Stripes are lovely. I have now decided that I prefer to knit horizontal ones rather than vertical since I found them less difficult and was just as pleased with the result.

The vertical stripes were easy to design. You just pick which colors you prefer where and cast on.
The cast on does seem slightly complicated, but I tried several methods and then just decided to cast-on each color at the beginning and weave in the tails upon completion.

In an effort not to get everything too tangled, I did not use entire skeins, but had long strands for each stripe. If you would like to learn from my mistakes, you’ll want to make sure your long strands are actually long enough to complete your square. I had more than a few ends to weave in before the square was finished.

The horizontal stripes are just a color modification of a pattern in 100 more afghan squares to knit by Debbi Abrahams…. square 76 on page 93. The color conversion was so close, that I almost felt like I was cheating, but then I decided, I’m hand knitting a blanket, so I guess there’s really no such thing as cheating. :)

I substituted white for cream, dusty rose for yellow, antique rose for blue, and espresso for brown.

After finishing the Neopolitan blanket, some people have expressed interest in some of the designs, so I’ll discuss the squares…..starting with the Giraffe. :)

This square is only a very slight variation of this design by Amy Bahrt:
http://www.knitsimplemag.com/pdf/carlas-blanket15.pdf

I changed the colors and used a french knot for an eye rather than a button. His legs and tail being 3D added an extra kick to this square. :)
Overall, I loved the design and the pattern was well-written.


Please note that I’ll be using the term “square” loosely since the blanket is actually made up of rectangles. :)

I have just migrated my blog here from http://Katherine-the-great.spaces.live.com. I’m very excited about this and hope my loyal readers enjoy the new layout (which I’ll be fine tuning in the near future).

I have been busy lately getting blankets ready to go to the fair. So, without further ado, here are the blankets that I’ve been working on for the last year that have now been mailed off to the State Fair of Texas.

The Neopolitan baby blanket was inspired by my Sister in Law (we married brothers) – she’s like a sister to me and she loves pink as much as I love blue.

This blanket includes cabling, bobbles, crochet, double-knitting, intarsia, fair isle/stranding, an i-cord, grafting, some squares that I designed, and never fails to evoke fond memories of a childhood eating neopolitan ice cream.

The Sólás Caomh by Jodi Euchner that I completed in cream and edged in chocolate colored yarn features crocheted cables.


My third entry was inspired by a dear friend. I attended Texas A & M, but am so fond of her that I completed this UT baby blanket for her.

Here is the pattern (Beth’s Little Star Afghan): http://www.angelfire.com/va3/heartfeltangels/littlestarafghan.html

In other news, TH put LED light bulbs in the kitchen, and it now looks like an alien mother ship is landing. :)