2 years ago.  apparently, it thrives on neglect (the only way to thrive at my house!), and is now blooming again!  here she is:

happy spring!  happy easter!  a blessed passover!

and of course, happy knitting.

i love it!

here is my gaia trapezoid with the bead attached.

this is how i have been wearing it.

here it is spread out a bit, showing off the gaia detail and the lovely noro colors.

i'm sorry about the lousy pictures -- i have 20 minutes to do this so only time for snapshots, not photographs.ッ

clapotis accompli

what a slog!!  i started this thing a year ago last june, thinking i'd be done quickly.  there were a few problems with that:

1. i am a slow knitter.
2. i chose to use a 16" circular, so knitting this thing was like knitting a 48" tube.  my hands were cramping constantly.  (see small needles at right)

3. it took FOREVER to pull those runners down, since i used noro silk garden sock yarn, which, though lovely, contains MOHAIR!!!  dumb.

i love how it came out, though.  i need to block it, still.  i love the colors -- they remind me of van gogh's starry night.  i don't know whether you can tell that the colors are symmetric about the blue diagonal line down the middle.  when i started the second skein, i pulled from the outside instead of the inside as i had done with the first skein, and got lucky that there were no knots.

oh the noro color gods!  they were with me this time.

FO

my constant companion since 9/08 and i have parted ways. my version of the multi-directional scarf is now a finished object. returning to that project was really satisfying. it was kind of a meditative sort of knit -- no thinking, and progress was very measurable whenever i worked on it. i had to redo the very last triangle one time in order to get it to match the first one more precisely on the edge.

project summary: size 4 needles, 65 grams of noro sock yarn. i modified the pattern to use seed stitch instead of garter, 33 stitches at the widest edge of the triangles. it ends up being about 6 feet long and about 4 inches wide. now i'll be waiting for next winter to have a chance to wear it!

here it is hanging from my oven. ツ

the hem of my fls: stem stitch bind-off

stem stitch bind-off, originally uploaded by elisecampbell.

a pretty bind-off that matches the long-tail cast-on (if 1st row is ws wrong)