Log Cabin Blanket

I have written previously about the log cabin blanket I was inspired to knit after reading Mason-Dixon Knitting. Love that book by the way! Anyway, this past weekend I went on a float trip with several of my friends and I took the blanket with me to work on on the drive down.

As I was working on it, I learned something new about myself... Booze and knitting don't mix for me. MUST STAY AWAY FROM ALCOHOL WHEN KNITTING!! lol I messed up (not unfixable but I didn't really want to rip it out, too much effort involved) which got me thinking about things I could do to avoid having to rip out. Which got my mind wandering... which means I started thinking about how much I was going to be tired of the garter stitch before I was halfway through this blanket maybe I should add some stuff in that was more interesting.

In the end I did rip out those screw-up rows, just because, but I still decided to add some other elements to the blanket to make it more interesting. Plus, this blanket was ending up square and I hate it when I can't tell which end of the blanket is the "top" or "bottom" and which are the sides.

That is where Nicky Epstein's Knitting Over the Edge comes into the picture. It was one of the books I purchased with the Borders gift card my MIL gave me for my birthday. I LOVE this book also! I really wanted to try something from it and what better way to liven up my blanket. THEN I found the perfect thing on page 176-177... Butterfly Bowties. I decided to add two panels to the "top" and "bottom" of the log cabin. As you can see, I finished the "top" panel today and tonight I'm going to pick up stitches for the "bottom". I'm pretty excited about the whole thing. I only had to tink back a couple of times during the whole panel and I think it turned out beautifully. The picture above shows everything I've done to date.

This picture shows an up close and personal of the butterflies. I think they turned out pretty well. I haven't blocked or anything yet because I'm not done with the entire piece, but I think once it is blocked and the stitches are evened out it will look even better. Of course, I'm doing both panels in the yellow so they will stand out. I also have some other lighter colors I'm mixing in to the rest of the log cabin to lighten it up a bit.

So, what do ya think? Pretty good for a beginner, huh? :-) hehehehehehehe