Casting on 154 stitches: (12 * 12) + 10. Happier with this size. It’s good now and will be better post-blocking.

11 August 2013: CO, six rows in garter, and Chart A, rows 1-19.
12 August 2013: A: 20-25.
15 August 2013: A: 26-45. Changed to US9s at row 41 for the ribbing; started a second ball on row 45. (Wishing I had done my cast-on with US9s.)
26 August 2013: On the third ball of yarn, and on row 36 of my second trip through Chart A. 18” long. I’m going to work the chevron-y chart, then reverse what I’ve got for the rest of the blanket so it’ll be symmetrical.
2 September 2013: Finally hit the halfway point. This isn’t going to make it for the Fair. :(
14 January 2014: Moving well on this (finally). The game plan is 272 rows x 154 stitches = 41,888 stitches (not counting the rows I’ve screwed up and had to redo). Tonight, I’ve done through 209 rows; 63 rows to go. I did 14 rows tonight.
17 January 2014: 12 rows tonight; 51 rows to go.
18 January 2014: 8 rows tonight; 43 rows to go.
23 January 2014: 23 rows to go.
29 January 2014: 13 rows to go.
30 January 2014: Roughly 38” x 40” before blocking.

Severely stretched during blocking to 44” x 45”. It will draw up when dry and unpinned, but I wanted it to be stretched to show the stitches well while wet in hopes that it will keep looking good until at least its first trip through the recipient’s dryer.

Finished afghan weighed 1 pound, 0.2 ounces on the USPS scale.

Casting on 130 stitches: (10 * 12) + 10. Okay. Did that and knitted a few rows. It can’t possibly stretch far enough to be 36 inches. Maybe I cast on tighter this time? Going to try again.

Somewhere in here, I broke my knitting mojo--specifically the cast-on part. I’ve never been someone who casts on tight. But after I ripped the too-big/too-loose 214-stitch cast-on, both retries were tighter than they should have been. And another project I’ve cast-on is too tight for me to get through even the first round and I’m going to have to redo it. I want my mojo back!

Casting on 214 stitches: (17 * 12) + 10. What was I thinking? Actually, I read that stitch count on someone else’s, but didn’t notice they were knitting with US5 needles. This is ridiculously huge. If the original (4 * 12) + 10 cast-on (58 stitches) equals 17” wide after blocking, that’s 3.4 stitches per inch; that means my 214 stitches would be about 63”. I really want roughly 36” x 36”. I’m ripping back and starting again with a saner number: if 4 pattern repeats yields 17” wide, 10 pattern repeats should yield about 38”. So I’ll cast on 130 stitches: (10 * 12) +10.