Knit Afghan 1

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The  Ugly  Duckling

This has quite a story behind it … a case of the unloved,  unwanted  Ugly   Duckling.......

Before the turn of the millennium,

At store … bought blue wool coz I wanted to use my #0 needles.

At home, … didn’t like it – too thick ! Unloved.

Left it with MIL to give it away (for free) to anybody who wanted it – nobody wanted the unknit yarn even for free ! On returning after 2 years, it came back to me. Unwanted.

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Square to Diamond  Sampler  Afghan 

.... and it's evolution &  transformation into a graceful swan !

I decided to knit a rug or mat to give away. Because of the thickness of the wool (& no circular needles at the time), I went for small squares with just enough stitches to fit on the needle, to be joined later.
All motifs begin with a normal knit row.

BLUE Square : 7¼” sides ; total 20 ; approx 550 gms wool ;

Pattern #24 from “The New Knitting Stitch Library” by Lesley Stanfield 

UK#6 needles ; Cast on 35+2 stitches

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Enjoyed the process & idea, so made squares in red & white leftover yarn, each with a different pattern.

WHITE Square : 7” sides ; total 10 ; ~200 gms

Pattern #291 from “The New Knitting Stitch Library” by Lesley Stanfield

UK#6 needles ; Cast on 33+2 stitches

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RED Square : 7” sides ; total 9 ; ~200 gms

Pattern #200 from “The New Knitting Stitch Library” by Lesley Stanfield

UK#6 needles ; Cast on 30+2+2 stitches

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As the numbers increased, I sketched out a possible arrangement to form a design, but preferred a diamond arrangement.

 

Boring Squares !!!! This is how it would've looked if I'd arranged as squares ...

TIP : Easy way to change squares into diamonds! It is easier to knit squares rather than start & end at a point in case of diamonds. But simply lay the square as a diamond &  join/sew as diamonds !

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Another dilemma emerged : what to do about the huge triangular spaces along the sides?!

Chose yet another pattern & adapted it for triangles. Not quite happy with the result. If I were to do it today, I would be better able to handle it with this or some other pattern. 

  

BROWN & BEIGE Triangles : 10” base, 7” sides ; 8 each (total 16) ; ~100 gms

Pattern #137 from “The New Knitting Stitch Library” by Lesley Stanfield

UK#6 needles ; Cast on 51 stitches

Since the background in all purl, the central pattern gets raised - nice texture. But it was not visible in black wool; hence chose these leftover colours.

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All squares & triangles ready. But how to join ?!

I was looking for a lacy, open effect, and crochet interlinked chains seemed to be the way to go.
Notice how insipid it looks without the black outline in the white & red Boring Squares pic above !

Done in black wool, all around the squares. I crocheted around one entire square. Then started on the adjoining square, joining to previous motif chain as I went. 

BLACK Crochet Chains : I think it is a ch6 (3, slip st, 3).

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There were still gaps at the meeting points of 4 squares. Took me a while for the idea to emerge … created the blue & red baby wool stars joining as I crocheted. These stars really brightened up & ‘completed’ the project.

 

RED & BLUE Crochet Stars : Wendy’s Baby wool 
20 red, 18 blue stars.

Each arm is (ch3,  sl st to black chain, ch3, sl st to center) x8, around a central ring of ch6-8. 

One can use the magic ring/circle, too.

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Finished off with a crocheted black chain scallop edging along the borders. I had an idea to sew some satin fabric as a border around the afghan – like a quilt. But that wasn’t necessary – the all-wool piece looked fine.

This is not a regular rectangle. I did knit 4 corner triangles, but preferred the diagonal corners. Hence, this is strictly an octagonal afghan.

FINAL measurement : 49”x71” ; weighs over 1 kg

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Okay, all this may seem very simple … but it was a watershed project for me. I had never ever seen anything like this before – no knit/crochet woolen blankets/afghans/quilts. To me, each step required a lot of thinking, evolving, & figuring out. The triangles were done the next year. And the little stars were added the year after that!

What may be a natural in some cultures, was a brainwave for me. It was my very own idea from scratch. Hence, I may be excused for ultimately not giving away the finished piece ;-P 

Yup, I kept My ugly duckling !!! Evolution &  transformation was complete ! And it is so soft & warm (especially the blue wool !!!) & works well as a lap-rug too, while I work at the desktop in winters.

All pics were taken after more than 10 years of use & wash . It is finally on it’s way to being discarded :-(

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happy  knitting :-)