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.