{mini-rant} RUTGERS, the State University of NEW JERSEY, is now 9-0. The State University of NEW JERSEY. Why do the people of NEW YORK CITY feel the need to co-opt it as their own? They lit the Empire State Building in Rutgers scarlet last night. Please don’t get me started on this. GET YOUR OWN DAMN SPORTS TEAMS! Oh that’s right. You’ve got two that play right here – 2 miles from my house – IN NEW JERSEY!! How can the people of NYC stand themselves that they ALLOW the Giants and the Jets to play in NEW JERSEY. Both teams have signed big agreements basically promising they won’t be leaving NEW JERSEY anytime soon. You know what? I say play on suckas! Guess who gets all the tax revenues from your OUT OF STATE football teams? That’s right. New Joisey. {mini-rant over}
Okay. Sorry about that. That’s two days in a row that I’ve ranted, but it feels good to let it out. On to knits.
Here’s how the new project is going to go.
Take a hundred of these:
And put them together to make 25 of these:
And then keep putting them together and putting them together
and they tell two friends and they tell two friends and so on and so on and so on….
The goal is 100 little squares making up 25 large squares. That’s the goal. The little squares are 6″x6″ and the larger squares are 12″x12″ and I’m hoping this will be big enough to fit on my bed. I see this is a VERY long term project. Very long term. So don’t ask about it. 😉 First off, the yarn colors you see above are not the yarn colors I’ll be using. But I am thinking of making a mini-template using the colors above and maybe a couple more that’s at least 4 large squares big. You know – to work out all the kinks. Before you even ask – I’m knitting garter stitch on size 5 needles. The yarn is Socks That Rock Heavyweight in the following colors: Brick (red), Terra (orange), Spinel (blue) and Olivenite (yellow.) As always, if the colors aren’t on the website, you can email or call Blue Moon to inquire about their availability. Thank you.
First off, I’ve got figure out how to get the squares together. The green blanket was super easy to seam because most of the edges were bound off – this time I’m working with garter stitch edges. I’m going to have to check the books on this one. I think I’ve got the diagonal square down to where I want it: basically knit into the back and front loop of your slip knot – two stitches. Knit next row. Knit into the back and front of both stitches. Now you have four. Knit next row. Now you K1, M1, K2, M1, K1. Knit next row. Continue increasing every other row until you have 50 stitches on the needle. Next row, K1, SSK, K44, K2TOG, K1. Continue decrease rows every other row until you have 30 stitches on the needle. Switch to contrast color and continue decreasing until you have four stitches left. SSK and then K2TOG. Next row knit. K2TOG and draw yarn through remaining stitch.
That’s what I’m most happy with right at this moment. Subject to change, of course, once the seaming is done. I was trying to go for true corners.
I won’t be starting the REAL afghan for a while. First, I have to collect the yarn. I’m in talks with my favorite dyer as to what colors are available in what I want to do. The colors I’m keeping as a surprise. I can’t give up everything, can I? My biggest concern right now is how to put it all together. Question for you quilters – what do you do? Collect fabrics – then do one large square at a time – or do you go along making small squares with whatever fabrics speak to you and then put them together at the end? I mean I’m assuming you would have a color theme or something – but what a task! Color is the most important and hardest part of all of this I think. The wrong color can kill the whole piece. (And before you quilters tell me I could do this in 1/100th of the time it will take me to knit it – I don’t quilt. Apparently it has a lot to do with ironing and I don’t iron. I knit. Not that there’s anything wrong with ironing….)
Whew! So that’s where my head is at. I also ripped back the Casino shawl and I’m going to start it over again on 6s. I, thankfully, didn’t lose the cast on when I ripped back, so everything’s good in that respect. Heather was the one that tipped me over the edge: in the comments the other day she said that on 6s you can always block it out but on 7s – if its too big, it’s too big. Thanks Heather! It all became clear after I read your comment.
It’s back to work for me – I’m doing pretty well getting things done. But before I go, I leave you with a bit of eye candy. The squares and the quilt that took me over the moon!
Making several small “practice” pieces is an excellent idea. Nancy Crow always works in series based on a “motif” and is a firm believer that the motif doesn’t really work itself out until the 9th or 10th attempt. It’s the unexpected mixture of colors, the play of foreground and background, and improvisation that really make Nancy’s quilts amazing.
As you’re knitting, get a big piece — I mean big — of foamcore to create a design wall. Pin your 4-square units up on the wall. You’ll be rearranging these puppies a lot before you’re finished. Once you get your colors and process down, don’t plan too far ahead — just let the blocks take you.
I’m constantly inspired by quilts — the latest being the Gee’s Bend Quilts. You’ve now got my “knit quilt” juices flowing again.
There are a lot of color theory websites out there. I think it would be cool to take one of your favorite pictures and mimic the colors in that. Also, do you have “Color Works: The Crafter’s Guide to Color” by Deb Menz? I got this for my mom (a quilter) a few years ago. It’s a great resource!
Cool squares Cara! You have much more patience than I ever could. I can’t wait to see the final result.
May I add that the DC Redskins (eew) currently play in Maryland in a newish stadium and Dan Snyder is now looking to rip down RFK so he can get a deal that includes three Super Bowls.
Aaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiii!
Man it’s better than I even thought. Jonesing to cast on!
You could knit them together you know. Just saying. Option for you.
When doing bias squares, instead of having to remember which row is an increase/decrease row, I just increase or decrease once at the beginning of EVERY row. Yielding the same number and rate of increase/decrease but easier to keep track of and no RS marker needed or anything.
I tend to start with a color scheme in mind but when you get to the last squares, lay it all out and see if it doesn’t need a jolt of something you hadn’t thought of yet. I don’t like to have it too pre-set or it gets hard to motivate to knit it all up. But that’s just me. xoxo Kay
Who cares where they play football? (But the Yankees better never move out of the city in my lifetime. That would be WRONG.)
okay am going out on a limb here because I’m not sure HOW well it would work. But my thought on putting it together is this:
crochet them together, use the yarn color that is in the middle and then change it to match the rest of the square???
First on the squares.. awesome! Bow Tie is one of my favorite quilt squares. I have a stack of like 40 of them to make into a king size quilt at some point in my life (someday.. someday!) At this rate I could probably do what your doing, knit them.. and I’d have a quilt a whole lot faster!
As for out of state sports teams. Geez.. I wish Jersey would push them back to NY. See here in upstate, we’re getting sick of high taxes which support downstate. Maybe if they brought those teams back my taxes wouldnt be through the roof!
The picture of the ‘over the moon’ quilt is more amazing than I imagined. You’ll make it even more wonderful when recreate with knitting.
I am with Carla! We are from Syracuse, I won’t speak for all Syracusans, but a lot of the people that grew up here are huge fans of the college basketball team, yet we can’t afford to send our children there! Go figure. I am not a big fan of any sport. Well if there were an extream knitting, or spinning… maybe…. 😉
Those squares are gonna be awesome! Have you moved beyond socks and on to blankets?
heh, it’s funny that you bring up the football because, personally, i like it better when it’s in NJ. stay there and don’t muck up our traffic (because you just know that someone someday is gonna want to build a stadium in the city and that would just be the end-all be-all of dumbness.)
loving the new blanket idea! the images you linked to aren’t showing up though.. just your photos of the squares 🙁 your bowtie-small.jpg, etc.
NY can offer a tribute to our Rutgers.
They should be the NJ Giants and Jets! Enough said.
Cara, don’t ever let a quilter tell you they can do anything faster than knitting. Oh, sure, we can push a lot of little pieces through the sewing machine really fast–be we had to choose that fabric, maybe pre-wash it and press it, CUT it (which takes days), sew the units together, then the rows, then the borders–all accurately. THEN we have to sandwich it and baste it. THEN quilt it! Oh yeah, and binding. Don’t forget binding. I support the design wall concept. Quilters rarely work without one. We’d make units and then play with them on the board before we put them together. Use your digital camera to take pics, then move things around and take another pic. You can go back to one you like better more easily that way. BTW, big pieces of foam insulation from the home supply store work very well.
I am a quilter and I don’t iron!! Quilters “press.” 😉 Yes, there is a difference!!! But, it does involve setting up the board and plugging in the iron. I like the faster finish of quilting, but your knit blankets are way cool! I’m on the list for Rocking Socks 2007…gotta love Blue Moon yarn!
There is a well known quilt pattern like that, usually called snowball. It is more like what 4 of your squares look like put together. The center area is usually lighter than the smaller triangle tips, so the result makes the centers looks like snowballs. Great idea, I can’t wait to see how it comes out!
Nice!! Nice, nice, nice!!!
Have you ever thought of using a teleidoscope to help choose and balance colors. I think a lot of quilters use them… it was mentioned once in a class I took.
Man! i need a nap just from reading that…not that it was boring but my brain is tired!
This is going to be incredible..no wonder you couldn’t sleep
My first thought (and this may have been suggested already) is – can you make the first stitch of each row a slipped stitch? Wouldn’t that make seaming easier?
I love the new blanket idea. I’ve only quilted one project (a small simple one) so I’m not sure of the best method of deciding on colors. I do think the commest about using a foam board at the end is a very good idea. Good luck and can’t wait to see how it goes for you! I’m still contemplating a log cabin project 🙂
There are quilters that work both ways…some plan, some just let it happen.
Have you tried intarsia knitting? It would mean planning the whole thing out first, but the squares would be knit together as you go. NO finishing! I hate the finishing parts…in anything…knit, crochet, quilt. That’s part of what all that ‘stuff’ is in my craft room waiting to be finished! I do like the ‘choosing’ phase…color & design. Another reason for all those UFO’s. Sigh.
And a friend of mine works for Dan Snyder. I don’t care how much money he has. No one should be allowed to be that kind of jerk! In the interview process they gave her scenarios of him being a jerk & asked what she would do! Before you ask, she was going through a divorce & desperate for a job. What happened to ‘team’ sports??!
PS-I have that Nancy Crow book too. That woman is awesome & I do wish she lived nearby! I would happily dye her fabric for free just to be around her. Don’t hear much about her these days…
Ooooooh! I want to make one, too! I am going to have to make a run to the yarn store. I’m thinking Malabrigo (SO SOFT!) would be nice. I haven’t yet bought any STR yarn. I have a feeling if I start I will never stop…
what weight str is that?
me likey!
oh, Cara, that is going to be fantastic! I love how you make the quilt-to-knit just -work-. It’s great! I can’t wait to see what colors you end up with. 🙂
I have a huge fabric stash. Right now, if I want to make a quilt, I usually just find what I need in the stash. The fabrics just have to be similar enough to work as a whole. But I also used to do more planned quilts where I bought specific fabric, and enough for an entire quilt. Kind of like yarn 🙂
I love the feeling of getting so excited about a project you can’t sleep at night!
I’ve been looking into knitting something based on quilt patterns too, but so far have channeled that urge into other things… good luck. It’s a heck of an undertaking. (But you know this.)
Not to toot my own horn, but I’ve got an article on color up at knitty called “Technicolor Knitting” in the archives, and I have another article on using color theory in knitting due out Dec 1 (titled “Cheating at Color Theory”). Here’s hoping they’re useful.
I did a blanet like this, it was called the Psychadellic Squares Afgan. It’s beautiful and half finished, in my closet. It’s more like a lap-throw now. 6×6 squares are more manageable 🙂
I’ve made a lot of scrap quilts over the years. I usually decide on a color scheme and then gather my scraps. I’m so anal that I cut everything out before I sew even a single block. But, I can say with scrap quilts that more variety and more color usually results in a more beautiful quilt.
Gawgeous.
And I will not get started on Rutgers…
I say figure out how to knit those thing all miter like. at least the little squares, then you’d only have to sew the big squares together. LOVE the inspiration quilt! Beautiful colors.
Yeah, that’s going to be freakin’ amazing!!!!
When I quilt, I pick out all my fabrics ahead of time. I like uniformity and evenness. A friend of mine likes charm quilts, so she throws all her scraps in a bag and pulls them out at random and sews them on. It all depends on the look you want. If I made your afghan, each 12X12 would be made with the same two colors, and all the 12X12 squares would be shades of the same colors (like blues for the big parts and tans for the corners, say). If my friend made the quilt, no 6X6 square would be the same.
Interesting – I never liked the bowtie block in quilts much, but I love it knitted. I’m going to have to go back through my quilting patterns and see what I come up with.
I don’t quilt, I knit. However my stepmother and her sister our quilt fanatics. They cut out sample squares and pieces of fabric and put them on a flannel sheet on hanging on the wall. (The flannel helps the pieces stick with few if any pins)They can leave it up there for a couple of days, move the colours around stand back 10 ft and decide what works. With fabric it is easier swatching things out, but if you are completely unsure of fabrics – go to fabric store and pick some solids in colours you want* and cut them out and pin them up – you don’t need to sew them together – see if it works.
*brain wave – go get some paint swatches and do similar instead of fabric.
My boy calls them the “Jersey Jets” and “Jersey Giants”. We don’t care much for them, since we’re displaced Steeler fans (oh, the heartache that is this season).
However, I am adamant about the Nets NOT coming over to my neighborhood in Brooklyn. Yinz guys can keep them!
wow, that quilt is going to be spectacular. very eric carle (i’ve always adored him)
That’s a beautiful looking quilt. I think I’d go nuts trying to knit it. It feels very Kaffe Fasset-ish to me.
sorry – i see now where you mention the weight. I’m a duma.
🙂
geez, i can’t stand espn sometimes. did you see the way they covered the rutgers game? good lord, if you’re watching the game from topeka or something would have thought that rutgers stadium was on 23 street with all of those shots of midtown and the empire state building. this win was huge and i’m sure there are plenty of new yorkers interested and even happy for rutgers but c’mon! this was strictly a jersey deal. oh, whatever. *sigh*
anyhoo, those squares look great. this afghan is going to be kick ass.
Quilting is ALL ironing. Well, not ALL. But it’s important nonquilters understand this… 😉
I get all/most of the fabrics for a quilt project before I start. I just collect fabric all the time.
I love your new squares!
I’m a knitter and a quilter and what I’ve learned about choosing fabric for color I have learned by trial and error. So here’s my disclaimer: I’m not a color expert nor am I an art major so take what I’m going to say with a grain of salt. Here is my simple color theory: I put my colors into one of two catagories: colors that ‘pop’ and colors that ‘recede’. By ‘pop’ I mean a color that draws your eye. By ‘recede’ I mean colors that tend to fade into the background. For example if I was to make a quilted maple leaf block I would make sure the fabric I cut for the maple leaf itsef would pop against the receding fabrics that I choose for the squares and triangles that will be for the background.
Right now the yellow and orange you are working with seem like receding colors against the red and blue which are popping. Nothing wrong with that but you want to understand that.
It in the photograph of the blanket you put up in your entry the knitter seemed to use both popping colors and receding colors and mixed it up. For example when you look at the photographs you see some circles. Using my simple color theory I venture to say the bigger part of the little squares were knit with popping colors and the smaller part of the little squares were knit with receding colors. When some of bigger squares like this are placed together you see a circle. However, this rule is broken sometimes in the photograph. Do you see some of the circles look like a pie with a slice removed? That is because that one bigger part of a smaller square was knit with a receding color. Mixing it up like this seems to give the blanket a kaleidoscope look.
If you were to knit the bigger part of the little squares ALWAYS with a popping color and the little part of the little squares ALWAYS with a receding color you would end up with a completely different look and you wouldn’t have the kaleidoscope look.
Here’s another quilting tip. As you knit these squares and start placing them together to see how they look use a pair of binoculars and look through the wrong end. It will make your squares look far away and you can get a better perspective on whether you like the placement of the squares or not. I hope this helps.
what a cool idea to put quilt patterns into knit patterns :-). I can’t wait to see the end result!
NJ Giants, indeed. humph. those squares…you make fiber look so luciously good.
That is going to be one fuckingly gorgeous piece of work!!!!!!
If Blue Moon isn’t paying you for advertising, they should. Everytime I visit, I get a serious craving for their yarn.
As a quilter, I obsessively bought fabric just the same as I now obsessively buy yarn. You know how that goes because I do believe you have the same obsession. Before beginning a quilt, I always pulled the fabrics from the stash. So I knew in advance what fabrics I would be using. This method also allows you to go buy more if you see a place where something is lacking (and there’s always such a place). Then the sewing would commence. You’ll get all the little squares done. Put them on the design wall. Move them around. Find the best design. Sew them into bigger squares. Put them back on the design wall. Move them around. Etc. It’s really fun. Lacking a design wall, you can always use a floor. But I don’t bend over and crawl around that easily!! I absolutely love this blanket idea, Cara. I hope you drop everything and run with it immediately. It’s going to be drop dead gorgeous!
P.S. Get Electric Quilt — software for quilters. It has lots of other uses, too. I’ve heard of people who laid out their floor tile design with it and who did the patios. Anyway, it makes playing with squares much easier than any conventional graphics software. I have no financial interest in the company (I wish I did) but I bought version one the minute it came out and have been using it ever since.
That will be STUNNING! I didn’t scan the comments to see if anyone already tipped you off, but nothing could be more serene than sewing garter ridges together–purl bump to purl bump–the seam will disappear, you’ll be in heaven (oh, I forgot, with all that STR, you already ARE in heaven).
Fabuloso! I’m dying to knit a quilt, I’d be happy to make a sweater at this point. Careful your log cabin doesn’t catch wind of this and run away on you! 😉 Nice rant btw…
Right On Cara about RUTGERS!!! GO JERSEY! I was in a crowded bar in Hoboken and it was Insane. My dad was at the game and said he crashed the field… on to your blanket…wow wow wow! You are just so creative and inspiring. Can’t wait to see it in progress!!
Girlfriend, you are nuts! I love it!
When I am starting a quilt, I gather all my fabrics. It may change over time, usually taking some out, not adding more in. I would do 1/2 to 3/4 of the total squares, just randomly using colors as I feel like it. Then put them on the design wall. Arrange and re-arrange and see what works and what doesn’t and what you still need.
It is hard to refine and edit when you only have, say, 1/4 of the squares done. Be prepared that some may not work and you have to toss them, but it is worth it in the end when you have a gorgeous quilt!
Then you can keep doing the final squares, a few at a time, and placing them and seeing what you still need.
Anyway, that’s how I would do it. Good luck!
I totally see your vision. It’s going to be awesome!
It’s interesting to see/hear about it because I am learning how to quilt. You have the same questions and concerns that I do when it comes to colors and quiliting.
It also brings back memories of a log cabin blanket that I crocheted a few years ago. It was 80 granny squares. Each measuring like 3.5″
It’s going to be fun seeing what you come up with.
Garter grafting – check Montse Stanley – easy peasy and totally reversable.
That is soo cool. Love your idea! As far as quilting goes-I usually have my pattern and do everything according to it. But then I have made quilts where I’ve just made squares and then laid them out to see how they look together. It’s amazing how different the layout makes the entire piece look. I hope that was a bit of a help. Oh well, I love the idea. I said that already.
I’ll be watching for more.
Because I don’t have even *one* stitchin’ lick of sewing mojo, I’ve just always assumed that I couldn’t partake in the world of quilt-making. But lookie…apparently, knitters can make fine quilts!
It’s going to be gorgeous. Absolutely.
And, thank you, Cara, for the nice comment you left me about my Blanket Cardigan. It’s nice that you stop by newbie blogs like mine.
Beautiful – and very inspiring – I want to start one now! And I agree – Blue Moon should be paying you for advertising. Everytime you post something that you make with it, I have to go to their website!
As a former quilter (now all knit, all the time) I agree that the best way to visualize the colors and pattern of your squares is to view them from a distance. I use a peephole (the kind you have in a door)- you can buy them most anywhere for a few dollars.
Good luck – you have inspired me to look at my quilt patterns through my now knitterly eye!
If I were you I definitely would join as you go and weave in ends, too! A long time ago I made a gazillion granny squares and when it came time to put them all together . . . well let’s just say they never ended up together.
I love the way it looks and I can’t wait to see some of the real colors! Good luck!
I love the whole quilting/knitting combo. It’s going to be a great afghan!
As a Jersey girl who couldn’t wait to get out of state to go to college, I’m enjoying the national attention Rutgers is getting. Good for them! Whoever wants to jump on the bandwagon, there’s plenty of room. And as much as Jersey folk claim NY stuff as their own, let the ESB shine red. I actually like the fact that they commemorate different stuff with the lights 🙂
Have a nice weekend 1/1.
LUV the colors! And love the corner colors. What a cool idea – I can never think of those things myself.
And think of the games this way: NY is helping us lower our taxes! Thank you NY!! 😉
Holy Moly. 100 of anything is really really really a lot. I love the colors and the diagonals… and am impressed with your determination. I’m just puttering along knitting for felted boxes. Not quite of the Mason Dixon variety… but sort of.
Glad to be of service! I hope that a new beginning for your Casino shawl does the trick.
Wow, this project looks like a grand task but also one that will be wonderfully fulfulling. I love quilts as inspiration, although I’ve never quilted. There is something so satisfying about matching up shapes into a pattern that they could never be on their own. Back in the day, I did an art project that was a 3′ x 3′ ‘quilt’ mounted on cardboard and made of photocopied and enlarged polaroids that I took in the Worcester (?) art museum. It was amazing to take other works of art and make something completely new and engaging from them.
I can’t wait to see how your blanket comes along.
Very cool project. I don’t know if I could handle that much seaming (or that much garter stitch; it’s slow going for me), but I know I’d love to end up with a blanket made from those!
Wow, you are ambitious. That will be beautiful.
man do I wish I had your taste and style 🙂
Let me just state…you are SO TALENTED! I love reading your blog!
Working on a similar piece for my 5-year-old. He picked some crazy colors and I am knitting 16″ squares on the bias, addidng and changing colors at my whim. He’s five so he doesn’t care. I am worried about joining them together too. If you come up with some great inspiration please let me know.
Knit On!!
So THAT’s why the ESB was red! I thought it was for xmas or something. I only caught a glimpse while I was on some highway on my way to LaGuardia. I was staying an exit or two from New Brunswick, and the Rutgers enthusiasm was contagious. Even I watched the game!
The quilt picture is definitely inspiring. It reminds me of these books my sister and I had as kids, where there was a big geometric design and you could color all the little bits anyway you wanted to get different designs.
And, believe it or not, I finally found the Fanta bottle that I brought home from Peru for you – a year ago! I knew I hadn’t lost it, but couldn’t find it anywhere! Turns out it was in a cardboard tube that I’d packed for posters and since the bottle barely weighs anything, I didn’t feel it in there. When I pulled the tube out of the suitcase to pack it last week, there it was. Doh! A year late, but it’ll be on its way this week.
What a great idea! I can’t wait to see how this blanket turns out. Which Nancy Crow book is the pattern from?
If you want color theory info, Joen Wolfrom wrote several outstanding books. I both quilt and knit and I’ve found that the information translates well into both (all) art mediums. My favorite is The Magical Effects of Color. Joen is definitely on par with Nancy Crow as a fiber artist.
cara, it looks like you’re well on your way to knitting another heirloom 🙂
of course, it doesn’t hurt to use such fabulous yarn 😉
would you believe i’ve never touched the stuff?! it’s so elusive, or i’m so broke (?!) …
i soooo look forward to the progress … even if it’s long term … all the more time for me to enjoy its beauty!
Oh, I’m really looking forward to seeing how this progresses. It looks great.
Oh, I love it! The idea of seaming that is giving me nightmares though. That is going to be one gorgeous work of art when you’re done.
Oh, Cara. Considering I’m catching up after a little webby break, and considering the recent news, you’re probably NOT really the most concerned about seaming help at this particular moment in time. But who knows? Anyway, if I were you, I’d follow someone’s advice above about increasing at the beginning of every row rather than one side both ends, other side no increases.
Moreover, I’d slip the stitch at the beginning of every row. It makes a really lovely edge that looks like a cast-on or bound off edge. My recipe would match yours until you get 4 stitches, then every row is:
Sl 1 as if to purl, M1, k to end
I swear, the slip stitch edging is really really nice and might make your seaming worlds easier. I also invented a weird seam this year to sew squares butted together so they don’t have no bulk, but now that those blankets are out in the world, I doubt the stability of that seam. I’ll try to post it to my blog soon.