Sue's First Throw

John really likes his Tufts-inspired throw and is already using it every day, as it's great for when watching TV. I used four strands of worsted weight yarn and my cabled size 50 needles. It's a simple pattern, really fun for a first blanket, and it goes fast! This is one where you can have fun improvising with different strands of yarns. I do have two important suggestions. First, you should make circular needles from your size 50 needles. This will prevent your knitting from slipping off the ends of the needles, which happened to me a few times and caused extreme frustration. The cabled size 50's aren't perfect, in the sense that the size 50's have a nub on the end which prevents the yarn from freely sliding onto the cable as it does on store-bought circulars, but if/when the yarn does want to pop off the end (and it will on occasion, since there are so many stitches/yarn that the needle gets very full) the cable "catches" any spillover and saves you. It is actually quite simple to make these needles, as the tips pop off; just drill a hole in the ends and run an old computer cable through the holes. Pop off the tip to allow you access to the cable and knot it. Replace the tips and voila! you've made your needles. (See photo of my set of size 50 circulars on the December 19 post.) I also recommend making your life easier by attaching a piece of paper to either side of the knitting to indicate which pattern goes on which side of the knitting; there are only two patterns in this project, and they switch every other row. The project gets huge fast, and it's very tight on the needles, so it's easy to lose your place, which is disastrous. (I know; I did it.) With tags in place, you'll never be uncertain as to which pattern you're supposed to be knitting. One of these days I will get a close up photo and add it to the post.