Monday, July 30, 2012

Do Over Week 3

Portable Projects with a Cause is definitely A GO!!!  Thanks to all my wonderful new friends and their knitting & crochet talents,  I think we may end up with (definitely 2) three complete afghans at the end!
 This is just a sample of the blocks we have completed!  Block 1 - Big Bamboo, Block 2 - Horseshoe Cable and now ... insert drum roll please...

Block 3 - Peas & Carrots!!

Don't worry, it's really simple! It only looks hard! It's just a matter of (gasp!) working with three yarns.... ha ha! Really you only work with one at a time! Not some fancy schmancy color work but it certainly looks like it could be!  In this block you just slip some stitches to make it look a lot harder than it actually is!
So... starting out with 3 yarns (all different of course!) *definitely try and use something that coordinates (or is the same) as blocks one and two!  Pick a main color... in the block above, white was the main (color A) color. Red = B & Blue = C.

Cast on 42 Sts.
Row 1 (wrong side): with A, purl
Row 2 : With B, k1, sl 1 wyib, *k2, sl2 wyib; repeat from * to last 4 sts, k2, sl 1 wyib, k1.
*** WYIB means 'with yarn in back'... no worries... just hold your yarn like you would normally knit with it... in the back!! Some patterns have you bringing it to the front (as if to purl) to make a wrap and/or to slip the stitches, this one just wants us to keep it in the back when we are knitting a row. Guess what we do with it when we are purling?!! Yep! You guessed it!! With yarn in front!! WYIF!!
Row 3: With B, p1, sl 1 wyif, p2, *sl 2 wyif, p2; repeat from * to last 2 sts, sl 1 wyif, p1
Row 4:  With A, knit entire row
Row 5: With C, *p2, sl 2 wyif; repeat from * to last 2 sts, p2.
Row 6: With C, k2, *sl2 2 wyib, k2; repeat from * across
Repeat Rows 1-6 until piece measures 10'/25.5cm from beginning. Bind off.


The biggest trick to this is remembering to slip those stitches!! And of course to make sure that when you are slipping those stitches that you don't pull your yarn too tight! If you do, it will just smoosh it up and make it tighter! Don't worry though because once we block it, it should stretch out a bit and better yet... when we attach it to the other blocks; we'll never notice!

Again.... for the crochet version. I will ask my resident crochet expert, Ms. T for a little direction and maybe a guest post!
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WYIF - with yarn in front. Just means to bring the yarn to the front - almost like you were going to purl with it.
WYIB - with yarn in back. Just hold your yarn in back; just like you do in knitting.
sl - slip
sts- stitches
* bla, bla; repeat from * across.... repeat the pattern directions inside the *'s