Sunday 18 November 2007

Need for speed!

Knitting by machine is very different from knitting by hand but both satisfy the knitting craving in one way or another. Did I say craving? Oops, I must be addicted!


Handknitting is slower, it can be meditative, it's a lot easier to knit three dimensional shapes and fancy stitch patterns, you get to handle (or should I say fondle) the yarn more...


Machine knitting is fast, even with a basic machine like the Bond. You can whizz through a skein in 15 minutes. It satisfies the need to produce something, finish it up and get on with using/wearing it. The irony is that I am likely to spend more time seaming and finishing off than I am knitting, and I don't really like seaming.


I decided to devote as much time as possible to knitting my blanket today. Of course, there were still other things calling for my attention - I put a couple of loads of laundry in and made bread and dinner for the family, even went out for a short walk in the sun, but apart from that I sat at the dining room table and clacked away on the machine. I had already made three squares for my blanket a few days ago, then life intervened. Today I made eight!


Each square is 16 x 16 inches. I'm knitting this with various colours of Lion Brand Vanna's Choice (acrylic). One square takes about 80 grams of yarn - each ball is 100 grams. I have 14 balls - one for each square plus two of navy blue which I will use to crochet the squares together and then crochet around the edge of the blanket. The leftovers will be used to make two more stripey squares for a cushion cover for the folded blanket.

2 comments:

Heather said...

Love the colours that you have chosen. Can't wait to see it (and maybe a machine demo) on knitting night.

Louise said...

Nicola, you're a lady of many talents, I love your coloured knitted squares, him indoors could do with your finished blanket, he has got a nasty cold bug at the moment. Glad you managed to get out into the sun, we haven't had any of that over the weekend, just doom and gloom! I wish the laundry would do itself don't you? x