Square #6: Honeycomb Cable Square

I failed in my goal. My plan was to knit one square per week, and this particular square took a week and a few days. It wasn’t because of the difficulty of the project itself, although cabling does tend to take a little longer than straight knitting. I lost my focus and got caught up in other things — some good (a book I couldn’t put down), and some not-so-good (work, work, and more work) — and all of these things combined to create a missed deadline.

So does this mean that I’m giving up? Hell to the No! This is a minor setback, but I still have a finished square that I am proud of and that I think turned out great, and that’s the important thing. This week’s square will be slightly less complicated, and in a month or two or three it will be like this week never happened.

Movie: Too many to keep track of / Beverage: Hot Chocolate / Snack: Caramilk Bars

sunday

People view Sundays in different ways. For some it’s a day to go to church and reflect on faith and spirituality. Others spend the day with family and friends, eating big dinners and catching up on a week’s worth of stories. Still others spend the day catching up on other things, like housework and laundry and homework.

For me, Sunday is about knitting. It’s the one day in the week that I am allowed to do nothing all day but sit around in my pj’s and knit. Now, don’t get me wrong — that very rarely happens. I’ll visit with friends, and tidy up around the house, and cook a meal, and putter in the garden. But if I’ve had a bad week and I’m not in the right frame of mind and I just want to be alone, Sunday is the day that I permit myself to revert to my antisocial hermit ways and just stay in with some yarn and some wine.

Now, I will be leaving the house at some point today — off to my friend Shannon’s house to visit my baby “niece”. But there’s also quite a lot of knitting to be done today. It’s Square Day, after all.

This week’s square — the Lacy Blanket Square — is knit in the round, which might seem to non-knitters as a strange way to knit a square. But trust me — it’ll work. I really wanted to use my new wool for this project, and in particular I thought the bright blue Cascade 200 might do the job. It’s a fingerling weight yarn, though, and this square calls for a worsted weight. The solution: the Navajo knitting technique, which will take my single ply yarn and triple it up in no time. I just learned this technique last week and I’m so happy to be able to use it right away.

I have a feeling that this square will take a little longer than the last few have. I hope I can mentally come to terms with the idea that I might have to work on something for longer than a couple of hours in order to have a finished project. Might need some more wine in order to deal with that. Of course, that usually makes the project last even longer.

Square #3: Braided Afghan Square

That went better than expected! One full day of knitting and I’m all done. Of course, most people have to spend time in their day with silly things like housework and cooking and work and such. They don’t have the ability to devote six hours straight to sitting on the couch with hot chocolate and knitting and movies. But I say “blah” to those menial tasks. If I have to eat out of tupperware, so be it! So long as my knitting is done, that’s what is important in life.

Some notes on the pattern: there were a few places were things were left out, but if you read the row ahead you’ll get the gist of what you need to do. And the yarn that I used was perfect for the whole dropping/picking up stitches thing. It’s a scratchy worsted weight, and the stiffness didn’t allow for much movement when the stitch was left go. I think if I had used a finer or more slippery yarn, it could have resulted in a big mess.

I also think that using a variegated yarn allowed for an interesting effect with the braiding. I might use this pattern again some day to make a scarf, just for fun.

Now if you’ll excuse me, now that I’m done this square I really have no excuse for not throwing some dishes in the sink or wiping the bathroom sink down. And a shower probably wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. And maybe a sandwich.

Movie: Elizabeth, The Notebook / Beverage: Cream Soda / Snack: Popcorn