Red Purl Afghan KAL: April

So did you miss the knit-a-long last week? Although normally on the second week of the month, it was preempted by Easter and we got together this week instead. Last Thursday, I heard a rumour that we were going to need a cable needle so I was expecting something a little Aran. I was wrong; it was quite different.

The design was called an Asymmetrical Basket Weave. Angie's directions were very clear and included the first cable in the sampler style blanket. When I saw that it was a basket weave, I was expecting something like this or maybe this,, but what we got is this:

Maybe I'm just not seeing it, but I have a hard time getting all those nice contrasting squares to actually make a basket weave pattern. And the serpentine cable was added for interest, but I'm not sure I understand how it relates to the rest.

Additionally, there is one issue with the cable that is going to come back to haunt later on: the "crossings" were not centered vertically on the pattern or on the piece as a whole.

You can see in the bottom circle that the cable starts very close to the bottom edge (after 2 pattern rows) which distorts it quite a bit. It's going to be hard to block that edge straight. And then at the top there is quite a bit of room between the last crossing and the end of the design (5 rows) which leaves a sort of "dead" cable. Never a good thing. If the cable were done one pattern row later the split could have been 4-3 instead of 2-5. I didn't see this in time to implement that change either.

I gave brief thought to changing the square to a more traditional basket weave but decided instead to just go with the flow. For one, I was pretty far along by then and did not relish taking it out. And I believe there is value in doing some things that you wouldn't chose if left only to your own devices. It can open your world up a little; new possibilities and all that. I will say I love the name Amy dubbed it: The Adam and Eve Basket Weave (because of the "snake," I assume).

Thanks to some "bonus" knitting done during a favourite one-year old's birthday party tonight, I got everything but the last four border rows done today. I should be able to finish those tomorrow at lunch. It will be good to have it done because next month's KAL is a week early (thanks to Mother's Day). That's only two weeks away!

I do have to say that the colour--Cadmium 7--is so cheery that you could pretty much knit anything and that yellow could carry it off. It makes you happy to look at it, and makes me happy to knit with it.

And to think, next year I will be able to snuggle under this and have my day filled with this sunshine all the time!