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Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Challenges with OddBall Blankets

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Oddball Blankets is a group on line on Ravelry. Each person knits their section based on a theme. Rules say no ribbing or cable stitches should be used as they draw in and make things uneven, count your stitches before and after your section to be sure you have 100, adjust the number of garter stitches for the edge to prevent curling, use the same type of yarn (sport, baby, knitted worsted etc.) mail onto the next person on the needles after knitting your 4 inches. The above theme is Mardi Gras. My spot is called border patrol. Crochet a border on this knitted blanket......pull it together and finish it off, mail it onto the organizer to be donated to local hospitals. Stitches selected should be reversible and have no right or wrong side. I've found over time, there's lots of leeway with the stitch selection, the yarn selection and sometimes it's quite a challenge to finish them off doing the border patrol. The yellow and purple sections do pull in, quite a bit. Hoping when I add border stitches that unevenness is less noticeable, and or when laundered and blocked it will be even.

I select 2 bright colors and do several rows of border. It does, I think pull it together...color and theme wise; but it doesn't even it up as much as I had hoped. The yellow section though not cables or ribbing definitely pulls the blanket inward. It's a lovely stitch too, so it's a shame. Click to enlarge, I don't know what the stitch is. Probably not a good choice for a group project, but would make an awesome scarf, and or blanket on it's own.

Close up of the border, and the pretty yellow section. Fingers crossed when blocked I can even it up more.
WOW, this one Cinco de Mayo really has issues with being very uneven. The black in the center is infact ribbing. I love this blanket, I love it's bright colors and variety of stitches; but am concern about the challenge of evening this one out.
It's a beginning. Yarn selected and stitches to use for the border patrol pattern have also been selected as this point. But, as you can see after one round of single crochets how far off it still is.
A close up shows a good 3 1/2 inches variance is the width of this blanket. I don't know if even heavy duty blocking will get the job done here. Pondering my choice of stitches again on this. As I continue to work on it, am constantly pulling, stretching it...in hopes of improving the rather large gap.

8 comments:

  1. Both blankets are so colorful! Love the edging on the upper one and the color you've chosen for the second one. I don't ever block anything so I can't help you there. Maybe in your edging use a longer stitch at that point. It would show over several rows with that large a gap. Good luck with it!

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  2. That is a tough job. The blankets look great though and I'm sure they'll be loved by whoever receives them, whether they are even or not. They might eventually stretch out and get more even as they are used and washed by their owners.

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  3. Thanks Sandie and Anna for your visits, appreciate it.
    Sandie I always block knitted ghans, they just don't lay right without it. Crocheted ones often don't need it, though sometimes it helps the edge if it's curling, and when I piece different size things together blocking is essential. I recently read an article that said yarn, all yarn needed to be block to help it rest..and that things always look better afterwards. But, from my experience, don't think most folks who crochet feel the need to. Article was interesting though.

    Anna, I'm hoping once finished, and washed that's exactly what will happen. Will let you know.

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  4. Sandy, I'm not saying sometimes things don't need it, but I don't do it. LOL I blocked one afghan a very, very long time ago. Hated the process, didn't find it changed anything, and have never done it again not that I really have the room to do it anyway. I know what you mean about the curling though. I do have that problem occasionally and it would probably benefit from some blocking.

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  5. The colors are great. Knitting is not my forte for sure. I have trouble sometimes getting crochet to be even on the sides and rows.

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  6. Love those yarn colors, but those are certainly uneven on the long sides. Looks like something I knit, LOL!
    ~Kimberlee

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  7. Oh, no ,that's too bad about it not being even. Looks like there should have been some gauge adjustments. This is the first one of the odd balls that I've seen with problems. Good luck getting it in shape :)

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  8. It's not the first one I've received to do border patrol that's been uneven; but it might be the worst. I've really had to work hard on quite a few of them, which is a bit frustrating, when it caused by folks using the wrong stitches, or the wrong yarn. I've done some heavy duty blogging on several of them to make them look nice.

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