Squares

Two of 8 squares in this colour combination are done and

with each square,  the bind offs are getting better.

The bind off edge is supposed to be done on a needle one size larger.  I do not have a needle one size larger.  I have a needle two sizes larger but it is currently in use on another blanket.  I just bound off very loosely.  When I did that it was fine and yet, the square was still not, well, square.  It pulled a bit and made it a weird not quite square anything else.  

The square above with the yellow outer corner was bound off many times, five I think.  I made one extra stitch at the place where you would normally be increasing at the center line.  On the square with the blue outer corner, I did two.  The shape was much improved with the two stitches and I am going to do that for each of the remaining squares.     

The other big change I made to the pattern was to decrease the number of stitches.  I am making 5 garter ridges and therefore 5 stitches at each side of the marker as you work.  Then I change colours and knit 5 more ridges in the second colour and 10 stitches to each side of the marker.  And the third section will be yet another 5 ridges bringing the total number of stitches to each side of the marker to 15 stitches. 

The resulting square is about 9 inches, just a smidge over.  That means the blanket will be   about 36 inches.  That is a perfect baby size but this is supposed to be a blanket for a 9 year old.  I was aiming for slightly more. Plus I wanted the blanket to be a bit more of a rectangle.  I am currently thinking about how to deal with that and have some interesting ideas. 

The day promises to be a full busy one for me.  The usual household chores will no doubt be interfering with the knitting.  I am trying to slowly build up knitting time between chores so that I can knit more hours in a day, one small bite at a time.