I just found out that Hakucho has nominated me as a Rockin' Girl Blogger! I'm so excited and honored! Thank you, Hakucho!!!
Hakucho has a really fun and informative blog; she always comes up with the most ingenious and creative ways to improve patterns - sometimes even taking them to another level and using the stitch pattern to create a whole new knitted object (you should see what she's done with the famous "Ballband Dishcloth"!) Anyway, she's currently working on a fantastic piece-by-piece fish afghan - please go take a look!
Well apparently, it's now my job to nominate another 5 Rockin' Girl Bloggers:Monika, at Smokin' Hot Needles- This girl is a Rockin' master knitter. Period. And she knits super-fast! She's got a great flair for design and colors, and her projects and her own patterns always inspire me to challenge myself. She also shares the antics of her two gorgeous white german shepherds: Sam and Biko.
Dipsy, at Dipsy Doodle- Blogging all the way from Austria, Dipsy gives me a glimpse into her picturesque home town of Innsbruck while churning out beautiful sock patterns and other wildly beautiful knits. I especially love seeing her knit from patterns that aren't available here in the U.S.; I appreciate being able to see the different knits out there!
Kate, at Miss Ewe Knits- A fellow violinist, Kate always shares hilarious knit-related pictures on her blog (running sheep with stuffed sheep animals tied on their backs being the most recent pic). She's always in the know about the great new yarns out there, and I like hearing her reviews and seeing her gorgeous knits!
Courtney, at Yarn Tootin'- Another fellow musician (violist) who's up on the best sock yarns available; especially indie! The only blogger I've ever met in real life (went to school together, played quartets with, and went to Tanglewood with), I never knew she was into knitting until I happened upon her blog one day. She always knows what the hot projects are, and knits them up beautifully; she's a real inspiration!
Ren, at Ren Knits- A grad student (accounting major!), Ren somehow manages to find the time to knit really cute socks, house projects, and she SEWS! Makes her own needle cases and everything!
Okay, on to the griping....
I present to you this innocent looking, cute, clearly easy and fast knit (size 11's)
I knit and frogged a good chunk of this blanket 3 times because I couldn't figure out why it looked so weird. The blanket has two rows of staggered eyelets separated by some stockinette rows. I really wanted to believe in this pattern, you know...I mean, it looked so professionally printed, and I paid money for it and everything...Here is my low-tech charting of the pattern. See the problems?
Not only are the eyelets totally not centered on the blanket body, but they don't even line up symmetrically when staggered!!! WTF??? Oh, and there was an errata page on Blue Sky Alpaca's website. However, it only mentions some major boo-boos about the ruffle (which I hadn't even got to), and nothing about the messed up asymmetrical body. Oh yeah, by the way, the errata page did mention it takes 7 skeins of yarn, not 6. Nothing major, right? (grits teeth). Anyone doing this pattern out there - unless you're willing to rewrite the main pattern and deal with the errata and lacking skein of yarn - I highly suggest you dump it. It is soooooo not worth the trouble!!! Shame on you, Blue Sky Alpaca! I will always love your yarn, but I'll never buy one of your patterns again!
Anyhoo, Barbara Walker to the rescue:
This is a great book! I've learned to do some things I never knew how to do like LT, RT and purling through the back loop. I'm planning on knitting 12 squares from the book to make a baby-sized afghan.Squares #7: Garter and Rib Pattern and #25: Wave
Squares #3: Basketweave and #48: Vine Leaf Panel (my fave)
Finally, I leave you with the debut haul of my market bag. Eat your greens!
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Thanks for the nomination! ;o) I would have liked to nominate you, but I guess I have to find somebody else.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear that the baby blanket pattern didn't work out at all! I have this BW book as well, and I love it! There's so much info in it. Your squares look great already! And I like the timeless color you've chosen. All the yummy greens look delicious! That's a lot to carry home in your market bag.
I like the afghan squares! I have not heard of that book before and it looks like a good one (making a mental note). It looks like your market bag did a good job of bringing home the greens. Thank you for your nice comment about my socks. I really enjoyed knitting those.
ReplyDeletePunkin at Needle to Needle
That's just awful about that blanket pattern...so disappointing :( , but I really love those squares. Fabulous pattern stitches :)
ReplyDeleteLove your market bag as well!
happy knitting :)
sorry to hear that the pattern isn't well written... it looks like a very cute blanket! your squares blanket looks like it's going to be even better, though! : )
ReplyDeletethanks for the nomination! i really appreciate it!
If those 4 squares are any indication, the new blankie is going to outshine the Blue Sky boo-boo blankie!
ReplyDeleteWow, what can I say? Thank you ever so much for the nomination, you made me a really happy camper here! Wow!
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear about the baby blanket pattern - such things are always so disappointing, aren't they?
Oh, and yummy greens - you made me sooo hungry with posting that pic, I'll have to race to the fridge right away now! ;)
I hate when patterns are like that. I'm a bit pattern challenged so I usually think it's just me and keep struggling through the pattern. Sounds like you made the right choice by dumping it.
ReplyDeleteI love your squares they are gorgeous.
The greens from the market bag look so delicious and healthy.