W.I.P. #1 the basketweave blanket
An up- close look at the blank.
Can you see the pattern? It’s difficult because of the type of yarn.
“W.I.P. stands for “Work In Progress.””
For the first time in a very long time, I have decided to knit something.
I’m making a blanket for my mom.
Now as an attorney, I don’t exactly have a whole lot of free time, which is one of the reasons I typically do projects with larger needles and bulky yarn. Bigger yarn means bigger stitches, and bigger stitches means I’ll se progress in hours not days.
For this project, I’m using Bernat Blanket Big yarn. The color is “Red Splash.” As with most balls of yard, a pattern was included. This sized yarn requires sized 50 needles or crochet hook.
These are the size 50 needles
As you can see they are much bigger than my finger.
I decided to use the basket-weave pattern that came with the yarn because it’s variegated, very plush, and extremely textured. With yarn like this, more intricate stitch patterns—cables, seed stitch combinations, or anything that depends on crisp stitch definition—can get a little lost. Those kinds of patterns tend to show up better in a smoother, solid-color yarn. Basketweave is perfect for something like this, which is probably why it was the included pattern.
The pattern is very simple. It’s basically a four-row repeat.
Rows 1 and 2 are knit 3, purl 3 across the row.
Rows 3 and 4 are purl 3, knit 3 across the row.
Then you just keep repeating those four rows until the blanket measures about 60 inches. When you’re finished, you end after either Row 2 or Row 4 and cast off in pattern rather than doing a plain knit bind-off. So far, it is moving pretty quickly.
I have, however, rediscovered one of my old knitting habits:
I knit too tightly. If I pull the yarn too tight, getting those giant needles back through the stitches becomes an absolute pain, so I have been consciously reminding myself to loosen up a little.
I also discovered something else when I sat down to start this project:
I had forgotten how to cast on.
It has been that long. There is a particular basic cast-on I used to use all the time, and I could not remember how to do it to save my life. What I could remember was a knitted cast-on. Normally, that is not my favorite because I sometimes find it a little too stretchy. But considering my tendency to knit everything as though I’m trying to prevent the yarn from escaping, the extra stretch may actually be working in my favor.
And honestly?
It looks pretty good.
I draped it along my headboard.
The edge is not loose or floppy at all. It actually looks fairly neat and firm. The blanket calls for seven balls of yarn. I currently have three because that was all Michael’s had. I checked another store too, and they did not have the rest either, so I am going to have to order four more balls online. I have never been clear why the stores carry so few of each color! It’s maddening!
But so far, I’m really happy with it. The yarn is incredibly soft, and I can already tell this blanket is going to be very warm. Hopefully my mom likes it.
So this is officially WIP No. 1.
I’ll keep you posted on how it turns out.
