1) “The Never-Ending Garter Stitch Afghan is a wedding gift for my youngest niece and her Beloved who were married last December. I know, I know . . . it’s a little late in getting done. And I won’t make excuses, but I will tell you what happened . . . “ READ THE REST OF THE STORY AND LEARN WHAT I LEARNED . . .
2) You need to READ THE REST OF THE STORY above . . . because it will lead you to your FREE free (why are you always supposed to capitalize FREE on the internet? It looks RIDICULOUS) downloadable copy of Afghan 101 which sold for $3.50 ($5.92 in today’s dollars) when it was first published by Patternworks in 1993 and which is one of the most useful, sensible things I’ve ever written. If you have ever made a knitted, sewn, or crocheted blanket/afghan/throw or aspire to do it, you want this.
And then I ask that you share it. Please. I’m giving you an opportunity to “Put a Jewel in Your Crown in Heaven”* by passing it on. Do it today. No later than tomorrow if you want a jewel. (You can pass it on any time but the jewel promise is time-sensitive.)
3) If you want to cut to the chase, get the free stuff and skip the story, go straight HERE . . . but I still ask that you share it.
4) Am I concerned or upset or feeling guilty about not getting a big hand-knit wedding gift done “on time”? Not for one-eighth of a second, one blink of an eye. At wedding/pre-Christmas time they were getting a whole bunch of gifts at once and there was a lot of hullaballoo around the wedding. When I finally get it delivered in a month or so it will be a special delivery . . . a one-of-a-kind. Something that they’ll have the time to see and appreciate better.
It’s great to be an old woman who has observed human behavior for a long time. 🙂
Szia,
Cheryl
* “You’re putting a jewel in your crown in Heaven” is a Lena-ism. Lena was my Ma and a consummate knitter. She believed in being of service to others. She also believed that I should be of service to others. She said this to me when I complained about doing chores. I had lots of them. Or at least it seemed like it at the time.
OMG, Cheryl. I laughed my way through this post. I started knitting 2 years (at age 61) when a hospital chaplain recruited me as part of her prayer shawl ministry. The pattern I was given was probably the same one you referenced above, and it called for this yarn, which I got in pesto!
I experienced EVERYTHING you and others posted about this yarn. It had so much friction and was slow to knit – no prob for a beginner because I was slow anyway. I also found that the fiber hiked up on the yarn around which it’s wrapped. The pattern called for US 11 or 13 needles. Guided by the Chaplain, I chose 13. I knitted the prayer shawl to what I thought was the right dimensions and, lo and behold, it was almost as big as my full size bed!
I went to the local yarn store for help. Their advice: give up on the yarn, which I eventually did. When the first prayer shawl was done… and seemed very very ugly to me, again I went to the local yarn store. By this time I had befriended one of the workers and begged her for her opinion about the way the shawl looked. She confirmed that it looked ugly. I asked if she would rip it out, if it were her work. She said that she would and she and I had a grand time ripping out the entire shawl.
Knowing that the chaplain who got me started has a preference for this yarn, I tried again using Homespun, thinking that the first one looked as it did because I was a new knitter. This time I used size US 11 needles, hoping that a tighter stitch would help me do a better job. Result: better looking but still nothing I’d want a cancer patient to receive. I happily ripped out that one too, all in the spirit of learning how to knit.
Using different yarns, I’ve now completed three prayer shawls for the Chaplain’s prayer shawl ministry, each using different stitch patterns – I’m happy with each one!
This is hysterical Jaye. I laughed out loud multiple times while reading it. You are going to be sooooo much happier with a good, old-fashioned wool. I’m amazed that you were able to rip it out at all. It seemed to catch and drag for me . . . but then I didn’t rip out much. Once I got going it was, “Damn the torpedoes,” and I wasn’t going to stop until it was done. The kids, by the way, love it. So does their kitty. They love their kitty . . . it’s a win-win.