Red Ribbon Post #2

My next red ribbon item is an afghan, made from the Ten Stitch Blanket pattern.  Ten Stitch is a free Ravelry download, designed by Frankie Brown.  This pattern shows off those self-striping yarns to their fullest advantage.  The designer uses Noro for the blanket, pictured in the pattern, but with six cats in the house, an acrylic yarn is more practical.  I used Lion Brand's Tweed Strips in the color, Tundra.

Ten Stitch as displayed at the fair





Ten Stitch lounging on my front porch glider




Ten Stitch folded and ready to go



When Ten Stitch first came off the needles, I must admit, I was a little underwhelmed.  The blanket is worked from the center out, with never more than ten stitches on the needles.  Short rows are used to turn each corner, and stitches are picked up and knitted together to join each new edge to the last one (it makes more sense when reading the pattern).  Because of the inside out way this blanket is knitted, the edges have a tendancy to constrict, leaving the middle looking puckered.  Not to worry.  Blocking will always take care of that little problem, but that was my problem.  Acrylic yarn can't be blocked.  At least that's what I thought until I happened upon a thread in the yarn forum on Ravelry.  I discovered that acrylic can, indeed be blocked, it just can't be wet blocked the way wool can.  Using the instructions from Beadknitter's blog and my steam iron, I was able to "kill" the acrylic yarn, enabling the edges of my blanket to lay flat and smooth.  As you can see from the last photo, I could have steamed it more, but I was a little scared.  Once acrylic is killed, the new form is permanent.  The good new is..well, the new form is permanent! :)