Miters Ahoy!
For quite awhile I have been stewing, coordinating and just generally dreaming about making a mitred blanket ala Mason Dixon. Yarn has been being stashed for about 7 months (BMFA, STR Heavyweight). This may very well be a year long project, which is fine by me. Or I may zip zip through it, which is also fine by me.
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There are a few questions that I have been working on that I would love input on, if you have any. The MDK pattern says to cast on 72 stitches. I would like to make mine bigger. Is it just a multiple of 3 that I need? Others say just cast on any odd number of stitches. Which formula do you use? Have you altered the basic recipe? How?
Please, I need the scoop!
Second, I was thinking that it would be feasible to cast on 144 stitches, put a marker between stitch 72 & 73 and treat them as 2 separate miters though they would be joined. Instead of 2 squares I would get 1 rectangle, or half a square. This would literally cut my seaming in half. Clearly this needs to road tested to see if can go from concept to really cool technique. (Scurries off to knit furiously.)
Oh, I feel like such a clever little bunny! It worked- Look:
You just need to remember to twist the constrasting colors on the wrong (private) side so that there are no holes. This is great! Only one long seam per large square. These colors I used are for test drive purposes - I just grabbed what I had wound up.
This pleases me WAY more than it should, but we all geek out on something. Uh oh, I think I just rained on my own parade. Having just read the entire Madness category at the extraordinary January One, I realize that my method will not give me as much freedom to switch squares around. Not sure how much this matters to me, I'll have to ponder that.
Also, I am contemplating what kind of rules I want to follow- I can already see that without them I will go completely around the bend and then feel awful because I didn't do what I wanted to do- knit the blanket that is. So far each square will have a single main color and there will likely be main color repeat. It did cross my mind to have only one or two main colors throughout the entire blanket and 4 different contrast colors per square.
It is already apparent to me that this project will be eating me alive. No complaints, though.
Comments
LOL! I didn't call the project MADNESS for nothing. Good luck! ;-)
Posted by: Cara | February 5, 2008 05:49 AM
I have no input other than: I like the purple and lime together!!
Posted by: Emily | February 5, 2008 05:32 PM
Oh, I wish I had some helpful advice. Although it looks like your doing great on your own. I do love Mason Dixon Knitting - I made the log cabin blanket this past summer (two months at maybe an hour or two of knitting a day) and am now working on the baby blanket version. Keep up the good work!
Posted by: Emma | February 8, 2008 01:06 PM
Oh, it looks beautiful. I can't wait to see the whole blanket.
Posted by: Anna | February 8, 2008 01:26 PM
I think your idea is great. It gives more flexibility than the four squares in one that is on the Mason Dixon website. Love the colors in the sample shot.
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Posted by: Early Learning Centre | January 16, 2010 08:38 AM
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Posted by: diets that work | February 15, 2010 05:03 AM
All Simplicity sewing machines are capable of sewing denim and leather. If you are sewing on a heavy fabric such as denim, use a 100/16 or 110/18 size needle. For leather and leather type fabrics use a leather point needle.
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