Finally started!

After 2 false starts, I finally got my gauge right on the Meredith K. Morioka Square:



I am foreseeing a lot of starting and ripping to find the right needle sizes for the various squares. Luckily, I am using Lion Brand Wool-Ease ... not the best quality, but the yarn stays new even after several ripping. Besides, it is machine washable!

I am still undecided on which to start next.

Administrative Stuff

Hey guys, just popping in to say that I just now realized how much spam we've had on here, and am turning on word verification in the comments to try to head that off.

Also, if you have status updates or links for me to put in the sidebar, let me know, and I'll get those added. You can reach me at pixiegrrl24 AT yahoo DOT com.

Thanks, and happy knitting!
Amy

Another two squares finished

Thanks for your comments on the size variation of the squares, the two new ones are more normal. The chilly Autumn in Estonia has resulted in another two squares finished. First one is the Dana Hurts square. It is easy to spot the two obvious mistakes in that square.

Quiet frankly, I did not bother to fix it as the square remains symmetric and it gives a cool effect. I am obsessed with symmetry, an occupational hazard from being a chemist by training.

This is the Dagmara Berztiss square and was knitted enroute from Amsterdam to JFK this Wednesday. What else to do stuck in economy for 8 hrs?
It is one of the prettiest squares in the book, a simple, but elegant pattern. There are a couple of squares which I find too crowded. My current favorites in an unprioritized order and subject to change are:
1. Carol Adams, because it is simple and reversible.
2. Barbara McIntire, I looooove the intricate cables.
3. Betty Salpeka. It will be a challenging knit and beautiful cables.
4. Dagmara Berztiss, scientific design :-)
What are you favorites?

Greetings from Estonia

It is amazing what one week away from home and only local TV channels in Russian, Estonian and Finnish along with BBC world and a Danish! sports channel can do to your productivity. I have not knitted on my GAAA squares since August but have now finished two squares in a 10 days. That's 10 down :-)
I am halfway through a two week visit to Estonia, a wonderful country with strong knitting traditions. They sell yarn in the tourist shops along with beatifulful knitted garments. There is more about that on my blog.

The Barbara Selesnick Square, which came out to 11"x11"

Meridith Morioka which almost measures 13" by 13". Sorry about the bad quality of the pictures, but the light is not the greatest in my hotel room.
I have used the recommended European needle sizes and is somewhat puzzled about the large difference in size for the two squares. Any one else had the same experience?
Oh well, maybe I just picked the largest and the smallest of them to knit. On the needles is the Dana Hurt Square, which is about 20% done.

5th square

I'm not sure that I've posted at all since joining, since I dropped off the face of the knitting world for a few months. However! I am back, and I have completed my fifth square for the GAAA.

That's the Hurt square.

I'm a newbie too

Hey there. I thought I would introduce myself too. Glad others did it first, I was feeling kinda shy about doing it without any progress. Thanks for letting me join.

I am a reader of Carissa's blog and saw all the beautiful squares she was doing. And so I checked out the book and had to get it. I am doing the Rogue and am now in love with cables. This was my first time doing them.

Hopefully I can do it justice.

Another newbie to the group

Hello all,
I am another new member to the group. I haven't started on the GAAA yet because I am busy finishing my second afghan now. It is also a sampler afghan whose pattern was from Family Circle Easy Afghan. However, I have already decided to use Lion Brand Wool-Ease for GAAA because of its price and easy care ... and also I don't have to keep the stash at home. I can just go to Jo-Ann or Michael's when I run out of yarns! :)
You can have a look at the afghan I am working on now here. Once I start on the GAAA I'll post again. Thanks.

A square in a day, too

Last Sunday, a hot, and humid LI summer's day I camped in the room with AC and knitted all day. So I finished the Ada Fenick square, which is a fairly easy one. The designer actually live in the area. It shows the tree of life, though I also see some similarities to a menorah (sp?). That's 8 down and 12 to go.

Sharing my good news....

The Ohio State Fair started Wednesday, so yesterday after work my friend and I rushed to get up to the fair and check out my results. I had heard a rumor of the afghan category results, but I wasn't going to believe it until I saw it myself:



That's first place in the knitted afghans class, and Best in Show in the Afghans division!! I'm absolutely thrilled. The second and first place afghans were really stunning as well, so I'm very proud of my achievement! It was worth the frantic finish at the end to get it done.

I have to admit I find it funny that the worst square in the whole afghan is so prominently displayed. I did something seriously weird to that in the round square at the bottom of the rosette and didn't have time to fix it via blocking! I guess they gave me the benefit of the doubt.

I also placed third in the Original Design class for a fair isle capelet, so I'm really happy with that too!

Has anyone else entered their knitting into county or state fairs?

I finished my first square!

I'm very excited to join GAAAA and to finally post my first square. It took me only a couple weeks to complete it with knitting in the evenings and trying to knit on the weekends. It was so much fun to do and challenging at the same time. My husband helped me pick out the yarn color and helps with motivation: "Honey, that is going to look so cool when your done . . ."

I added the picture of the Levy square here on my blog: http://www.mannmadecrafts.com/blog/index.php?category=1

My 7th Square and an Introduction

Thanks for the invitiation to join this knit-along. Well, I have been obsessed with GAAA ever since I saw a live version in Cascade 220 at Knit, New York last Autumn. Shortly after, I was the happy owner of the pattern and 30 skeins of Cascade 220 (100 % wool) bought at Webs with a 40% discount. Once in a while I wonder how I am going to use the 15 skeins or so that will be leftover... My unambitious plan is to knit a square a month, so far I am on track. It is the 7th monh and I have 7 squares. The current bet with bf is whether the afghan will be done or I have a permanent position first. I currently live on Long Island, New York and work as a post doc at Stony Brook University.
My 7th square is Marion Tabler, which was one of funniest ones so far. I love the tipsy cables.

You can see my knitting projects in my blog strikkeforsker (knitting scientist), where I write about knitting and life as a Dane in the US. The strange language is Danish :-)

I made it!!

My GAAA has been delivered to Ohio State Fair judging. A mere one hour before the deadline, but it's there. Next time I see it will be when it's on display at the fair.

I started sewing up the squares on Sunday, and after taking off a day and a half from work, knitting from basically 9:30 am Monday until 3:30 am Tuesday and then sewing on the border as I was knitting it to get it sized right (I'd actually recommend this, because my corners would not have been in the right place otherwise) I finished it up about 4:45 on Tuesday. That left me enough time to get the entry tags on it, find my other two entries and hop into the car to drop it off, which was a strangely uneventful process.

I didn't get a chance to get any great photos, because I basically had to stand on my couch and shoot them while the afghan was on the floor, but here's a decent attempt:



My wrists are so swollen I'm not sure I'll be able to knit for the rest of this week. Which is a shame because I am absolutely *dying* to start something new. Something colorful, and not in cream colored yarn. :-)

Typing is making me a bit sore now, so I'll post more of my technical caveats here later. This was such a fun project -- I wish you all luck as you continue!

Down to the wire

I've had 3 hours of sleep, but I'm at work today. I have about 2 more feet of border to knit and attach. I know it's been said already, but allow me to repeat: the sewing up takes relatively little time, but DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE LENGTH OF TIME IT WILL TAKE TO KNIT THE BORDER. I've figured out it takes me 8 - 10 minutes to knit one repeat of the border chart. Multiply that by 108 + corners and .... well, now you know why I've had three hours of sleep.

I have at least been sewing it to the afghan as I've been knitting a section of it, so I know exactly how much is left to go pretty accurately.

Am going home to knit at lunch, then will take off a bit early this afternoon from work. Hopefully this will be finished in time to get to the fair dropoff by 7 pm. Luckily, I live a mere 20 minutes from the fairgrounds. I have actually considered having a friend pick me up and drive me there so I can weave in ends in the car if need be.

I am happy to report though, that the afghan's looks multiply exponentially once you get it sewn together. It really is gorgeous if I do say so myself. I'll post some photos tonight after I drop it off.

In the homestretch

I have roughly 35 hours to finish the GAAA and drop it off to the state fair.

Currently, all squares are knitted, and I have 3 rows of squares seamed up. I have almost 50% of the border knitted. And I just took a sick day from work.

I think I'll make it. Barely!

Hopefully a photo will appear here by tonight or tomorrow!

Stats

I have 8 days left.

I have 2.5 squares left to knit.
I will then have about 7 squares to block. And all 20 to sew together.
I have about 2 feet of border knitted.

I have a full time job. (Though I do have part of Wednesday off)

Will I make it? Maybe.

I do think I've made a definite decision to give up on the Salpekar square. While it's one of my favorite designs in the book, and I did finally figure out the invisible cast on with the help of someone at my Stitch n' Bitch this weekend (I just needed to know that yes, I could use my normal way of doing a provisional cast on -- not the wacky way in the book) I think it's just too challenging to do this late in the game. It took me 2 hours to do an inch of the center square! Perhaps I'll make myself a pillow with my leftovers and give that a shot after my deadline. In the meantime, I'm thinking of doing another one of the in the round ones (the Campbell was the only one I did).

Welcome

We are really picking up steam this week in the new member department. I've just added two more people, Cathie, and Sarah. Welcome!

If anyone, new or not, has a blog or progress page they'd like me to link over in the side bar that isn't currently linked, let me know, and I'll get that posted too.

--Amy

Housekeeping!

First off, congratulations to Kristin, who is our first finisher! It's a gorgeous afghan!

Secondly, welcome to two new members, Susan and Janet!


On my own personal progress, I have 14 days left, and about 3.75 squares left to knit, along with most of the border, half the blocking and all the seaming. This is what I call drama, folks!

Crunch time!

I've got 19 days left. My hope for getting this done is wearing thin. Unfortunately, I got virtually no work on this done this weekend, for a variety of reasons, both good and bad. But I do have 14 squares done now. Here are three I haven't shown as of yet.

Campbell:



This one was great fun.

Hewitt:



This one made me hate bobbles with a passion.

McCauley:



This one went really fast.

Right now, I have Carty on the needles, and it's going pretty quickly. That leaves me with McIntire, Fenick, Tabler, Salpekar & Summer to go. I'm going to cast on for the border so I can carry that with me to work on during lunch, waiting in line, etc. Hopefully that will speed me up a bit.

New Blocks :)

I'm on a roll again! Blocks 8 and 9 are done! and I even started number 10! I can't believe I'm going to be halfway!!!! LOVE this afghan though :) it's like nothing I've ever seen before.

A question: invisible cast on

Has anyone done the Salpekar square yet? I attempted to start it last night, but it was late, and I got absolutely stumped on the invisible cast on (the part marked "A" in the chart) and I gave up and started another one instead.

Can anyone point me to a really good reference for this, preferably with a better illustration than the pattern book? I was having a hard time following which was the original yarn and which was the provisional yarn in the drawing.

I finished two more squares this weekend, so I have 14 done now (11 of which have been blocked) -- I think I may make it!

Finally a new block! whew!

Well, I took a bit of a break from the afghan, but am back in full swing! I completed my 6th block! and I just love it :)

Now to read all the other posts that I've missed! Shame on me!

Morioka done!

I finished the Morioka square last night. This one really felt like it took forever, because it's done on size 5 needles. Normally, that wouldn't faze me, but since I'm on a 25 row a day quota, the extra 20 rows in this square threw me a bit off. I do like the way this one worked out. The pattern was fairly easy to get a rhythm going with, and easy to read in the stitches, with a little bit of change up every 10 rows or so to keep the boredom away.

That makes 11 done. I've cast on for Hewitt next. I'm trying to do some of the more challenging ones that I have left first, so that when I really get into crunch time, I can chill out with some simpler patterns. That's the theory at least.

I'm hoping not to get too far behind this weekend. I normally would be at my stitch n' bitch meeting on Saturday, but the TNNA Needle Arts Market is in Columbus this weekend, and I was lucky enough to get a gig helping out at a booth, so I'll be losing those precious hours tomorrow. I think the sneak peak at upcoming yarns and patterns is worth it though! I'm going to get up early and knit at a coffee shop before I walk down to the convention center.

In other news, I cannot believe it took me this long to invest the $6.00 in one of those magnetic boards that help you keep your place on charts. I suffered wtih post it notes far too long. This thing has made keeping track of rows so much simpler!

I'm in double digits!

One more square makes ten, and I'm officially halfway there!

The Berztiss square:



That one went really fast, since there's not a lot of fancy stuff going on.

I fear though that I've left myself with the hardest ones as I get into crunch time. I have 7 weeks as of yesterday and I haven't done any of the in the round squares yet. Eeek.

Next up for me: Morioka.

9 of 20 done...

...and my carpal tunnel is kicking in.

I just finished the square with the fish this evening:



I'll agree with others of you who commented that this one was pretty easy. It was. However, all that ktbl stuff was killer on my wrists, and now I'm left with stabbing pains in my arms. Ooops. I think I overdid it. May need to take a little break for the next couple of days.

And over the weekend, I also finished the one built in columns:



Was the picking up as bad as I'd feared? No. Was it still pointless. Yeah, kinda. I mean, the engineering was interesting, but doing all that turning to compensate for short little columns got old after a while.

Two more to go and I can do my second round of blocking!

In Progress

IMG_2897
Originally uploaded by kbshee.

I'm about 3/5 of the way done on this square, and I really really enjoy it.As someone wrote earlier, the side panels are easy to memorize and the center panel is so clear to work...it just intuitively makes sense. I made a couple errors on the lace part...the biggest being that I forgot to do the cross at the 7th row so I just changed the cross to the 11th row, it will probably look funky at the end but oh well.

"In the Round" squares?

Has anyone done any of the 'in the round' squares? Which ones? Hard? Easy?

Wow.

If you haven't yet, peruse the pattern for the Ginger Smith square and notice the odd construction of this.

Why yes, it's done in columns.

I discovered this while trying desperately to figure out why my charts weren't working last night. Luckily, I reverted to the words pretty quickly and noticed this oddity. So now, I have the first column done, and am ready to start picking up stitches for the next section.

I loathe picking up stitches. And now I have two projects that are in need of having stitches picked up tonight. Ick.

It's a cool idea for construction, but I really wish I'd realized it before I cast on. Wow.

Two more photos!

I am rolling right along on my afghan. I'm up to 7 complete now.

Last weekend, I finished the Adams square:



I promise that center piece isn't as messed up as it looks. In general, this one was pretty simple. As I mentioned before, the hardest part was keeping the WS & RS straight since it's reversible, but it was pretty memorizable other than that.

If you look closely at the side cables you'll notice a bit of a difference between this and the way the pattern is written. See, I kind of forgot to cable on one side at a point early on, but I didn't notice until I was about 8 rows past it. So rather than rip it out, I decided to skip the cabling at the same point in the center pattern either side. At work, we'd say of this, "It's not a bug, it's a feature." I kind of like the way it turned out this way. (Larger photos here if you want to take a closer look at this.

Tonight, I finished the Selesnick square:



This one wasn't all that hard at all. In fact, just as I started, I misplaced the cable needle I'd been using, so I did this one without cable needles. I'm so proud of myself! This one didn't turn out as small as I'd expected given the problems other people have noticed with it. I used a US 8 as the pattern called for, so it's definitely at a bit looser gauge though.

I cast on tonight for the Ginger Smith square, which is another of my favorites as far as look goes. I keep wanting to start one in the round, but I'm not convinced I can concentrate on those while I'm super busy. Maybe next week.

I also blocked my first 5 squares this weekend and they've turned out beautifully. I've never blocked Encore before and it really got quite soft after a good soaking. I'm impressed with it!

How is everyone else doing?

Finished Number 4!

IMG_2889
Originally uploaded by kbshee.

I finished this square Saturday night (while watching the movie Collateral: good thing I only had the six rows at the end to do). I love the cable pattern on this, but not that crazy about the center section...I just couldn't get into the pattern.

I've started my fifth square but can't recall the name right now!

One per day?

I just read a post on KR that suggested that someone could make ONE SQUARE A DAY!

Yeah, if I didn't work, sleep, eat, talk to people, etc.....

Two more done, 15 to go

I never posted a photo of the square I finished last week. Here it is, still unblocked, but at least it's done:



Then last night, I finished this one:



That's definitely my favorite so far. It was a really easy pattern to do, once it got going, because all of the side charts were pretty much memorizable.

I do wish the decreases in the lace charts had been written with left & write directions, as the K2togs seem to look odd in some places, and I think SSKs would have made more sense there. But all in all the pattern was quite forgiving of my mistakes, so I'm happy. :-)

In an effort to catch up to my 25 row a day goal (it's not hard, but if you're doing two other projects that have deadlines at the same time...), I cast on for yet another square, the one with the YO diamonds in the center. Not much done yet:



This is also a fairly simple pattern, except for one thing. It's written to be somewhat reversible, so it's worked in garter stitch, so I keep confusing myself as to if I'm on a WS or RS row. Once I get that figured out, it should go quickly.

And I know I keep saying it, but I really am going to start blocking this week. I have the sneaking suspicion that at least one square will need a lot of help--I don't think I knitted my DNA cable square long enough--it looks awfully stunted next to the others--has anyone else done this one yet? I'm seriously considering re-knitting it if I have time, because it has the most noticeable mistakes in it, and it was my first square.

Progress

I finished the Strong square last night. No photos yet. I'll start blocking after this next one is finished.

I started the Hurt square tonight. It's one of my favorites from the book. For how complicated it looks (multiple crossing cable in the center, smaller 1/1 cables and skinny lace columns on the side) it's not all that difficult. I had more trouble figuring out how to arrange my post it notes on the charts than actually knitting them!

I calculated that I need to average roughly 25 rows a day to finish all the squares by my deadline. That doesn't include the border or sewing them up. I think I can do this, considering I did about 40 rows Saturday and didn't completely lose my sanity.

Adam's Square: Frogged

Such hubris! I thought I could tackle a 'not easy' square so I chose the Adams square, the one with a reversible cable.

Well, after about 7 rows I could tell I made some type of major mistake on the cables and it looked horrific. Like something the cat horked up. So, as much as I hated to, I frogged it. And I"m going to join everyone on the Strong square til I get my sea legs!

My Selesnick Square!

IMG_2857
Originally uploaded by kbshee.

I haven't blocked it yet, but here is my Selesnick square. I like it!

A couple things about this: in comparison with the other squares I've done this seems a bit smaller both width and length wise (but that might be taken care of with blocking). I used MAYBE half a ball of yarn on this (I'm guessing that the one ball per square estimate is wayyyy high!). It went pretty fast, and I'm pleased with the results.

Next for me: the Adams square!

Carissa ... 5th Block

I totally forgot to post about the 5th block! it's on my photo site :) Taking a little break from squares ... but I'm sure I'll be back to it in a few days *grin*

Not quite....

Well, I didn't quite make my goal of finishing the Ann Strong square this weekend, but I got 2/3 of the way through it. I spent two hours straight working on it yesterday, which was pretty good. I have a hard time working on these squares for long stretches at a time.

Here it is so far. This photo reinforces my decision to start blocking now:



I would suggest this is a good square for the non-chart users to try to use charts with. Since the bulk of the patterns are done in seed stitch, it would be a good one for learning how to read the charts, since you'll be able to see what you should be doing on the piece fairly easily too.

I'm officially 5 squares behind now, as my sister's wedding is 11 weeks away, and I almost have 4 done. I'd better pick up the pace!

Halfway through Selesnick Square

Hi all, hope everyone had a good week.

I'm about halfway thorugh the Selesnick Square. I think this is a relatively simple/straightforward square but I really enjoy doing it. I can also see doing some of the cables (not the hearts, but the ones on the side) on a scarf in the near future. And believe it or not, I even got the 'cableneedleless cable' part down.

This is one of the patterns when every other row is basically 'knit the knits and purl the purls'. I find this gives me a little concentration break, which I like. I think I need the concentration break because I read the written words and not hte charts...I think I should try to read charts now and see how I do.

What does everyone here do...words or charts? Or both?

Introduction and Advice

Based on the recommendations found in another knitting blog, I decided to take up the challenge of knitting one of these Afghans. I'm a relatively new knitter, previously more of a crocheter. Once I picked up the second needle though, I never went back! My personal blog can be found at misty.org, it's both knitting and personal, I don't keep a separate one. Yet. :P

I finally received the book (ordered from knitpicks) yesterday, and immediately gushed over all of the patterns. i had thought it was beautiful looking at what'd been done already by you all, but the total package up close makes me quite pleased that I stumbled upon this!

My questions are as follows - did you find the yarn recommendation (Encore I beleive it was, the book is at home) a good one, or did you swap out with another yarn? Also, I've only ever done one cabling project before, what do you think a good square is to start on - one of the 5 advertised 'easy squares' or one of the other ones? Lastly - Are any of you doing the pillows as well?

I look forward to starting on this project sometime this week. Hope you all are doing well with yours!

Two More Blocks Blocked :)

That's right! I'm so happy :) block 3 and 4 are all blocked and dry and ready for the grand finale! block 5 is blocking right now. I'm taking a little break from the afghan, probably a week, to catch up on my other knitting. But I'll be back!!!

New Member :)

Just wanted to introduce myself :) My name is Carissa and my blog is Knitting Maniac. I've been wanting to knit this Afghan FOREVER! and am so happy to finally have the pattern and yarn to do it! I'm already onto my 5th block too!

So far I'm doing them in random order. Finishing a block and then browsing the pattern until the next one grabs my attention. Right now I'm working on the "Tree of Life" block. So far I've had to restart it 4 times *lol* I keep loosing 2 stitches for some strange reason.

Anyways, here are the 2 blocks that I have photos of so far :) I'll take pics of the other blocks once they're dry.

Housecleaning stuff!

Hi everyone--

We're up to four members now! Woohoo!

Just wanted to let you all know that I've started some link lists over in the sidebar--I found a few places selling the afghan pattern, and also some photos of finished and in progress afghans around the web. If you know of anything else that should be included, leave a comment on this post, and I'll add it to the list.

Also, if you hadn't noticed, there's a knit-along button over there in the sidebar as well that you can steal for your blogs. I don't even care if you directly link to my server, as I have a great deal on unlimited bandwidth (fotki.com rocks!)

Hope this weekend will bring you all productive knitting time!

--Amy

Decision

I cast on for the Selesnick square last night...it isn't one of my favorites but it seemed a good way to get back into the project. Not too much complicated counting (one repeat is 20 rows, one is 4, one is 2. I know I'm sort of match challenged, but I hate it when one repeat is 24, one is 10, one is 4).

I had the bright idea of doing 'no needle' cables for the 1/1 lc, but think I already messed it up (after just one row of no needle cables). I think this will be a design flaw though.

Will post a pic as soon as it make sense!

Going to Start on #3!

OK...this KAL is giving me the motivation to cast on for my 3rd square. Any thoughts on which one I should do? I've done the second and third ones that Amy has done, but I"m up for any suggestions as to what #3 should be.

My progress so far

I started this knit along after starting the afghan in January 2005. I currently have 3 blocks done, and one more barely started. I need to finish this afghan by the end of July/early August. So I need to pick up the pace.

Right now I've done three of the four blocks marked "easy" in the booklet. I dare say easy refers to the cables, and not the ease of reading the charts. Because I had a bad time with the first one. Partially because I knit it on planes, and partially because the cable crosses happen on the back and the front. That was the block with the DNA cable:



The second square I completed is what I'd likely recommend as a good starter square, or a good "take a break" square after some harder ones. It was a simple chart, a really easy cable pattern, and the popcorn stitch on the sides was addictive.



My third is my favorite to look at so far. It looks far more complex than it was.


I do wish some of these were better planned for starting and ending in better places within the pattern--see the middle of that last one for what I'm talking about.

I'm keeping a page up to track my progress and mess with the arrangements here. It will also show the 20 squares I've chosen for my blanket.

Join us!

I started this blog because I am on a deadline with the Great American Aran Afghan, and need some inspiration/camraderie. So if you want to do this project, or a similar one, of just want to use the stitch patterns from the booklet on something else, feel free to join!

To join, email your name, blog URL (if you have one), link to your photos/progress (if you have one) and email address to pixiegrrl24 AT yahoo DOT com and I'll get you set up.

I'll be tweaking the layout of this page and adding links to the sidebar during this week, so feel free to send me suggestions, graphics,etc.

Happy Knitting!

Amy