Dayana Knits: July 2016

July 3, 2016

24 No, Seriously -- I've Knit Yet Another Afghan!

Back in 2006 I named the following Ravelry project this: Aghan (And I Will Never Make Another Afghan!). I knit it to procrastinate writing my Ph.D. thesis -- and by the end I hated it so much that I finished my thesis first!

Well, I have been absolutely ignoring this credo lately. You know how people join clubs to make 52 pairs of socks a year, or 356 washcloths? I need to join an afghan a year club, it's gotten that bad.

Here's my proof:

My latest opus is the 2nd Martin Storey KAL from Rowan -- and somehow it came out so beautifully that it might be the best one of all. It's a free pattern you can get here.

Naturally, I changed it a lot!

The first thing to go was the color scheme. First off, I didn't like any of the Rowan color choices, and second, I wanted something more muted. All of the Rowan afghan KALs use the yarn Pure Wool Worsted and the colors I used (Mustard and Moonstone) were actually the ones I wanted for the first KAL, but they were backordered!

So back then, I went monotone instead:

Second, as you can see from the picture above, the first afghan was too short. Since the square format and gauge were identical in the 2nd KAL, I knew I need to add a couple of rows for length. I decided to go 10x5 instead of 8x6.

I also devised a way to keep my sanity when trying to block all these wonkily different sized squares to the same shape! THANK YOU, DUCT TAPE.

The third thing I changed was the order of squares. As you'll notice, there is a mix of solid and colored squares, and I really didn't like how they piled up in the Rowan scheme. I went rogue.

It's not quite symmetrical by length, but you can't even tell in the real blanket. The middle makes me OHM, that's all that matters!

OHMing in Torrey Pines State Park, CA

Let's see... oh yeah, there is always another change lurking somewhere in my projects! Because I had to guess how much yarn I needed, it turned out I had too much Mustard and too little Moonstone by the time the border came around. I improvised by using 4 rows of yellow to every 2 rows of grey, instead of 2 and 2 like in the pattern.

Naturally, the border was a pain in the ass! I was so impressed that the last Rowan KAL had a knitted on border, they regressed back to their old ways by requiring a sew-on one again. I was too lazy to figure out a mitered corner, so I slaved through the strips and contemplated using them as nooses more than once.

Trying to be zen about it...

It was pretty painful, but in less ways than expected. If you remember my last post, I've been battling elbow tendinitis, and found that I could knit with the yarn in my left hand (continental-style) and still make this whole afghan. I can't believe I did it, actually!