Half-knit

I said in my last post that the pattern for the greenwood blanket was becoming intuitive, but it's not relaxing. There is some lace knitting that I find, after a while, becomes meditative in its repetition. This is not that lace.

Part of this is absolutely my own doing. When I began looking at patterns for this project (months ago, my intentions were good) I was restricting myself to those which had plain (or rest) rows that were either all knit or all purl. I have found in the past that this really makes the work go faster as well as allowing the mind (and the hands) a little rest from time to time while still adding to the piece.

I don't know how this pattern slipped past my filter, but it did. It wasn't until the day I started knitting it that I realised that the wrong side rows also require attention. Not too much, just counting. Knit so many, purl so many, and only two of the wrong side rows are the same. This shouldn't be a big deal but having to pay strict attention all of the time, rather than half of the time (right side rows) is slowing me down.


Don't get me wrong, I'm not regretting the choice of pattern in the least. It's clearly written and interesting to work and it is coming out beautifully - you'll have to take my word on that for a but longer. I'm now about half way through the knitting and I'll be glad when it's done. Normally I consider myself a process knitter but on this one it's all about the product.

The yarn too is an issue. I like the feel of it, which surprises me considering the high synthetic content, but I find it a little difficult to manoeuvre. I think it's the weight - for some reason I can't manipulate the chunky yarn as quickly as I would something finer (though admittedly the thought of knitting something this size in a DK is enough to make the blood run cold).

In future I think I'll restrict my lace knitting to worsted weight yarns or lighter. And the next time I knit a blanket of this size, I'm doing it in winter.