My Designs

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

To bind off or not to bind off stitches on the log cabin blanket??

Ive decided to make each of my nieces(2) and nephews(2) a Moderne Baby Blanket. Im calling them "Grow Up Blankets". My dream is for them to like them soooo much, that they will keep them with them as they grow up. (its my own little pipe dream...let me have it for a couple years at least.)

So I dont get bored tho, Im gonna map out my own layouts and for one of them, Im gonna do the Curve of Pursuit featured in the book. 

Ive made a log cabin blanket years ago when Kay and Anns' book Mason Dixon Knitting came out and had fun with it. It just seemed like the one to do for them.

We are having a KAL on my Facebook page so I decided to look for some helpful tips for everybody.

I found a blog post by the Yarn Harlot about picking up stitches along a row requiring two different methods. She was doing the same blanket, so I thought this would be perfect!

In her post "Pick-Up Lines" , Stephanie makes an excellent point as to her reason for casting off a block, and then picking those stitches back up again, rather than keeping them live.
She says:
My answer is both personal and technical. First, I like that each square is accomplished and bound off. It makes me feel like I'm "finishing" the squares, and perhaps like I could stop any time I wanted, since every time I bind off I have a blanket of a different size. (That's the personal reason.) The technical reason is that binding off creates stability of a sort, and I think that's valuable to keep the blanket from stretching all over the place.
In my blanket that I made years ago, I just kept those stitches live and picked them up again when I was ready for them, and because the new yarn just picked up where the old yarn left off and so it was a seamless "join" And as both of yall know, Im totally into "seamless" knitting.

But her reasons are so valid that I decided to try it her way. Hey, im an old dog, and can be taught!

While it made things easier, binding the blocks off, It left a ridge that stuck out like a sore thumb. Now, perhaps I didnt do something right, but mine looked just like hers. So I've made an executive decision.

Im gonna keep them live.

How do yall do it? Is there a better way??

TTFN

1 comment:

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