April Mystery Blanket

Ah, the April Mystery Blanket… EZ says

From the beginning it had occurred to me that if the squares were started at the center and not cast off, their sides could be woven together to produce the mysterious effect of the blanket having been knitted in all directions at once.

In my opinion, not a mystery of construction as EZ suggests, but a mystery as to why anyone would want to knit this twice.

Knitting each square was oddly satisfying, and gratifyingly portable, but after the 10th square I found myself dreading the end of a square, knowing it meant that much more weaving (aka Kitchenering). I was not a fan of EZ’s alternate weaving method described in this chapter (perhaps my yarn did not lend itself to this, and I’ll be damned if I am going to “delicately steam” each little block.) I got fairly proficient at the two-needle method of weaving and I think I shall never forget it.

All in all: a learning experience, a good gift for the arsenal, and no regrets… but this pattern is definitely on my black list.

Each square is knit indiviually and woven together with Kitchener stitch, then stitches from each corner are knit together in little medallions…. creating a maze of ends to weave in (at least two per square, plus perhaps 6 where I miscalculated ball endings, times 24 squares; plus 2 for each of the 15 corner-centers; plus 2 per each of the 38 sides to be woven, and at least 4 more for the border… more than 150 ends to be woven in).

Matches nicely to its companion present.

You can see the effect of the knit-in-all-drections concept here: the grain of the knitting in each square reflects the light a little differently.

And, if I May…