WIP Wednesday – I’m Not Even Sure How This Happens….

Just so you know, I had NO (as in zero, none, nodda) intention of knitting the knitted version of The Traveling Afghan. I was ONLY going to make the crochet version. As you can see from the above photo, I have completed the first 2 blocks and have started the third block.

Initially, I only intended to knit some of my favorite blocks on smaller needles to make 9″ blocks for my Beat the Winter Blues Afghan WIP.

The first block was designed by Alexandra Tavel of Two of Wands. It was a basketweave pattern and I thought it would be a really good pattern for the Afghan. I knit the block on size 4 needles and I was able to block it to 9″, but if you let the block “rest”, it settles back to 10″. “It’s okay….it will be fine” I told myself.

Then, along came block#2…. A really pretty block from Nomad Stitches. Since block #1, stitched up a bit on the biggish side, I decided to go down to size 2.5 needles. That should work, right? I mean why gauge swatch? The block itself is a gauge swatch!

Oh! How wrong I could be! Block #2 blocked out at 10″ too! How big would that block have been if I had knit it on the recommended size 9 needles? I think I’m starting to see how my wonky tension affects my knitting! I’m not even sure gauge swatching would have helped with this!

Now, I’m well into knitting block #3 from The Queen Stitch. Anyway, it looks like instead of adding blocks to an existing WIP, I’ve now started a whole, new project!

So far, it’s been fun! We’ll see how well I can keep up with ALL my projects as my knitting/crocheting/crafting time shortens as my workload increases at my job in the garden center (I don’t care how dedicated a crafter you are, there’s less crafting going on when you come home EXHAUSTED from your job!)

Start any new projects lately? How’s your progress on your WIPs?

Happy Knitting & Crocheting!

Loei