Knitting Friday
Ah yes, her team won the basketball game on Wednesday. She scored two baskets (Is that what they call it? Or did I just humiliate myself royally regarding my knowledge of sports?) and it was a decisive win. The next game is this afternoon and I’m getting conflicting reports: this is the last game and from the girl: Oh, no, this goes on and on.

But, I am beginning to enjoy the games. Not the unbelievable amount of noise though - forget rock concerts and hearing loss, this gym has them beat. With the boy’s DS charged and working throughout, my stockinette circular knitting to entertain my hands, and a ringside seat (well, we all have ringside seats in this small gym; we’re practically on the court with them) I’m allowing the camaraderie of this modern day coliseum sport to capture me. (Nah, not really, but it’s not a bad half-hour.)

On to Knitting Friday:
Still, the fluffy, Miss Marple style pink shawl is in the works. It’s close to 50" long and I have one and one-half skeins to go before the point where I have to start the finishing section. Right now, I don't think I’ll be using it wrapped around my neck for warmth until next winter. Which is always a problem since spring and summer projects will take priority and this will languish for six months.

But the big news of the week is: I took all my yarn (OK, I left some out-of-the-way bins) out of the dirty side of the basement and put it in my living space. Most of my yarn is stored is 3-bin Sterlite containers on wheels. The sides are transparent; the containers are plastic -probably something The Container Store might disdain - but they all now tucked away behind a screen near my knitting chair (I have a knitting chair?), near the fireplace, near the TV. Heaven!

Then I took all the many, many big pretzel containers, that a neighbor kindly gave me, which I fill with yarn and moved them to “hiding places” around the room. Even my husband said about my “decorating”: You know, this place looks bigger. Talk about trompe-l'œil!

To get to the purpose of these ramblings: Whenever I have a remainder of yarn I put it in the pretzel containers for later use and moving them this week I realized I had enough odds and ends of yarn for at least 2 major projects.

If you’re a knitter, and I guess you are if you’re reading this, you know the bane of the odds and ends. There is this excellent site:

http://simpleknits.blogspot.com/2008/03/500-patterns-to-knit-with-1-285-yards.html

which gives you amazing ideas for pieces of yarn from 1 to 285 yards. You have 5 yards? Make a knitted icicle.

But I collect yards until I have a zillion yards and there’s the problem. Plus, I have this silly preference: I like my variegated yarn (and that is what these odds and ends become) to be smooth looking, not bumpy. So, it’s got to be a plain stockinette stitch or a lace stockinette. Which leads me to my pattern for today:

The Odds and Ends Square for Whatever
First, some background:
1. I don’t claim this as an original pattern. I don’t even claim this is a pattern. It’s really a variation on the mitered square. I know that the mitered square is ubiquitous in knitting and if there is an original designer of this square, please contact me and I’ll be happy to give you credit.
2. This project is a work in progress. I will just give you directions to how far I am today and I hope to post more directions and a picture next week.

What you need to do first:
1. Assemble all your odds and ends and sort for weight.
2. To keep your sanity, I would eliminate all novelty or multi-thread yarns. I’ll have a crochet pattern for them later.
3. Your choice: arrange your yarns by color family or not
4. If you know your yarns’ content, splicing all the wools together would make your work easier.
5. You can decide if you want to Russian join your synthetics at the beginning for one big ball or join them on-the-go.
6. Decide on your needle size. It’s your choice unless your yarn is crinkly - the look your yarn gets when it’s pulled from an earlier project - and larger needles will give the piece a crinkly look. I’m using US8 for that reason now.
7. You may want to cast on with wooden needles (less slipping) and knit with metal ones (sharper tips.)
8. Have a stitch marker ready to delineate the center stitch if you need to.
9. Have a crochet hook ready to pick up stitches. It’s much easier using one.
10. Very Important: You must use circular needles. [Added for clarity: you are using circular needles because after some pick-ups you will have the purl side facing and you will be working your decrease rows on the purl side for that square. (See below for ssk, skp, k2tog, and p2tog instructions.) You can only work this on circulars or double pointed (not recommended) needles.]

Abbreviations:
CO = cast on; CS = center stitch; PU = pick up; st = stitch
K = knit; P = purl; RS = right side; WS = wrong side
K2tog = knit two stitches together
P2tog = purl two stitches together
Sl1 = slip one stitch
ssk = slip one, knit one, pass slip stitch over knit stitch and off the needle (psso)
ssp = slip 1, purl 1, pass slip stitch over P stitch and off the needle (psso)
Tiers = think of the rows of this project as the tiers on a wedding cake. Tier 1 is the first row of squares at the bottom followed by Tier 2, Tier 3, etc.
*...* = repeat between to end of row or next directions
Also very important: Always slip (Sl) the 1st st as the rest of row (Sl1K on K row; Sl1P on P row)

Skill Level: Intermediate

And now, to begin.
Square 1 on Tier 1:
CO 25 sts or any odd number. Mark the center stitch (CS)
**Row 1: Sl 1K, K to 2 stitches before CS, ssk, K CS, K2tog, K to end
Row 2: Sl 1P, *P* ** Repeat 2 rows to 3 sts on RS.
End P 1 row, then sl 1, K2tog, psso for 1 stitch left.
Square 2: With the RS of square facing you and last live stitch in upper left corner, PU 12 sts along the left edge ( your 12th PU st will be the CS) and then CO 12 stitches.(25 total) You will now have the WS facing.
(Options: P 1 row and begin directions for Square 1 or make Row 1: Sl 1P, P to 2 stitches before CS, ssp, P CS, P2tog, P to end and Row 2: Sl1K, *K* End square with: K 1 row, then sl1P, P2tog, psso. Note: If you decide to P 1 row first, to keep the same number of rows as the first square, finish the square on a K row - sl 1, K2tog, psso for 1 stitch left.) [Added for clarity: At times a tier's first square will have an uneven first row. (On Tier 3 of squares, you would CO your 12 new sts, K across them and then PU 13 sts from the base of the previous square. So the beginning half of the square would have a K section and the second half of the square would just have a PU stitches section.) Don't worry about this. Just start your pattern using the P decrease row instructions here.]

At end of second square continue to make squares in tier 1to your desired size. (I’m making a shawl so it was 7 squares at 4 inches each.) (Added for clarity: Don't be concerned if you start some squares RS facing and some WS facing. If you follow the directions for ssk, ssp, k2tog and p2tog where appropriate you will get the same slanted decreases throughout.)

OK, that’s all of the pattern for this Friday. If you cast on enough stitches for your first square you would have a shawl width immediately and you could just keep making squares to your desired length. Or you could make 2 separate large squares and join them for the front and back of a vest. Put a ribbed hem on the bottom and crab stitch around the neck and armholes. Or, you could add sleeves - long or short - for a sweater.

Next week: We add the second tier of squares with some new techniques. See you then.