I have some pattern design questions. Recently I got a large stash of one kind of yarn, about 4000 yards. I would like to make an afghan with it and really would like it to have a celtic/cabled theme. I’ve found several patterns that I kind of like, but nothing exactly like what I am envisioning.
My goal with this is twofold. First, my 95 (almost 96) y/o gran has been asking for a blanket. I would love to do this as a gift for her. Second, I really want to learn a variety of cable stitches. An afghan would give me lots of practice.
Someone has suggested that I design my own pattern, but this would be completely new territory for me. So here are my questions:
— How would I even go about starting something like that?
— Would it be better to buy a couple of patters and combine them?
— Someone has suggested a stitch dictionary. Is this necessary? If so, what would you recommend?
— I haven’t been knitting long, and I’ve mostly done lace. Is this going to be a bad idea for someone at my level?
Any other thoughts/advice would be very welcome. If it would be helpful, I could post up a couple of the patterns I’ve looked at as well.
This sounds like a wonderful project and a thoughtful gift.
I immediately thought of the Great American Afghan. It’s made up of different squares, many of them cables.
If you’d prefer a different pattern you could substitute for one or more of the squares as long as the dimensions of the square are the same.
A stitchionary is a good source of ideas for different patterns. There are several available online including this one: http://www.knittingfool.com/Default.aspx
You could try out some of the patterns with scrap yarn to see if you like them and find out whether you enjoy knitting cables and celtic knots.
Have you looked on Ravelry for celtic knots or cabled afghans? There are some intriguing patterns there.
This is a very do-able project, especially with the experience of knitting lace in your background.
That Great American Afghan looks amazing. It reminds me of one I saw on revelry that was a celtic pattern with the squares. Actually, I think my gran would really like this one.
I have looked on Ravelry and on KnitPicks for patterns and have found a few that I like. A couple were Twisty Celtic Aran Afghan and Burridge Lake Aran Afghan. My issue with these are they’re done in strips, and I’d really like to avoid seaming if possible. But, I really do like the look of the squares.
I also really love this pattern, Bairn by Julie Hoover. My issue is that it won’t even use half of the yarn. How difficult would it be to make this bigger?
Thanks for the link! I hadn’t been on knittingfool before. I’ll bookmark it for sure.
I would love to have some trees in the pattern. I found a few on ravelry, like this one.
If I didn’t do squares, would it be possible to do something like this in one piece? Or is that a really silly idea?
Those are some beautiful patterns. If you love the bairn pattern, you could add panels to the side edges to make it larger. Then again, it may also be that a lighter afghan or throw would be easier for your gran.
have you seen these? They have trees.
