Friday, August 10, 2007

It seemed like a good idea at the time

I had a couple of balls of knitting yarn which had been in my stash for a while so on the spur of the moment, in a weak moment, I decided to start knitting squares which would eventually be pieced together to make a baby blanket. (Not for anyone in particular you understand – just for something to keep my fingers busy). I began by casting on 3 stitches and increased at the end of every second row intending to stop when the square became about 6 inches across. I had made some squares a couple of years ago in this manner resulting in a reasonable knee rug from the squares I eventually completed. Once I had a couple of squares finished I thought I’d see whether to add different colours to them to make them more interesting and appealing. After knitting up to about the 6 inch across mark I thought I’d just keep going, adding the two stitches each couple of rows and see how far I got with the yarn I had. After using the two balls I already had, I now felt committed to the task and went out and purchased 3 more balls – that should do it! After increasing stitches until I could hardly hold the needles to knit, I got to 300 stitches in one row. “That’s it”, I thought! I need to call a halt to this madness!

I’ve now used nearly 5 balls of yarn and am at least on the homeward stretch by decreasing 2 stitches at the end of each second row. I still have no idea what size this ‘blanket’ will be on completion – it may never be big enough for a baby – but maybe somebody’s doll – or pet?? I’ve committed to it now so I’ll just have to keep going and finish – but for now, I need to go and buy more yarn! Shops, here I come!