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 :-)
