finishing the first block

Day 2 - Finishing Block 1

I was knitting my little fingers to the bone last night, finishing Block 1. It is going to be worth it. Can I just say, what a great project to work on in between homework and while watching shows. Wonderful. I even showed off for my hubbs and did a row without looking down at my knitting.

Here it is, Block 1 with all 36 ridges!

The teal marker is at the end of Day 1 knitting. I am going to mark my pictures with these just for fun to keep track of progress. The orange marker was just helping me count ridges at the time.
Gotta get some homework done now!

beginning a moderne baby blanket

Hi everyone! On Sunday 1/16/11 I began knitting the Moderne Baby Blanket published in Mason-Dixon Knitting. I highly recommend this inspirational book by Ann Shayne and Kay Gardiner; it is both unique and funny. The purpose of my Moderne Baby Blanket will be to use up some yarn-sale stash I bought a long time ago in baby colors and make something for my future kid(s).

Since I am such a procrastinator, I decided that in order to keep things rolling (and to try a new way to trick myself into working on the projects I start!) I will be posting sort of a follow-along with this specific project and my progress. Since the pattern is posted on Ravelry for free, I will be sharing my notes and modifications if I decide to make any. (Also, these posts will contain Ravelry links.)

Day 1 - Beginning the Blanket

I am using Bernat Softee Baby yarn, which is a DK weight and 100% acrylic (this is for a baby, people. think machine washable/dryable) in soft beige, soft fern, and fresh green.

The warm yellow yarn is actually pretty much the same yarn except it is called Bernat Satin Sport. I believe they just made the same yarn with a different name to separate it from the baby yarn market. Basically, what is in the picture is what I have. (This is supposed to be a stashbusting project. No purchasing allowed!)

The pattern says to use size 6 needles. I have nice wooden 7s that will work fine. A little bigger, a little quicker; especially since I knit tightly.

Make sure the first thing you do when you start a project is check the internet for ERRATA for the pattern. This is important. I checked the book out from the library so I would have had no idea that this very project has an error printed in the pattern. In our case, it is the 2nd paragraph for Block 9. What I did was just wrote the correction on a sticky note and stuck it right over the error in the book. Moving on.

Pay attention to special notes; in this case we have to make sure to pick up and bind off stitches on the right side (RS), better known as the front.

The blanket is supposed to measure 38" x 28" at the end (but who says we have to be perfect?) and it consists of 10 blocks.

I am so excited! Starting, I am doing my normal cast-on, long tail. Casting on 42 stitches. Here is a great video if you don't know how to do that.

Now all we do is knit every row! Garter stitch (easiest of easys)! Normally you would keep count of each row, but for this awesome easy project, you only need to count the ridges (the line of bumps that sticks up).

Block 1
Cast on 42 sts. Knit every row. Go until you have 36 ridges (so technically I think you'd have 72 rows).

Baby Socks

I'm so proud of these! I call them Batika Baby Socks after the yarn I chose, made in Turkey. The pattern, Two Tone Socks by Debbie Bliss, was really fun and interesting. I modified it to use one circular needle instead of dpns. Love those blue colors!

So excited to have my baby soon!

beginning block 4

It is Week Three and I have three blocks finished! I hope I continue to make such good progress.

Day 14 - Starting another block

For Block 4 I turned the piece counter clockwise and picked up 72 stitches along the bound off edge of block 2 and the right edge of block 3. I love how in this project when I need to pick up stitches I always come up with the right amount that the pattern says!

Then I knitted 6 garter ridges.

 




End of Week Two! (Jan 23 - 29)









Day 15 - Knitted 7 garter ridges
This morning we didn't make it to church, well, because we didn't feel like it since it wasn't Christian Fellowship. So we watched a service dvd instead which definitely was worth staying home to do. This is what I got done while watching it:

Now I have 13 garter ridges done :)

Day 16 - No knitting done tonight.
Went bowling tonight! And played laser tag! My first time ever!

Well that's my update from the last 3 days.

the week flew by

Day 8 - Some progress


Day 9 - No time for knitting!

Day 10 - Too much homework!

Day 11 - Went snowboarding and had outrageous fun again.


Day 12 - Knitted about 10 garter ridges

Day 13 - Finished Block 3!

This week was a little crazy because I was planning on being gone all night Wednesday so I was booking to get my homework done.  It totally paid off; I got to knit a lot at the end of the week in front of The Big Bang Theory.

My baby blanket is coming along so well! I figured I have knit about 180 rows in 13 days. Not too shabby.

Block 4 is looking really intimidating right now. Instead of 60 stitches wide it asks to pick up 72 stitches along the right side of Block 3 and across the bound off edge of Block 2. Block 4 will also require 36 garter ridges before it can be bound off.

Now I am switching to my final color, Fresh Green.

I think I will start that later.

block 3 going fast!

Day 7 - Major progress on Block 3
We went shopping in Des Moines, and with the father-in-law along to make conversation with the hubby, I got lots of knitting done! The 16 garter ridges I have left don't seem so far away.

End of Week One! (Jan 16 - 22)


I think for the first week, this project has gone really well and its helping me work on my Photoshop skills.

This is really fun :)

finishing block 2 and beginning block 3

Day 4 - Knitted but didn't get a whole lot done.
I went snowboarding tonight what do you expect? & watched Conan when I got home.


Day 5 - Barely got anything done.
I went to hang with friends on Welch Ave.

Day 6 - Block 2 complete
Finished 18 garter ridges! This project is way more fun than people credit it with. Binding off after each block is a satisfying experience that usually only comes with finishing a project, and another thing that adds to the satisfaction is changing to a new color each block.

2 out of 10 complete! (It looks as if there are 12 blocks total but Block 9 and 10 use the Intarsia technique to knit with 2 colors at once to make less to seam!)


Here is a new progress photo starting with Day 1's progress on Sunday to Day 6's progress today (Saturday). It was super fun doing Block 2 probably because it will be the smallest block.

Now I will just turn the work clockwise and pick up 60 stitches in the lime green-ish color:

It may be difficult to get used to 60 stitches that I need to knit into for 36 garter ridges! Perseverance.