Apparently it’s National knitting week. So here is the slightly updated magic square blanket. A little behind with it, but still plodding along. I know that that squares are all different sizes! Such is the charm of this project. Have also put more beads into it.
The project has grown over the the last five months.
And so I had an idea to make it a prettier.
Took me a while to figure out how to do it.
Thread your bead onto a crochet hook, and under a stitch on your left needle.
Pull the stitch through, and placed on your needle; you can stitch as normal.
Stitched on the fourteenth panel of the project today. Managed to create the most recent one over a few days. Normally takes about a week to make a huge fourteen stripe panel. At the moment, the project measures approximately two meters by half a meter.
The magic square project is taking shape. It’s probably as wide as it needs to be; now it’s time to work on the length. Already quite heavy, it is growing slowly. Have been varying the needle size. You can definitely make a patch quicker with bigger kneedles, and it helps that they are bamboo. Much nicer to knit with, and yes they do have a warmer feel to them.>
I have in the last few days looked into crocheting for the magic square project. For me this, this is not an easy process. I have watched mama h crochet, and have been fascinated by it. Overwhelmed however, by how complex it looked.
The magic square project is getting bigger. I may have got a little carried away with the number of stitches cast on at the start. High praise from my mother, who told me that whilst I was getting better at the knitting; my panels were different sizes.
However talking about crochet, it need not be so scary . You will seethe link for Ali Campbell’s crochet courses. I enrolled this week and was rather happy to be able to get a foundation chain! Brain didn’t quite get the hang of double crochet after a hard school day; so that is to be practiced.
Ali has lovely teaching style, and doesn’t complicate things. There are video tutorials that also make things straight forward. Most importantly, perhaps, you can take your time. Plus, she is the lovely lady who created a masterpiece for my classroom; the brain below.
You can get in touch with her here Ali Campbell crochet website tell her horticultural hobbit sent you 😉
Finally, we are into double figures!
Have just finished and stitched on the tenth panel. Has taken me a little longer than expected, but done never the less. I have found that the metal knitting needles have felt too heavy and my wrists are sore. With this in mind, have found some bamboo knitting needles.
These are definitely different. The wool is held more tightly and there is something warmer about them. Much lighter than the metal ones too.
Nothing to do with GYO or allotmenteering, but something similarly therapeutic. It’s still cold and damp outside, and there are puddles on the plot that could well come up to my ankles. Still keeping an eye on things, the experimental chillies are all mostly up. Three superhots have broken through the surface. So all is not lost with the horticulture. It was also a balmy 15 degrees in the poly today, I went for a walk to clear my head and retrieve some gravel trays. Still waiting for the replacment cover for the four tier blowaway. The experimental tomatos have been brought inside, yet to have anything germinate. No surprise there really.
Anyway, about those rectangles. I had found ma’s knitting needles and some of her oddments. And then didn’t look back. I was privileged to have been taught by my paternal grandmother how to knit as a child. I remember being knitting a great big pink magenta scarf. There were a lot of dropped stitches! Sadly, i was never taught how to cast on and off. Ma taught me to cast on, but I had to watch a video online how to cast off.
This was the simplest video I found and actually made sense to me.
I have also found a nice friendly wool shop, in trying to knit these rectangles. Other than cheap wool from a certain publishing outlet. Based in warwickshire The wool mountain was a really friendly shop where all crochet and knitting aficionados would be catered for. I am novice, I know all of two stiches and like stripes, but the lady there was really very helpful.
Each of the rectangles has seven stripes, and is approximately 10″ wide, so big enough. Shall see how this goes. The plan is to make some form of blanket.
Counselling for Courage and Change
Developmental and Substantive Editing
Confessions of A Musing Freak
Making the most of your time in sixth form
Essays Exploring Craft and the Writing Life
A fine WordPress.com site
Writing and Editing by Ekta R. Garg
The Cricket Pages
Gunn4
“It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
Growing Your Own Produce and Remedies
A Whimsical Food and Travel Blog
Allotment, garden and other stuff
Recipes from my Kitchen and Cookery School at Number 4
sow and scoff: allotmenteer meets baker
horticultural 'obbit 