The Plan: double knit baby blanket using circulars to knit both sides simultaneously without actual DK techniques (slipping st). Mindless knitting at its best. Edging needed but TBD. Possible hood, also TBD.

Used magic cast-on to CO 217 + 217 (434) st on either side of the needle using single strand of each yarn. Using stockingnet, am alternating colors every 2 rows to tone down tickle toes and brighten up toepaz. Also, 1 purl st at either side of the needles/blanket in hopes that will keep both sides of blanket together.

2/2/09 At some pt in Dec, I decided that doing the whole thing double-knit was going to be too much for me, so I knit most of the stitches of one side together with the other, kept a 10st (well, 20) double-knit border + 1 purl st at the very edge on either edge of the blanket. So each row actually starts with most of the blanket on the WS, except for those 10 border stitches. And for the first st of every round, I’m knitting/purling the next regular st of the blanket (the 1st st of non-border) so I won’t have any seaming to do. So: purl 1st st beyond border, k1, sl 1 wyif, 10x, p1. At the end of the needle. Turn the work RS facing, sl1 (purl st), k1, sl 1 wyif, 10x, sl 1 (that stitch knit while the blanket was on the WS), knit across, do the border st again, repeat. So instead of knitting 434 st per round, I’m knitting 237 stitches. So. so. so. Making progress.

3/19/09 Grafted the stitches on the final double-knit section together.

size before wash/block: 28x31
gauge: 8st, 10rows per inch; 30 & 1/2st, 40 rows per 4”
gauge on true-double knit sections of the border: 8 st, 9 rows/inch; 38 rows/4” (border is only 1” wide, so no st count per 4”)

On future projects with true double knit fabric (not faked by knitting in the round), I need to take this gauge difference into account. Wish I could find my Hoover blanket sample to measure the gauge diff on that since it’s a different yarn, larger needles.

Anyhoo, I’m going to try some embroidery on the sections where I got bored with the 2 row TOEpaz/2 row Tickle Toes striping.

Other changes from The Plan: there is a center double-knit section. So the borders (~4”) are double knit along with a center dk section (~4”), leaving 2 plain stockingnet section with a purl WS. I bought coordinating flannel fabric to back these to sections to add some visual and textural interest. Flannel is washed, need to do embroidery experiment, wash & block, sew, and then I’ll be done. Maybe.

3/25/09

The finished blanket and flannel have been staring at me all week. Frankly, I think they can keep staring because I am done with this project. I tried embroidery. It would probably be more pleasant if a) I had more patience with this project and b) I knew embroidery like I know knitting. Really it’s done and I can’t wait to give it away.