Support thread from Arts & Crafts for the blankets

[tribpot]

We've been talking quite a lot on the main thread about getting the stitches right for a particular square with a lovely heart design in it. You need to be registered on Ravelry to see it here or with the designer's website (also free) to see it here.

The race is on to see whether any of us can complete it without going completely insane at the difficulty of some of the patterns, so we are having a (supportive) 'heart-off' this weekend to try and get it done without flooding the main thread with messages about it.

On the cast list so far are: GleamingHeels, MinnieBar and me, but all are welcome - beware though, you have to supply your own valium.

I've just recharted it to get it down to a size that will knit out to (about) 6", so have chopped out 4 rows of border from the bottom, 2 stitches of border from the sides and 2 stitches of the plain bit between the outer and inner border. So I'm starting with 29 stitches. I'd prob prefer to have 3 rows of border and 3 side stitches of border too, but as the square is going to be put into a larger blanket (unless rejected by our Blanket Mistresses Pistey and Knotty) I thought a slightly scrappy border would probably be okay.

trib, wouldn't that the make the knitting really tight and sort of puckered - I am what you might call new to cable, but I can't think how that would work - I need to go back a few pages and try and find the original tree pattern and have a look.

What am I getting for my bedtime story?

trib yep, I understand that the front and reverse rows are differntiated by separate colours, just wondered whether the tree itself was differently coloured - I'll knit in one colour first, then when we've got that sorted out, I might have a go in more colours - though then I might have to add leaves...

Gleaming, I think it must just mean carry 1 stitch in front, then do the same stitch to each of the next two, i.e. in row 29, the stitches in question are both knit stitches, so c1f, k, k. I guess!

Tree pattern from Ravelry.

Right tree pattern, I'm going in?

Minnie - best of luck to ya - I can make absolutely not guarantees about the correctness of the pattern but I think the trunk should come out okay at least

I'll put in the supposed c1f k k stitches where the CIA have redacted them.

Good Luck Min
thanks for the link trib

I'm 15 rows in; trunk I'd looking spectacular!

I'd = is

So far so good! If I've totally stuffed up the cables, can we just have a 'trunk' pattern instead?!

Hmmm.

I think I got cocky again - it doesn't look right, and I'm positive it's me, not the pattern. One bit looks awesome, the rest just looks lumpy.

Some questions:

• Do you always slip purlwise when putting the stitches onto the cable needle?
• If so, do you need to maintain that angle and hold the cable needle parallel to the left-hand needle when knitting from the cable needle?
• With an instruction to cable backward, you bring it forward again to knit those held stitches, yes?

I'm doing something wrong, clearly. Aaarghhh I've dived in too quickly and overstretched myself. Again.

I've tried a pic here

Minnie, I will have a crack at it this morning as I have a day off - hurrah.

I would always slip purlwise I think, but I tend to put the stitch back on the main needle when its turn comes.

Morning clever woolly types....

Ooh, interesting.

I'm so near but so far - the branch second from the right looks like it should (I think!), so I'm close.

I honestly don't expect anyone to waste any more of their valuable time because I've used up more than enough already, but perhaps if anyone knows already of an idiot-proof video/diagram/book they could point me in the direction of, then I can go away and try, try, try until I bloody well GET THIS.

Sorry

Minnie - don't worry, you are knitting a completely untested pattern so it genuinely is very likely it's the instructions and not you.

Have a look at the Dummies guide - something I should have done as well incidentally! - and see if that helps, plus if you can tell me which stitch on the pattern you think has gone wrong (e.g. row 25, column 12 or whatever) then can we zero in on the problem. I've frozen the panes on the spreadsheet so the column and row numbers are always visible.

And remember - you are our pioneer and founding member. You find the patterns (aka "providing the vision") and then we make it work and hopefully improve on the original. But Team Heart is nothing without you :)

Well said trib hang on in there Minnie, we're all in this together... I've done the first bit of the tree up to the first branches and will get on with the rest this afternoon

I'm gonna do the branch stitches in a chunky yarn suitable for photos as well - we shall overcome! No knitted tree can best Team Heart.

Aww, you guys!

I'm not being down on myself when I say I'm pretty sure it's me. There were several one or two instances where I wasn't quite sure on the angle, or the cable needle slipped off so I inexpertly shoved it back in, etc.

I'm going to undo and have another go. If I can't get it, I'm not going to give up but I'll try the owl or something else as the posting deadline is approaching. But no knitted tree is going to beat me, either!

Well I'm convinced that I've already gone wrong Minnie - the bottom right set of branches looks wrong already. I will crash on for a few rows so I can see if any of them look right before I make any changes - and rest assured I won't update the pattern online without saying so!

YUP - there's definitely something wrong in the bottom right corner, the bottom left looks bonzer, but I have a feeling I read the wrong instruction and that's why it looks right - LOL.

I am officially declaring a mistake in the bottom right hand corner and marked it in yellow. Minnie, maybe hold off on getting past the trunk until I have had a go at fixing this.

Will do - I've just undone back to the trunk so I'm good to go again.

Best get to that paid work business?!

So far I think every other row of the cable rows may be wrong :( Pressing onwards!

Right - I am now convinced that all my wrong side row instructions are wrong, and that the original pattern intended the same instruction to apply on either side of the work - gargh. But not to worry as this is relatively easy to fix, I have started on an amended draft here. Note - I have only verified up to row 23 SO FAR.

I also think there is a small mistake in the original pattern on row 22, I think stitch 18 should be a purl, so I have changed that, and I think this follow through into the only stitch in the pattern which is a cable 2, on row 24.

The stitches I think are correct are in red. The stitches I am not convinced about yet are in yellow. So Minnie at the time of writing you are good to go up to row 23 but you might want to try it on just, say 15 stitches to get the idea so you don't have to pull back too much if it's wrong. Photo of my efforts so far to follow!

Pic