#9 Diagonal Square is Complete!

This block seems much smaller than the others but it's very stretchy. This one was a lot of fun and not too terribly difficult once I figured out the new techniques, but I am glad to be done with it and on to something else!

#9 Diagonal Block in Progress

This block is sure different. It's knit like so many dishcloths from one corner to the opposite corner and on the diagonal. It starts with just one stitch and then grows to 69 stitches; I just started to decrease so now I am working my way backwards to just one stitch. This block has killer bobbles. I think each bobble is about 25 stitches! This block also incorporates a new technique for me - purl one in the row below. I was glad I was able to figure it out on my own. The purl one in the row below makes a really deep set looking ribbing. The brown bow in the corner marks the right side of the project, but now that the bobbles are so prominent, there's no doubt about which side is the right side and which side is the wrong side. This block is very fun. I worry about how difficult it will be to stitch this block to the other blocks since this block doesn't have a garter stitch border like most of the others.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I took a photo of pumpkin pie today because this year, we used Great Grandma Fluck's Fostoria glass dishes for Thanksgiving dinner and dessert. The boys were disappointed because the dinner plates are much smaller that the dinner plates we use each and every day. Looks like I went a little crazy with the Cool Whip on my pie... it was the fat free kind! I think everything tasted a bit better today since we were using special plates...

#7 More Acorns and an Oak Leaf is Complete!

This block was a lot of work and I really had to watch the instructions very, very carefully, but the finished product is great if I can say so myself. You really have to watch the instructions on this block because there are so many different cable stitches. On the chart, the symbols for the cable stitches look pretty much the same to me, so I found myself referring to both the chart and the written out instructions. This is a very good block for Thanksgiving... Happy Thanksgiving!

Under the Sea in Progress

I am too lazy to grab my instruction book to look to see what number block this is, but this is the block with the crab, the snail, and the three fishies. In the book, this block and the appliquies are all made in one color but the folks in my class seem to agree that making the appliques in different colors is much more fun! The background for this block is not as simple or straight forward as I had imagined. I think eventually I will have the cable portion memorized... maybe. The part which threw me for a loop was the simple seed stitch portion on the left. There are three instances where you are to complete short rows to the wavy cable portion, wrap a stitch, turn the block and then knit back... away from the waves!? Huh! Thankfully we practiced wrapping some stitches in class the other day, but I did not notice this portion of the instructions when I decided to work on this EASY block after tackling the Oak Leaves and Acorns block... silly me! What was I thinking? I have completed the fish but they need some more shaping. I have also completed the crab body and the crab claws (the crab will be a sort of burgundy color). I have a lot of I-cords to do for the crab legs and for the snail, which is a coiled I-cord. The blocks with the appliques really are a lot of work, but this is shaping up to be a very colorful block.

Snowed... again!

Good KNITTING weather!

#16 Oak Leaves and Acorns is complete!

I really love this block! And I am happy that I finally seem to have taken a photo which shows the block's great texture. The block is completed from the bottom up from row 1 to about 45 and then rows 1 through 24 are repeated. In some of the rows, you add an amazing number of stitches only to decrease them away in subsequent rows; this gives the block such a nice three dimensional quality. With this block, I did not use the chart one bit. Instead, I used the row by row written out instructions and they are GREAT! Post-It Notes are also great tools to help keep a person on track... otherwise I think I would have gone blind.

I don't think a person could ever memorize a pattern this detailed, but it was still very, very fun to do! Up next... sand and waves, a crab, a snail, and three fish!