Little Boy Blue

Materials:

4 skeins Caron Simply Soft, worsted weight yarn - about 1320 yards
Size 8 US (5.00 mm) circular needle - 40” is probably the most convenient length
Size 8/H (5.00 mm) crochet hook
Stitch markers if desired.

Terms:

K - knit
P - purl
K2togB - Knit two together through the back loops
P2tog - Purl two together
KFB - Knit in the front of the stitch and, without removing stitch from left needle, knit again into the back of the stitch (creates a second stitch) and then let the stitch drop from the left needle.
Sl - Without working, slip purlwise the number of stitches indicated

Note:  The K2togB and the SSK are interchangeable is this pattern.  I usually use the SSK (which is why I wrote the pattern that way) but the K2togB is sometimes faster and easier.  To my eye there isn’t much difference in the result so use whichever pleases you :)

Instructions:

Cast on 99 stitches.

Starting triangles:

P2, turn
K2, turn
P3, turn
K3, turn
P4, turn
K4, turn
P5, turn
K5, turn
P6, turn
K6, turn
P7, turn
K7, turn
P8, turn
K8, turn
P9, turn
K9, turn
P10, turn
K10, turn
P11 - do not turn.

The first triangle is complete.  Create another triangle exactly the same way and continue to create triangles until you have used up all of your cast on stitches and have nine triangles.

First tier blocks:

Starting side triangle:

P2, turn
K2, turn
KFB, SSK, turn
P3, turn
KFB, K1, SSK, turn
P4, turn
KFB, K2, SSK, turn
P5, turn
KFB, K3, SSK
P6, turn
KFB, K4, SSK, turn
P7, turn
KFB, K5, SSK, turn
P8, turn
KFB, K6, SSK, turn
P9, turn
KFB, K7, SSK, turn
P10, turn
KFB, K8, SSK - do not turn.

Tier One Broken Rib Blocks:

Pick up 11 stitches down the side of the first triangle, turn

1.  Purl 11
2.  K1, *P1, K1* 5 times, K2togB.  The K2togB consists of the last stitch of your block and the first available stitch on the left-hand needle.
3.  Sl1, Purl 10, turn

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until you have acquired the last stitch of the first group on the left-hand needle.  Do not purl back.

Continue making blocks this way in the broken rib pattern until you have ten of them.

Ending Side Triangle:

Pick up 11 stitches.

Purl 11, turn
K9, K2togB, turn
P10, turn
K8, K2togB, turn
P9, turn
K7, K2togB
P8, turn
K6, K2togB, turn
P7, turn
K5, K2tog, turn
P6, turn
K4, K2togB, turn
P5, turn
K3, K2togB, turn
P4, turn
K2, K2togB, turn
P3, turn
K1, K2togB, turn
P2, turn
K2togB - don’t turn

Tier 2 Stockinette Blocks (there are no starting triangles on this tier)

First Block:

Pick up 10 stitches, purlwise (plus one stitch left over from previous row = 11 stitches)
1.  K 11
2.  P 10, P2tog, turn (P2tog consists of the last stitch of the block and the first available stitch of the next block).

Repeat rows one and two until last stitch of available group has been acquired (final P2tog) - do not turn.

Second (and each remaining) Block:

Pick up 11 stitches, purlwise (plus one stitch left over from previous row = 11 stitches)
1.  K 11
2.  P 10, P2tog, turn (P2tog consists of the last stitch of the block and the first available stitch of the next block).

Repeat rows one and two until last stitch of available group has been acquired (final P2tog) - do not turn.

Repeat the procedure for Second Block for the remaining eight blocks of this tier.

Repeat Tier 1 and Tier 2 blocks, alternating until you have the length you want - about 45” - ending with a first tier row.  The blanket measurements, of course, aren’t hard and fast - you can work any length and width you like.  Something smaller than this will require less yarn and something larger will need more.

Ending triangles and bind-off

With 1 stitch on left needle, pick up and purl 10 stitches along the side of the next block, turn.
Knit 11, turn.
P2tog, P8, P2tog, turn.
K10, turn.
P2tog, P7, P2tog, turn.
K9, turn.
P2tog, P6, P2tog, turn.
K8, turn.
P2tog, P5, P2tog, turn.
K7, turn.
P2tog, P4, P2tog, turn.
K6, turn.
P2tog, P3, P2tog, turn.
K5, turn.
P2tog, P2, P2tog, turn.
K4, turn.
P2tog, P1, P2tog, turn.
K3, turn.
P2tog, P2tog, turn.
K2, turn.
P1, P2tog, turn.
K2, turn
P3tog.

Repeat this procedure for each required ending triangle.  One stitch remains.

Insert crochet hook into the remaining stitch and ch2.  Work a round of hdc (half double crochet) evenly around the blanket edge, working three hdc into each corner.  Bind off.  If desired, more than one round of edging may be worked; more yarn will be needed, in that case.

Patern is also available as a free download from Ravelry.

Clearly, a clever post-title is beyond me today :)

I hope everyone had a pleasant holiday weekend.  Dad is doing better - even finding some of his appetite again.  We had headed out to our favorite diner yesterday, only to find that while it indeed had been open, we had missed it’s abbreviated holiday hours by about 20 minutes.  So we wound up at Friendly’s, across the river.

Nothing to write home about, I guess, but reasonably good.  Dad managed about half of his clams and cole slaw which is a whole lot better than he’d been doing.  And I had something I haven’t tasted in years - a hot fudge sundae with peppermint ice cream.  Heaven!

I am terribly relieved that dad is finally showing some signs of improvement but it is a mixed blessing.  He’s much less obnoxious when he’s not feeling too chipper :)

His new furniture arrived Saturday morning and he is very happy with it.  I have begun work on his afghan and right now, I’m a little concerned about being able to find enough of the Country Blue color.  So far, I’ve only located (and bought) 2 skeins of it.  I’m going to need a lot more than that!  The Light Gray is plentiful so that color won’t be a problem.

Yup, this is the same blanket I made for both Myria and myself earlier this year (there should be links to the pattern on both of those pages).  What can I say?  You don’t mess with a winning formula.  There are only two colors this time so the whole will be a bit simpler than either of the previous two incarnations.  It will be rescued from complete tedium by inverting the color scheme on alternate squares.  We live exciting lives around here :)

While I am trying to focus almost exclusively on the blanket, an alternate project is sneaking in now and again for a few minutes once in a while.

This is the wool/mohair lace weight I found last week.  I’m liking it so far.  It’s not bad at all to work with and works up nicely.  This is just part of a garter stitch triangle - what should have been the beginning of a new entrelac design.  Unfortunately, this is the second try and it still isn’t right.  That doesn’t have anything to do with the yarn; apparently I have forgotten how to count.  The first time I cast on I wound up with way too few stitches because I had mis-remembered the number of stitches for each lace unit.  It should have been, for four units of 25 stitches, 100 stitches cast on.  For some totally inexplicable reason, I thought the lace units were only 21 stitches across…  I got the count right the second time - or thought I did - but I suspect I’m going to have to rip this back too because I keep coming up with extra stitches.

Oh yeah - and this frogs just as you would expect any mohair to frog - reluctantly.

But I did discover something totally neat :)  I have had good luck, when casting on for entrelac, using a needle about 2 sizes larger than the one I want to work the piece with.  So, using the above piece as an example, I want to work with a size 6 US (4.25 mm) needle.  I did the cast on with a size 8 US (5.00 mm) needle…and suddenly realized that if you’re using circular needles (I was) and further, if those circular needles belong to an interchangeable set (they do) then all you have to do, making sure the cast on stitches are all safely on the cable, unscrew the larger needles and screw in the smaller ones!  Yee-hah!

I also did some dyeing a couple of days ago - how long has it been?  I had used 4 balls of pink Peer Gynt wool to make the Here, Kitty, Kitty scarf and I had 4 balls of it left.  The pink was not a color I loved and I’m trying to move away from that anyway - so I dyed the remainder.

As this was drying, I kept thinking what a nice hair color it would make :)  For 200 grams of wool, I used (Easter egg dye tablets) 4 yellow, 3 orange, 1 red and about 1/4 to 1/3 blue.  Standard Crock Pot procedure, wash, rinse and hang to dry.  I really like the color but it is a bit more vivid than I was going for.

That’s because I’m sill working out just how much of the damping color (in this case, the blue) to use in order to mute a tone.  Too little and you wind up with something that may just be vivid - or may scream it’s head off.  Too much and you’ll wind up with mud-colored yarn.

Myria and I are headed up to Maine tomorrow and hope, for the first time in a long time, to make a day of it.  I plan on bringing my new camera and filling its little memory card with pictures of everything under the sun, but especially the ocean.  I love the ocean :)

And I love my camera :)

If I don’t make it back to the blog this week…

See the “Knitting Chatter” button on the side bar for more information.

...Chatters is definitely on for Saturday night.  Bring your knitting (crocheting, tatting, what-have-you!) and drop in for some pleasant conversation!