One More Square

I actually finished the Dana Hurt square before the one I designed. It's pretty narrow but is knit loose enough that it should stretch out nicely when I sew it into the afghan.













I'm about half done the next square I've designed. It's an easy pattern but I didn't really give enough thought about the patterns complementing each other so I don't think it looks that great. Oh well. It's the 12th square and I soldier on.

Knitting with Cables and Bobbles. Oh my!

I just finished the 10th square - one of my own design.













I wanted to do a square with lots of bobbles. I used my new "Cables and Arans" book from Interweave Press and selected three patterns with repeats that are multiples of 8.

I cast on 59 stitches. After the three ridges, I increased 10 stitches on the next right side row for a total of 69 inches. On the next row, the wrong side row, I did row 1 of the 'Cable and Dot' pattern in the center.

The center pattern is called 'Cable and Dot' and is found on page 82. It has a 15 stitch pattern with a 24 row repeat with row one starting on the wrong side.

The one out from it is called 'Cable with Bobbles' and is 9 stitches wide and has a 12 row repeat from page 50.

The outer pattern is 'Alternating Bobbles' and is 6 stitches wide with a 16 row repeat from page 189. I started the one on the left side at row 9 to mirror the one on the right.

So to create the right length square, and for the repeats to end in a good place, I needed 72 rows after the 6 garter stitch 'three ridges' rows. Thus creating 3 repeats of the center pattern, 6 repeats of the Cable with Bobbles and 4.5 repeats of the alternating bobbles.

Two More Squares

I finished the Ann McCauley square the other day using 4.5mm needles. It is 13.5" tall and only 9.75" wide in its relaxed state. It is pretty stretchy, however, so should widen easily to 12" and hopefully that will shorten it as well.













On a 10 hour (return) car trip last week, I knit the background to the Susan Rainey square using 4.5mm needles. It came out pretty close to a 12" square. I knit the 'sweater' yesterday. To finish it nicely, I did the increasing and decreasing one stitch in from the edge so I could use the mattress stitch to attach the sleeves. it came out quite nicely, if I do say so myself. I haven't attached the sweater to the square yet.













I started the Dana Hurt square last night. When I finish it, I'll be half done.

While on my trip, I bought the Interveave Knits "Harmony Guide: Cables and Arans" and will be designing a couple more squares incorporating some of those stitch patterns. I also want to design a square using the pattern from the Must Have Cardigan.

Latvian Moon Cross

Today I finished Dagmara Berztiss' 'Latvian Moon Cross'. It was really quite easy and really fun to knit. I probably should have used the recommended 4.5mm needles because using my 5mm needles, it's about an inch too tall and potentially too wide. I could also frog it and knit it again with the 5.0 needles and omit the moss stitch frame inside the garter stitch. We'll see when I assemble all the squares.













I learned how to round a curve. I am continuing to become more and more proficient doing cables without a cable needle.

I'm going on a car trip for a few days leaving on Wednesday. I think I'll do the Susan Rainey square (the one with the sweater) and do the stockinette background on the road.

Another one I plan to complete soon is Ann McCauley's 'Bobbledy Aran' Square.

Two More Finished

I finished the Carol Adams square last night.













I checked a book out of the library called "Beautiful Knitting Patterns" by Gisela Klopper and I'm going to use a couple of the stitch patterns and combinations for some squares of my own design. I finished the first one this afternoon which I am calling 'Hugs and Kisses'. It incorporates the 'Xs and Os' cable as well as the braided Celtic cable. It's just a little bit of love I'm knitting into the afghan.













I am entranced by cables so will be doing a couple of other squares with Aran or cable patterns from this book.

6 down 14 to go...

3 More Squares

My next square was the Ginette Belanger square. I used 5mm needles.













I had previously knit a baby sweater using the trinity stitch (it was called bramble stitch in that pattern) and found it very tedious. It wasn't that bad on this square, possibly because the needles and yarn were so much bigger.

Then I knit the Julie H. Levy Square. It knit up very quickly. I'm very glad I learned Grumperina's technique for cabling without a cable needle. I used 5mm needles.













Yesterday I finished the Ann Strong square. I found the entwining of stocking stitch and moss stitch intriguing. I used 4.5mm needles.

I'm 20% done. Yay!










Now I'm working on the Carol Adams square using 5.0mm needles.

I have decided to knit all the squares and then decide to align them vertically according to width and add garter stitch to make them align horizontally. If there are still major sizing issues, I'll re-knit the offending squares to fit.

Cable Girl Clone

After attending Fiona Ellis' workshop on knitting cables at the end of April, I truly was inspired. So much so that almost everything I want to knit now is cables.

My most recent cable-y projects include:

The Must Have Cardigan from Patons 'Street Smart' booklet and the Putting Down Roots sweater (I'm doing it as a cardigan).

Naturally, when I found The Great American Aran Afghan, I had to do it - even though I'm Canadian. ;-)

Here's my first square designed by Barbara McIntire.













I tried several wool blends and have decided on Lion Brand Wool Ease. I like the look and feel of it and the fact that it's washable. It was also in my price range.

I don't know if I'll do all of the squares in the book. I plan to incorporate some of the cable designs from projects I've already completed. I've also ordered the Barbara Walker 'Learn-to-Knit Afghan' book and will include designs from it as well.

I'm teaching a class tomorrow night at Kniterary on doing cables without a cable needle. It should be fun.

New Member

This is the Barbara McIntire square-in-progress. It is such a fun knit. I plan to do all the easier squares, and then decide about the others. Actually my plan is to knit two of these afghans -- one for each daughter. I am using Lion Brand Wool-ease, and I really like it. And besides both daughters have small children and pets, and it has to be machine washable. I love knitting cables.

Betty

And here are more squares

I couldn't add all the squares I had finished at once, apparently. So here are some more.

Alice

My first grouping of squares

I finally photographed my finished squares - there are about 9 of them so far. I'm using Cascade 220 in a sage green. Then I decided that I really liked some of the squares in the Great American Afghan book, so I am going to add some of them to the Aran Afghan. And I decided that I wanted to make a few of the American Squares that are multicolored, and add the natural Aran color to the afghan. Right now, I am in the midst of knitting the Ada Fenick square, and I am making the central tree natural color, while the rest of the square will be green. Besides the photographed squares, I have also finished the Nicky Epstein square in the American Afghan book, making 2 natural trees and one green tree. I'll photograph it once I have sewn the trees on (they are appliqued).
Here goes - let's see if I can figure out how to add the pics! I love knitting this afghan. It is so much fun to see the patterns emerge.

Alice

Traci bunkers

For the passed fews week I have been trying to get this going... However, I have been ripping out more than getting any knitting done on it...I am not going to give up..I am going rip one more time and hopefully I will get on track after that... The bobbles are fun to do... I really enjoy making those...Anyways I better get back to knitting so I can post a picture soon ...So ya all can see it!!!

Invite

Thank you for the invite! I am just waiting for the pattern so I can begin. I have held off making myself an afghan until I found the right pattern and this is it!!!

New to GAAA

Hi, fellow knitters! I am just starting the GAAA, and have part of the Susan Rainey square done. So far, so good. I have been knitting for over 40 years, but this presents challenges. I live in Wisconsin, and a friend in my knitting group is also working on it at the same time. It makes t so much fun. I am planning on doing 18 squares twice (I figure if I get through a square once, the second time might actually be FUN and easy?!) and two other squares once. Its great to have found a blog for this wonderful project.

Getting started

Stumbled across the GAAA book while on vacation last month. Couldn't wait to start on it! I'm a (self-taught, mainly cold-season!) knitter of about 15 years, but I've never used charts before and my most complicated projects to this point are socks with easy cable designs. Just started a little practice square (Belanger) last night to get my courage up before I invest in $100+ dollars in yarn. :-) I'm up for the challenge though--I hope! Any advice?

Ginette Belanger square

I finished another one. Before you think I'm super-knitter for posting two squares so quickly, I have to say that this was a really easy square. My next one won't be so quick, I'm sure!

Progress

I finished my first square--the Julie H. Levy square. I decided to start with one that was labeled one of the easiest. It's not blocked yet, but here it is:

I've already started on my next square--the Ginette Belanger square. I'm working them all in Lion Brand Yarn Wool Ease Fisherman.

Ravelry Group

I thought I had already posted this but it looks like my memory isn't as good as it used to be!

There's an active Ravelry group set up just for the GAAA project and I'd like to extend an invitation to everyone to join. It's so nice to see what yarn people are using and all of those completed afghans. Here's the link to the group: Great American Aran Afghan Along

For those of you unfamiliar with Ravelry put your name on the waiting list now. It seems like the wait is around a week but it may be shorter now. While you're waiting you can read up on all of the cool stuff this site has to offer. It's completely free and so useful!

I think it's great to have many different venues for sharing this afghan with other people!

Hello, everyone

I just joined the blog. My name is Jennifer, and I live in Central Florida. I haven't started the afghan yet--I plan to do that this coming Monday at my regular knitting group. I got the book in the mail last week, and I've picked out my yarn (I've decided to use Lion Brand Wood-Ease in Fisherman). I just need to decide which square I'm going to start with first--what a tough choice!! I'll keep you updated on how it's going...

Progress

It's so nice to have new people actively working on the afghan! You all inspired me to really get working on it and finish this year. I've had all the yarn for several years now. I'm hoping to finish up on the Belanger square sometime this week. Here's my progress as of yesterday:


I got excited because I thought I was going to finish last night. Then I took another look at the instructions and it's 3 repeats of the cable pattern and not 2. Good thing I was paying attention other wise that one would have been a nightmare to block later!

BTW - I'm using Plymouth Encore in the Aran colorway

Dear Cathy,
My name is Barbara and there's a small group of us in Toms River, NJ, who are making this afghan together. We meet 2x/month, work on our blocks, try to work out problems a member is having, choose the next block, etc. We've found that enlarging the graft helps a LOT as does assigning different colors to the graft, key and explanation of each of the different stitches. While it may seem elementary to use colors, it does make things easier to follow for us.

Your Twisted Knitster,
Barbara at the Jersey Shore :)
ShoreShihTzuNurs@aol.com