The very first thing I crocheted back when I was a mere teenager was a ripple afghan. It was easy for a beginner and I really enjoyed making them. Now as an adult knitter I really wanted to whip up a baby blanket for my niece (since her shower is in August). Instantly I thought of the ripple blanket. Perfect! I had seen a knitted version on Facebook. I could have that blanket done in no time, right? Oh how wrong I was.
Back in the day, I could easily watch TV or talk to a friend while crocheting this blanket. It was easy to count the stitches and see exactly where you needed to crochet 3 stitches in the chain to make the mountains and valleys that made the ripple. However, knitting is an entirely different story. With knitting, you keep those 120 stitches on your needle and even though there are only two rows that you repeat throughout, they are entirely different. Also until you have actually completed several rows, it’s hard to see what stitches make up the mountains and valleys (and to be totally honest, I still have trouble telling). And if you make one mistake (knit 8 stitches instead of 10) the whole design is off. Of course you don’t realize this until you reach the end of the row! So after countless hours of tinking back and only having completed 6 rows in 2 weeks, why didn’t I just give up and crochet the blanket instead? I did think about it (quite a lot). But I was going to conquer knitting this blanket even if said baby was now going off to college. 🙂 I also thought about adding stitch markers to remind me when the pattern changed. I could say again it was to conquer the pattern without any help but, to be honest, I was just too lazy to get up and search for that many markers. In the end and after countless hours of tinking back, I found enough stitch markers. I even went online and ordered more.
I am happy to report I am moving along nicely now; although, I still can’t chat with my daughter while working on this (yet). 🙂
Here is a progress update on the blanket. I am actually moving along nicely now that the markers are in place. Maybe I will have it done for the baby shower after all! 🙂
Happy Sheep Creations 