The End is in Sight

This, my friends, is Block #25 of the Great American Afghan.

After several months of churning out squares I will have the pleasure of casting off the last stitch later this afternoon. I don’t mean to make it sound as though it’s all been drudgery—it hasn’t—but I have definitely enjoyed knitting some squares more than others. I purposely saved the last for last, partly because it just seems right to end with #25 and partly because I could see it was a fairly straightforward knit. My new KnitPicks Harmony straight needles arrived yesterday, just in time to try them out on this final block. I already own several sizes of the circulars and am just as pleased with the straights. They have a nice, smooth finish and pointy tips and I really enjoy looking at the colours while I knit. I only bought one pair to try them out but will definitely pick up a few more sizes.

Here’s a look at the four most recent blocks.

This one is meant to mimic a knitted square, magnified.

Cables form the "stitches”, while chain stitches embroidered from I-cord on either end represent the cast on and bound off edges. Rather clever but this square seemed to go on forever!

This one was much simpler, just an overall pattern of bobble flowers and leaves.

This was the final entrelac block, alternating garter stitch rectangles with cabled ones.

I’d never tried entrelac prior to making this afghan and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

I spent yesterday knitting this square, which incorporates four I-cord spokes radiating out from the centre.

At first it was a bit challenging but it became much easier once I developed a system to keep all five yarn ends from tangling.

I was unable to get the yarn I need for the edging locally so I ordered some on the internet. It will probably be a couple of weeks before it arrives, which should give me enough time to put all the blocks together. I’m anxious to lay them all out and decide on their final arrangement but I am not looking forward to the sewing!

Meanwhile, back to work. Only 38 more rows to go!