Project Notebook: Swirly Sqaure

The last week has been a lot about a lot of different works in progress, and one of them’s a bit of a secret so I don’ have that much to show but I can show you the beginning, as well as a cool technique for making blankets or afghan squares — or squares for anything, really — from the center out.

There are several different ways to do this (and you should check out the book Knitting Block by Block by Nicky Epstein if you’re a fan of funky blocks of all sorts of construction methods) but the one I’m using involves yarn overs at four points in every round (or should that be square?).

To begin, cast on 8 stitches and divide onto 4 double-pointed knitting needles. Join in the round and knit in the front and back of every stitch on the first round. This will be incredibly fiddly and may take you a few tries to get it done without twisting or having the stitches fall off your needles. (You could also cheat and do the cast on and the increase and then divide onto 4 needles and join in the round, because you’re going to have to sew the center closed anyway.)

At the beginning of each needle on each round, perform a yarn over. When you get too many stitches for your DPNs, change to a circular and place markers at the points where you make your yarn overs, using a different color to mark the beginning/end of the round.

You can keep going like this indefinitely, so long as you have a long enough needle. Mine is actually quite a bit bigger than this right now, but as I said, it’s surprise knitting, but I’ll share the pattern when it’s done.

What’s on or recently off your needles? I’d love to hear about it.

Next Pattern:

It’s been well documented that I love a knitting pattern with a bit of whimsy, so when I saw the Mine! Pullover from Sarah L. Kelly recently I knew I had to share it with you.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to knit a sweater with a yoke full of seagulls? And another seagull at the waist? Chasing little crabs?

The story behind the sweater (and you knew there had to be one, right?) is that while Sarah was traveling around Europe there were a lot of cheeky seagulls about. They reminded her of the scene in Finding Nemo where the seagulls say “mine, mine, mine” and thus the Mine! series of patterns was born.

Oh yes, there’s a whole set. It was the sweater I saw first but there’s also a pair of socks (and the pattern says there’s a cowl, too, but I couldn’t find it as of this writing. If you see it let me know and I’ll add the link here!) so you can totally deck yourself out in pesky seabirds if you want.

But back to the sweater for now. This is worked in DK weight yarn from the top down in the round. The yoke and a section at the bottom are worked in stranded colorwork, with stripes on the body, though you could make the body a single color if you wanted. Details like the beaks and eyes are added with duplicate stitch to make the knitting a little easier.

The colorwork sections are charted. The pattern comes in 10 sizes, with a finished chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 80 to 170 cm.

The socks are worked in sock yarn and come in three sizes. There worked from the cuff down and change needle sizes to accommodate the less stretchy nature of stranded colorwork. You can choose from a side profile or a seagull that’s looking out from the sock. Make a matching pair or mix it up.

Both patterns are available on Ravelry: sweater and socks. If you make them I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Sarah L. Kelly]

Next Pattern:

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