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Monday, April 2, 2018

The UFO Challenge update...

This year each of the Sunday Stitchers has a list of projects that we will work on each month. The UFOs are numbered 1-12 and each month a number is drawn and we each work on that numbered project on our list. And then we bring that item along to the monthly meeting for Show and Tell; it may be finished or there has been progress but still some to go.
February ( which was #12) was my Hexagon Liberty cot quilt which I made progress with. I even brought it along to the March meeting as I had continued to add rows...

And after the March meeting I worked for a week or so more and added 2 orangey/yellow rows, but they aren't fully Stitched in place yet.

March UFO number had been #10 which was to start using the long hexagons that I'd cut out of Christmas fabric quite a while ago. I had thoughts of a table runner, wall hanging or tape topper but no real plan. For Show and Tell in March, I had this much done...

During that stitching day I worked on another row...

The squares in the middle might end up being little Christmas embroideries or maybe just cut out of gold/silver/white fabrics...that decision can be made at a later stage. But in the month, my pile of cut out hexagons started to become 'something'!
April's UFO number was 9...experiment with making different styles of granny squares from a lovely book I received for Christmas one year...


But I had already started working on a knitted blanket for our newest granddaughter, Abigail. Realistically  I could have crocheted squares from the book and made Abi a blankie that way and put the knitting aside. But the knitted one had become such a challenge that I was determined to keep doggedly onward with it. But I didn't have time for both...so...

I tampered with the list! 😉( Aussie readers might get the nuances there!)
This blanket is taking me a lot longer to knit than I normally take on such a project. Making mistake after mistake...especially with the lace part...so much frogging!  I really had to 'take myself in hand' to make progress with this project. Each row in the lace pattern repeat was different.  All those old strategies and memory aids came into play; I made checklists of the 12 row pattern and marked off each row. This was after I inadvertently knitted the same lace row twice...duh!
I started counting the stitches after I completed every row...with some form of 'Knitters' Dementia', I was forgetting the occasional 'yarn over' stitches in rows...lethal!  And of course the missing y o would be near the beginning of the row, not at the end! I sat in a room by myself with no DH, iPad or TV. On the fiddly rows I said the instructions out loud as I knitted...bad eh? 🙄
The only strategy I didn't use was the 'life line for lace knitting' as I figured I had the 4 rows of white garter stitch in every pattern repeat that I could always frog back to, and where it was easy to pick up the stitches again...no wretched y o stitches to manage! So it wasn't one of those all over lace patterns...
Photo taken from the internet showing how the life line works where you can unpull the knitting to that row and the stitches will be 'live' on the piece of yarn.

So here is a front view of the progress on Abigail's blankie; the Bounce Blanket by Tin Can Knits. This is a Canadian company and I'm grateful to You Tube videos for explaining some terms/abbreviations that I wasn't familiar with...

This project will be put aside for a fortnight as DH and I are heading off on holidays from Thursday night and believe me, this isn't a holiday project. I will take some easy crocheting instead. 

5 comments:

Cathy said...

Lol - I count no matter what pattern I'm using. If David even looks at me he gets the evil eye (or even a tongue lashing if I'm really confused)
The say knitting keeps the mind active HaHa.
The colours and patterns in your blanket are just right for a little girl. Im sure she will treasure it when she's older
Cathy

Susan said...

Oh dear....that does sound like a very challenging challenge....Enjoy the break....both from that pattern and away!

Gail said...

You've made lovely progress on all your projects.
The projects that give the most trouble also teach more! Maybe by the end you won't need quite so much "Help"?
Blessed Be.

Maria said...

You are making great progress on your UFO projects Maria.
Love the rainbow ripple blanket...

Jackie said...

Great progress on those projects.

God bless.