Team Blanket No. 2.2: Star School

Nancy made a mistake. A mistake that made me laugh out loud for a while. When I dried my eyes, I remembered how many good things in the world were born of mistakes. Pretzels? A mistake. Champagne? A mistake. B&J Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream? A mistake.

So Nancy has agreed to join us here and tell us all about her mistake and how we can make it too. Want to try to figure out how to make it a square? Jump in! Do you have an idea on how to fill in those long triangles between the points to give it five smooth sides? Give it a try! Seeing crochet cotton, small needles and holiday decorations? Onward!

There’s a part of me that wants to write something about how you’re all stars to me but I’m pretty sure you all now that by now!

I made one mitered cross block with no problems, other than that gauge thing. While knitting the second mitered cross block, my focus was on maintaining gauge and knitting more tightly. How a star was born was made clear only while unknitting the five sided block. Here is what appears to have happened to make a mitered star.

Complete Miter 1. Complete Miter 2. Complete Miter 3. Repeat Miter 3. Complete Miter 4.

Complete Section 5. Complete Section 6. Complete Section 7. Repeat Section 7. Complete Section 8.

Two rows from ending Section 8, I stretched out the block to admire the more even tension and adherence to gauge. Hmmm, great tension, great gauge but it will not behave and be a flat block. My own reactions to this were disbelief, disappointment, and finally laughter. Jumped up, put it on the floor, took a photo, shared it on MDK. (My husband’s reaction was: knitting humor. If he does not understand why something is funny, it is placed in a category that equals specialized humor only enjoyed by those who have insider knowledge.)

Since that first block I’ve made a couple of other stars without completing Sections 5 thru 8. My new challenge is how to fill in the space between the points and maintain a flat block. Several of you have made excellent suggestions on approaches to try and have also shared approaches you found on Ravelry. There are some lovely star patterns, mitered and not, on Ravelry.

While this mistake is not as delicious as those Karen shared, it has had the delicious quality of pure fun! It also has the added bonus of having a place to share this with others who understand knitting humor. Thank you to all of you who have commented and offered suggestions.

Once my computer will cooperate with giving me access to my photos, I will share images of what has occurred to date.

Yours in the yarn,
Nancy

2 Likes

What about short rows? You know kind of like turning the heel on a sock but don’t do the decrease part. Or … thinking a minute here while my postcards are printing … treat it like it was a perpendicular border on a shawl, pickup stitches along one side of the point, knit back to point, turn, decrease at the outside edge, knit across stitches, then pickup a new stitch at the inside edge. Seems to work in my mind. Good Luck.
P.S. - Going to copy and print your post for future experimenting. Thanks ncpinn for writing it down for us.

1 Like

With your extra sections, I think you must have a kind of ruffle in the star. Borrowing a dressmaking concept, you need a dart. Translated into knitting, that means you need to steek it out!

You’re a mad woman!!! Steeks are the ultimate in knitting courage. I was thinking that a modification in the decreases might work too.

Okay, I think I get what you’re getting at here. I have a short row thing going on my mind too but it’s not quite formed yet. I’ll keep you posted.