Square Dance

Two teaching colleagues are going out to Africa soon to visit their ‘twinned school’. They have decided to take some blankets as gifts – so have appealed for 10cm knitted squares. Another friend has just given up knitting, and passed on some wool for others to use. So I have spent my odd moments in half term making squares.

Once I have made forty squares I shall stop, and deliver them to school [currently I have completed 32] The pattern is incredibly easy – and I can do it without thinking [even whilst watching subtitled ‘Montelbano’ on Saturday night!] It can be used with any yarn- you just need to find needles which work well with your yarn. I am using 3.75mm with DK wool.

1. Cast on 1 stitch
2. Row 1 - knit into front and back of stitch [2 sts]
3. Row 2 – knit into front and back of stitch, knit next stitch [3sts]
4. Row 3 – knit into front and back of stitch, knit to end of row [4sts]
5. Continue like this till sides of triangle measure 10cm [for me this is when I have 28 sts on needle]
6. Next row – knit 2 tog, knit to end of row [27sts]
7. Repeat this row until there are 2 sts left
8. Knit 2 tog, break yarn and thread through last stitch.
9. That’s it!

If you change colours in a square, particularly if you change halfway at the point where you stop increasing and start decreasing. Back in the 1960’s my grandmother made a blanket of such squares using her leftover yarn. This ongoing urge to use up the Great Stash is obviously genetic. I treasure this blanket, I think it is the only thing I have which she actually made, although she was a great crafter.

However, her placement of the squares appears to be totally random, with no attempt to have all the triangles aligned. As a child I used to spend hours finding matching squares!

Now I have learned to crochet and could therefore do the edging, perhaps I should make a blanket [in shades of greys and blues]  for Cornerstones. Bob is there at the moment, spending a few days in Quiet Retreat. [I am here- no chance of Quiet if I go with him!]