The 10 Stitch Blanket

 

   A year or so ago I found a pattern for a 10 Stitch blanket. It is a blanket where you knit a ten stitch strip in a spiral. I liked it because it doesn't matter what kind of yarn you use and it allows for a lot of variation and creativity. I had several skeins and balls of bulky yarn that I wanted to use up. I couldn't think of any other way to use them. This seemed like the perfect project.

   There are a few things I have learned in the process of doing this project.

    The first is, follow the directions. My blanket has a hole in the middle of it because the first few turns require that you count rows. You knit a certain number of rows rows, knit the turn and then knit the same number of rows again. The reason for this is that you have to join the rows sideways to form the blanket. I didn't do this so I couldn't make the joins hence the hole. I can sew the hole shut. 

   The second lesson is that things are not as complicated as they seem. I figured out how to do the first half of the turn. The second half was something I just couldn't seem to get correctly. I stopped working on the blanket for several months. I asked several people for help and they all referred me to Youtube. I had already tried that and it still didn't make sense. Earlier this week Dana showed me how. She also sent me the written directions. Now that I see them it makes perfect sense. You do the exact same thing as the first turn just in the opposite direction. It's not that hard.

   The third thing I learned is that knitting this blanket is soothing. The bulky yarns I have are soft and are white,blue and marbled pink. They feel good on my fingers and on my eyes. I can see the progress I've made and it makes me happy. I'm pleased with the way it is turning out, even if parts of it aren't perfect. Since I'm only doing a garter stitch it's something I can do to keep my hands busy while listening to a podcast ot watching a movie with C. The fact that it is removing yarn from my stash so that my yarn can be better organized is also making me happy.

The last thing I learned is that I can use this pattern for other things. I can use this pattern to make a washcloth with small balls of washcloth yarn. I can use what I'm learning to do other projects. 

   I'll probably keep the blanket. It has too many mistakes to give as a present to someone. I also have no idea how big it is going to be. If it's too small maybe I'll get some bulky yarn on sale to make it bigger....