sock on hold!

Well, sock number 2 is on hold right now. Remember the blue baby blanket I was doing? Well, I discovered that the increased size I had done it from the original design was not such a good idea. One of the larger stitches snagged, creating a huge loop, pulling the other stitches in the row tighter. Hmm. Baby blanket. Huge loop. Good idea? Not so much. That, and I also discovered I'd also managed to drop a stitch and had a nice long run, meant that I decided to rip it, and do another design for the baby. Said baby being due in about a week.

I settled on the Garter and Rib Pattern from the Afghan, using the light and dark blue yarns together and size 13 needles, and a garter stitch border round it.

I love the principles that this pattern shows. You've got twisted ribbing (right-side ribs are knitted and purled in back of stitch), and garter stitch. And you see those long ribs that snake from the top all the way to the bottom, between the sections of ribbing and garter? Those stitches are all the same number of stitches in. There are no increases or decreases in the pattern; that line of stitches is pulled out of alignment because the ribbing pulls together (especially with the twists), and the garter happily stretches out. It's a fine example of how different types of stitch produce different gauges.

The new blanket using this pattern is knitting up pretty quickly. I did a lot as I watched about 4 hours of documentaries and supplemental materials from my The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (Extended Edition) DVD.