Mystery Knit Along March Blocks - left: slip stitch texture right: intarsia colour work
Slip stitch
There was so much going on in March that I barely had time to post the two blocks for that month. The blue slip stitch texture still required counting stitches but fortunately only in uniform sets of four and after a few repeats, it was easy to read the knitting and not have to worry too much.
It's a very simple pattern and very fast to knit, maybe a couple of evenings (especially with to having to concentrate on counting). I liked the pattern, subtle but easy and could easily be added to socks or a hat or other accessories.
This was the fourth pattern of the year and I reckon the designers added it as a breather from the previous three which had required more attention. For anyone new to this series, I'm taking part in the Berroco Mystery Blanket Knit Along. There are one or two blocks each month (some are repeated) until you have twenty, and then the last month or two are devoted to putting them all together.
It's a really nice experience after several years of much more complicated knitting: just pick up the pattern released on the first Thursday of the month and get knitting. The patterns are graded over the ten or eleven months they are released so knitters build up skills. The end blanket will end up being a sampler of lots of different techniques transformed into something useful!
I found I had enough of the same kind of wool (Rowan Moordale) in a range of colours in my stash to knit the whole blanket. It was a great chance to use my stash and get to know that particular wool (it's lovely and soft and really pleasurable to knit with). I bought the yarn ages ago, most of it at a discount, so it's lovely to have a project to use it.
The yarn comes in hanks which, with the exception of one hank, I have wound into balls. They all fit into one container and I really enjoy opening the container and choosing which wool I'm going to use for each block. I especially like it when there are blocks that use more than one colour, so I can pick them from the box.
Intarsia
The second March block used intarsia, a form of colour work that has blocks of colours with two or more colours in a row, each worked separately without the other colours being carried across the back of the work.
I've been carefully avoiding this technique because of the challenges of maintaining tension as you change colour but I forced to confront it. During the month, I went to an intarsia workshop run by Georgia Farrell to promote her new collection (I wrote about here) and found solutions to the problems I was encountering with getting even stitches.
The one thing that irked me in the pattern is the double row between two of the triangles which isn't mirrored in the other side of the triangle - you can see it clearly in the image. If I were knitting this again, I would add another double row so the gold triangle on the left was symmetrical. It's a small thing and won't notice when the blanket is made up. I could also disguise by embroidering duplicate stitch over the top in the bronze colour.
I like putting several colours together and I'll probably do some repeats of the intarsia block as fillers between the other pattern blocks.
First April block - simple lace knitting with yarn overs and decreases
Lace
This month, April, is all about lace knitting, which is created by increasing and decreasing stitches. Typically, this is by putting the yarn over the needle between two stitches to create an extra stitch, which shows as an eyelet or small hole in the next row, and then decreasing knitting two stitches together to keep the number of stitches in the row the same.
This simple technique - create a stitch, lose a stitch - can be used in many different formations and patterns. This block, probably the fastest so far to knit, introduces the idea in a simple regular pattern.
Having got the hang of it lace knitting, the next block is more intricate. It's a series of diamonds knitted outwards from the centre, with increases and decreases for the lace and increases to grow the block as you knit outwards. I've decided to buy another set of three small circumference bendy double pointed needles - the knitting is set up on two needles, and then you use the third needle to go round the circle.
Resources
Helpful video for block 6 - lace stitch
Helpful video for block 5 - intarsia
Helpful video for block 4 - slip stitch
Mystery Knit Along February Blocks - Circular Knitting, Decreasing
Helpful video for Block 3 - circular knitting with decreases
Mystery Knit Along January Blocks - Texture with Knit and Purl stitches
Helpful video for Block 1 - basket weave pattern
Helpful video for Block 2 - diamonds
Berroco Mystery Blanket Knit Along - includes links to all the blocks and how to join.
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