Tuesday, February 10, 2015

The Rippled Reading Afghan (Original Knitting Pattern)


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My dear friends, I have some exciting news:
The Rippled Reading Afghan is finally published!

This pattern has been 7 years in the making. Not because it needed to take that long, but because it has been knit off and on, little by little throughout many important phases in my life (college, getting married, having kids, etc.) and by the time I realized that fact, I didn't need to complete it as quickly as I could. It was about the journey.

I started this object while I was in college. My blog was about a year old, and since I had nothing but my studies and knitting, I spent endless hours knitting this to episodes of "Lost" and "Smallville" with my (soon-to-be) husband. We would make our own popcorn in a large microwavable popcorn bowl (we still do) and spend our time as couch potatoes (yup, still do when we can).

I knit this during long car rides, I knit this on a vacation or two, I knit this in our new apartment after getting married, I knit this while pregnant, I knit this after the kids were born. I finally decided to finish this once my boys hit four. It was time. I was just inches away from running out of the last bit of discontinued yarn.

I found the perfect lace edging and decided to complete the journey. Needless to say, being dragged around for 7 years, this afghan deserved a good washing!
 I think the result is stunning. It is all about the yarn. I used a multi-colored/printed yarn that also variegates. I didn't worry about getting all of the same skeins. I actually bought a bundle of yarn in red-green-blue-yellow tones back when Yarn Treehouse was still operating online. Don't despare, I have found two similar companies that have yarn just like this, but in superwash!

Pattern: Rippled Reading Afghan by Anna Maliszewski
Price: $3.99
Yarn: 1500 yds of Yarn TreeHouse "Rhythm" in worsted weight, plus 480 yds in Jojoland's "Rhythm" Superwash Worsted weight yarn
Needles: size US8 dpns and circular needles (16'') and size US9 circular needles (19''), plus 1 dpn
Blocked Dimensions: 69'' diameter/18' circumference
Started: February 2008
Completed: February 2015

 I have gotten so many requests over the years for this pattern to be published, I have some work to do going through really old Ravelry Messages over the years!

This pattern is super-easy. One could almost knit this while reading?
I think the lace edging works wondrous for this afghan. This afghan was meant to look like a pebble was thrown in the water, and the water is rippling outward. I imagine that one could sew a button in the middle. 
I saved the last little bit of knitting for an episode of Lost, so the journey would come full circle. Pun intended.

Valentine's Day is coming up. Make sure you keep in touch with my KUAS Facebook group page this Saturday for random give-aways (only group members win)! What do you think? You like?

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