Starting the 2009 KAL

After my discouraging foray into blocking, once I'd packed up and gone back into my bedroom, I had a decision to make. I could start knitting the left and right borders for my afghan, or I could start on the squares for the 2009 KAL afghan. 
You see, the yarn I'd ordered from Bernat finally came in last Thursday. There were the ten skeins of Bernat Satin for the 2009 KAL (sooo soft!), as well as two small skeins of Lily Sugar'n Cream, in Mod Green solid and Sun Kissed ombre. I also picked up a set of metal cabling needles at Zellers on Saturday in preparation for some of the squares in the 2009 afghan. 

Bernat Satin Yarn
(L to R: Lagoon, Banana, Maitai)

Since witnessing the small squares of my 2012 KAL afghan, I decided to be a good girl and make a gauge swatch. This afghan also calls for 5mm needles, so I started with my 6mm pair... and ended up with 16 stitches in 4 inches, rather than the 18 called for. After frogging that, I went back to the 5mm pair, and ended up with 20 stitches in 4 inches, gah! But, seeing as I lack a pair of 5.5mm needles, and didn't feel like spending the money on a pair of them right now, and doing yet another gauge swatch (which, on hindsight, would probably have been perfect looking at these numbers), I opted for a slightly smaller afghan made with 5mm needles. 


After frogging my second gauge swatch, I started working on clue 1 in my contrast A, Lagoon. I followed the pattern for the first row, and then came across "2nd and alt rows: K2. Knit all the knit sts and purl all purl sts as they appear to the last 2 sts. K2." I assumed this meant doing the same pattern in reverse; if the last 5 had been P3, K2, I would then K2, P3, etc. Thinking this, I completed up to row 4 and decided to double check that assumption... I was wrong. It was the opposite. So I frogged my work again, cast on the 44 stitches again, (which I hate!), and have just finished my first 20 rows of the square (it's a 20 row repeat). There is no exact spot to stop, only when it reaches 8" long, and end with a wrong side row. I think what I have done now is about 2", so 3 more repeats to go! 


Things I learned:

• what "knit all knit sts and purl all purl sts" means and how to do it
• how to make and measure a gauge swatch