Friday, April 22, 2011

Great American Aran Afghan

I've long admired this collection of cabled squares made into an afghan, and in January, using gift credit from my darling MIL, I decided to purchase the book of patterns and get cracking! My goal is to make about one square per month, which means it will take nearly 2 years to complete the blanket.

I'm using Knit Picks Bare, superwash merino. It's great yarn, feels good and squishy, and I think it will wear well. I apologize in advance for the color quality of these pics. I'm not my husband!


Each square was designed by someone different, and each one is unique.



Some are knit from one end to the other.










Some knit from the outside edge to the center. I found this technique to be really fun!







One square I've done has a center panel knit one end to the other and then you pick up stitches all around the edge as you knit the border on - very cool.


All in all, it is shaping up to be an interesting project. I like the variety of patterns, and I'm enjoying being able to knit one square at a time and move on to other things in between.

I'm currently on my 5th square, which is right on schedule, really, since we're almost to May. I might even finish this blanky earlier than expected, but I'm not going to push it. The process is enjoyable this way!

2 comments:

Ellen said...

I've never made an afghan although I've bought some nice patterns. How long does one of the blocks take to make? I like the idea of stretching out the work . . .

Cat Herself said...

Each block is different. I'd say a lot of the time factor depends on your experience with cables, but I can do one of the blocks in a week of "normal" knitting time. It's not good TV knitting, though, which complicates matters.