Collaborative Inspiration: Sock Yarn Blanket

Martine and I had a little convo last week and thought that two post showing how to make a mitered square sock blanket/shawl would be better than one.  

Now, Martine, the wonderfully accented force behind iMake, has had some practice putting together tutorials.  I have not.  So it took me the better part of Sunday to slowly make my way through a four square block on my blanket, stopping for photos on the way and fighting to insure the light was alright, the camera in focus.  I've always understood the practicality for using worsted weight yarns for technique tutorials, and now I understand down to my atomic level.  Sock yarn: I love you, but you are a fickle photography subject!

Above you see the layout for the third block on the sixth tier of my Samavrtti/Savasana Sock Scrap Blanket.  (Samavrtti = even waves; four part breath; Savasana = Corpse Pose; restorative practice of lying on floor during which I plan to cover myself with this blanket while doing.)  

Point of interest: so far, tier six is all iMake yarns!  I've got another block almost done since, bringing me to the end of my current iMake scrap stash, and I love all the colours and have had great fun with them.  

Firstly, some pattern basics.  I'm using 4-ply yarns of all sorts, each having a majority of natural fibers.  Stitch count: 16 per side, which means casting on 32 and marking the mid point between the two.  I pick up with the Right Side (RS) facing, and knit the first row on the Wrong Side (WS).  The actual pattern goes like this:

Row 1 (WS): knit all stitches

Row 2 (RS): slip first stitch, knit until 2 stitches before marker, K2tog, slip marker, K2tog TBL (through the back loop), knit to end.

Row 3 (WS): slip first stitch, knit until end of row.

Repeat rows 2 and 3, casting off on a WS row when only 2 stitches remain.  

My cast off is a slip one, knit one, pass slip stitch over and pull yarn through, breaking to leave appropriate length tail for weaving in and/or seaming.

What makes my blanket a bit different than others is that instead of always picking up in the same direction, I alter the orientation to create blocks with diagonal lines of decreases.  The orientation of picking up is one of the things I want you to see here.  There are also, at first, lots of images of the actual picking up, some of the decreases, and hopefully, with all these you too will be inspired to create a one of the kind masterpiece.  (Or else just send Martine your scraps, or me directly, and we'll use them and send them to others doing a similar thing.)

Let's get started.  In the photo above you'll see not only the planned yarn placement for the wee balls, but my positioning of the blanket for picking up the first square, the lower right in a block.

NOTE: if this is your very, very first square of the WHOLE project, you will just cast on 32 and proceed as instructed as above, following the pattern above.  Then you can skip down to the orientation details for squares 2, 3 and 4, and start again, here at square 1, knowing that the first tier only requires you to pick up the stitches for one side, not two.  Oy, is that confusing?  Sorry!  Let me know if you don't get it!

Here I am beginning to pick up the first side:

One stitch on!  Do it again:

And again and again until you've cast on 16 stitches along the square, as seen here:

You are then ready to turn and work the second side of the square, along the pale green wool.

The start can be done a few times to meet your approval.  Here I got an art shot of the step.  Not particularly helpful, but good to remind us that knitting is meant, in today's age, to be a pleasurable thing.  Liking the way it looks is for me part of that.

Back to it for real though...you continue down this second side, picking up stitches as you go.

At the end you will have 32 stitches, separated by a marker, and a funny shape to your immediate area of knitted fabric as the two sides on the needle stretch it out.

After working a while in pattern things will be clear.  If, however, you are unsure what the point of my decrease instructions are, well, let's look and see how to do them, then what they should look like and be doing...

RS rows: Slip first stitch, knit until 2 stitches before marker, K2tog:

I think most people know to K2tog.  The only thing I want to note here is that I slip the K2tog off the needles with the stitch marker.  This works because though I have a small marker, I'm working on small needles, so it's very fluid.

Once the K2tog is off the needles, (see below, how the stitches are fat and happy together, leaning to the right?) it's time to K2tog TBL:

Decreases done!  Simple, eh?  And flatteringly to the pattern, really.  

Here they are, in their glory, sloping off from one another and giving shape to the square:

Spiffy and simple.  Can you see the slopes to the right and the left?

Now, just carry on as you are and, in a short while (I clock 30 minutes when not taking photos as I go or watching a riveting program) you'll have the first square complete!

Now, here is where one needs to consider: do I really want to make these diamond crosses over the whole project, seen niftily above, or do I want to reduce my seaming as much as humanly possible?  It's up to you.  I like the diamonds, they make me think of quilts, and since I don't sew for a number of reasons (I look at sewing machines and the bobbins explode, one should really iron the fabric before sewing and I am anti-ironing to my core) I like the reference.  

If you don't want the seaming or the diamond, pop over to see the much more streamlined and professional tutorial Martine has created.

Brave hearts, if you too want diamond decrease lines, turn your work above 90 degrees and cast on, picking up 16 stitches along the top of square 1 and then using backwards loop cast on for a further 16.  

Proceed with pattern until square 2 is complete:

Attempt to remain calm in the presence of the need to seam and the fact that, very likely, your squares won't look evenly matched for seaming.

Then approach the seam as a small and achievable item on your 'to do list' for the day.

Turn your work so the open ends are at the bottom.  Hopefully you'll have left yourself enough of a tail from square 2 to easy work the sewing up. 

To be aware: my seaming is a bastardized variation of mattress stitch that is properly shown in this step by step lesson.  I'm partial to my way because it is a bit thicker, passing under two pieces of yarn, not just one, and therefore making me feel it is stronger and more secure.  I have no proof of this, but I do have nice looking seams on things, so I can say that, with practice (as with all knitting techniques) it gives a good finish.

Seaming step 1: with long tail on a blunt sewing needle, run it under the bottommost garter ridge of the square to the left, as so:

Step 2..................................................................................Step 3

Step 4..................................................................................Step 5

Get the idea?  Back and forth, going in and under on one side where you'd previously come up and out.

Until you get a messy sideways looking stretch of stockinette, which, with careful tightening from the bottom up disappears!

I swear that the uneven look that the two squares had to begin will even out after seaming.  And then they'll look fine on that edge and possible odd on the open side with nothing attached.  That will be sorted on the next tier when new squares are added onto them.  Long as the ply is similar and you use the same needles throughout (I'm working with 3mm because they were the median needle size suggested on most of my sock yarn ball bands) and keep to the same stitch count, it'll all work out!

Right, so, two squares done.  You're getting the idea now.  Time for square 3, first in orientation for picking up stitches, working from the side down towards the first square, and again using backwards loop for the second side to be:

And completed:

Fourth square is all picked up stitches, from the bottom of square 3 and down the side of square 1:

It again makes for a funny pull in the project, but as before will lessen as you decrease and decrease and make it a proper square.

TADA!  A whole square!  Yes, a little more seaming is required...  No big, remember?  I usually leave an extra long tail on square 3 for seaming the next tier.  This meant that this square had two options for seaming: the purple bamboo based yarn I'd just worked with or the thicker 100% black wool from the square below it.  I used the purple, but that was just a whim in the moment.  

My whim in this moment is for my head to implode - hope your's is alright after all this!  

Comments

[tava/yarnmama]

I could finger print you just from this post! Very clear pictures!

[Martine]

This is absolutely fabulous Jesse! Well done :-) I will schedule a post for later in the week linking to your tutorial. Brilliant! :-)

Martine

[Cori]

I dreamt about your blanket this past week! I had made one inspired by you. It was so snuggly and colorful...
Hugs!