Side Squares on the Mitred Square Blankie

Knitting Mama posted a comment asking about how the side squares are done, and "ask and ye shall receive", so here it is. I will try and not be too jealous, because Knitting Mama is, at this very moment, at the Yarn Harlot event in Massachusetts while I sit here at home typing this post. Yes, the Yarn Harlot! Ooooh, how I would love to go to a Yarn Harlot event and hear her talk. She was in NYC (only about 3 hours away) in March, but that was a big crunch-week at work, installing an exhibit, and no way could I take off. Tonight she is in Massachusetts, but that's about a 6 hour drive, and I have no pet sitter. These hooligans really rule my life....and I wouldn't have it any other way. I wouldn't trade a single day of having my sweet girls greet me with lickey-face-kisses for any amount of freedom to travel. But I can still wish for a pet sitter. I guess that's like having your cake and eating it too.

Enough whining. On to the knitting content. To add a square to the left side of the blanket, just start by picking up the stitches like you normally do, but when you get half of them done, you need to cast on the other half onto your needle. I use a provisional cast on so the stitches are still "live" to make it easier to finish the blanket, if I ever get to that point. There is a great tutorial on how to do a provisional cast on here on the Knitty website. Once you have the total number of stitches you are using for your squares, between pick-ups and cast-ons, just work it like a regular square. It'll be a bit flippy-floppy until you get a couple of rows done, but soon it will look great.

Here's a picture. You pick up the stitches where the yellow "P" is, and then cast on enough to fill out your square, where the pink "C" is.



On the right side of the blanket, just do the opposite. First cast on half of the stitches you need, then pick of the other half, onto the same needle, and work like it is a regular square. Here's a picture of the right side:

You'll see a string or a safety pin holding the stitches. That's because I use the provisional cast-on to make it easier later on, but you can use whatever cast-on you would like. Hey - it's your blanket! I hope this is clear. If not, let me know and I'll try again.

Knitting Mama, I hope you're having a great time at the Harlot thing. Post some pictures for us poor sods who can't attend. I'm going to go get some lickey-face kisses now.