KAL Stage 3

10 April 2011 — I just published Part 2 of Stage 3 of the KAL — click here.

Hello lovely knitters, at long last I have Stage 3 directions for you for the Summer in the Country cotton blanket knit along.

That flu I had a week or two ago, well it resurfaced this week concurrent with someone else in the house having a three-day migraine headache.  I have been taking care of a person with a terrible migraine, a two year old baby, and myself the past few days and did not have time to write much at all — much less knit.

The other thing is that after I completed Stage 3, I started on a repeat of the rows from Stage 2 and for some reason everything looked all wonky.  Therefore I have been slowly tinking my way back through eight rows of knitting on my blanket.

I did promise a slow knit, so I am being good to my word on that.

I am doing much better now, and we are having a pleasant evening here at home, and I am writing to you.

First thing we have to do is, get ourselves into the right frame of mind for knitting on the Summer in the Country blanket … so I will set the stage.   It is a cool spring day, blue skies and a cool breeze.  Geese are flying over head frequently, honking as they direct each other along the way in their V-shaped flying pattern.

Today I have wholewheat, buttermilk honey rolls baking in the oven.  They come out of the oven just about the time you all arrive.  I’ve got some accordion music playing softly from an old-fashioned looking record player.  The windows are open, and we are all wearing warm sweaters and wraps because of the cool breeze.  The air is fresh and clean, the out of doors is alive with the sound of many, many birds.  Today we also hear peepers peeping, and their peeping is loud almost like a huge chorus of crickets.  Every once in a while we hear the deep baritone of a bull frog from down by the river.

Coffee and tea as well as hot cocoa are ready to hand in the little cottage kitchen, along with the rolls that just came out of the oven and an assortment of cheeses and strawberries (not local yet, but very plump and tasty).  I also have out some of my homemade apple preserves from way back in 2006, my first year on the farm.

Okay, let’s all get settled down with our goodies and knitting and get ready for a sweet time knitting together with good friends.

For Stage 3 of the blanket you get to make a choice.  First, I will describe what Stage 3, then I will explain the choice you can make.

Stage 3 is a seed stitch band worked across six rows of knitting.  When I first envisioned this stage, I saw the seed stitch band appearing to go over and under the cable columns creating a basket-weave effect.  The choice you get to make is option A) your seed stitch band just goes straight across the blanket in a strip, or option B) your seed stitch band appears to weave under and over the cable columns.

Follow the first set of instructions for option A, follow the second set of instructions for option B.

Option A Seed Stitch Band

A1. *K1, P1, K1*, repeat from * to * across all 241 stitches.  Work this row six times total.

When you are finished with the seed stitch band, work two repeats of the 12 rows in Stage 2 again.  Then, continue alternating Stage 2 with Stage 3 A until your blanket is as long as you would like it to be, other than the final 2.5″ seed stitch border which would be repeated at the end.

You will be busy with this for a while, so just keep working.  I will have a bit more work to do with those who choose option B, but we will all catch up with each other in the end.  I might create some embellishments for the blanket at the end, so be sure to stay in touch for that.

Okay, for everyone who decided to go with option B, here are those instructions:

Option B Seed Stitch Band with Basket-weave Effect

B1: SD ST across first 63 stitches, P3, K9, P3, SD ST across next 85 stitches, P3, K9, P3, SD ST across remaining stitches on row.
B2: SD ST across first 63 stitches, K3, P9, K3, SD ST across next 85 stitches, K3, P9, K3, SD ST across remaining stitches on row.
B3 & 4: Repeat these two rows once more.
B5: SD ST across first 63 stitches, P3, C9F, P3, SD ST across next 85 stitches, P3, C9F, P3, SD ST across remaining stitches on row.
B6: SD ST across first 63 stitches, K3, P9, K3, SD ST across next 85 stitches, K3, P9, K3, SD ST across remaining stitches on row.

When you finish those six rows, don’t do anything else until I issue the next set of instructions.  The reason I caution you is because of whatever when wrong for me at this point.  So, just work those six rows and then check back.

Thank you for joining me, and be sure to share photos with each other via your blog, Facebook account, or Flickr account.  Link to whichever venue you use from the comments here.

~firefly