blankets and hearts

The blue baby afghan I'm knitting is a little over half way done. I need to work on it as the baby was due a week ago (but I've not yet heard if he's arrived). It is based on the Garter and Rib pattern, square 7 on the Afghan, though with the mixed doubled thread, the pattern is a little more subtle. This detail image shows the pattern nicely, and you should be able to follow one of the curved ribs that the two red blobs mark.

In other news, it was recently Valentine's Day, and this is the reason I've been slow in updating the blog - partly because I've been knitting something for it, and partly because I didn't want to show what I've been knitting because my wife reads my blog! I've been knitting some hearts. Using this free pattern, I first knit two in Caron Simply soft worsted weight yarn on size 6 needles, as you can see, one in pink, one in red. I didn't like the way the "knit 3 in 1 st" was looking (or I didn't quite understand what they meant by it), so I used Barbara Walker's "double inc", which is knit one in back, knit one in front of same stitch, slip the sts off the left needle, the put the left needle behind the vertical strand that has just appeared between the two sts just knitted, and knit into the back of this loop to create the third st. I then knit two more, each using 1 red and 1 pink thread, together, on size 13s, and then took them to the Greater St Louis Knitters' Guild to get some advice on how to stitch them together, with a nice looking edge. After receiving some suggestions, I came home, ripped out the two two-coloured hearts, and knit them again in just red, which once I'd done it looked much better. The first one I left on the needle once I'd got to the last row, cut the thread, and started a new one. Once I'd completed that one, I used a i-cord bind off to join them.

With a normal i-cord bind-off, you cast on three more stitches, then you *k2, k2-tog, slip these three sts back to the left needle, rep from * until you have 3 stitches left. Slip all 3 sts off the needle and pass the tail end through all three and tighten to finish off. What I did was hold the needle with the first heart in front of (i.e. closer to me) the needle that still had yarn attached, and I would do effectively a k3-tog, with the "left-most" of the three coming from the front needle, and the other two coming from the back needle.

The result is a lovely looking i-cord edging. Then, once Karyn had gone to bed, I filled the heart pouch with caramel kisses, and this is what she saw when she went to eat breakfast in the morning.

I was told at the Guild that once I'd finished the hearts I would have to bring them for their "show and tell" segment, which I will happily do. I will also bring my Sockapalooza socks, because the timing will be just right. If I have the mail package all ready, I can show them at the Guild and then drop them in the mail on my way home.