So far so good. The pattern I chose for the border is called the Inverness Diamond from my 365 Knitting Stitches a Year Perpetual Calendar. The pattern can be found on the December 13 page.
I’m doing directional increases to make the mitre while avoiding creating any holes or gaps. Translation: the increased stitch on the right corner will slant to the right, the increased stitch on the left corner will slant to the left.
To make the right slanting increase, I brought the tip of the left hand needle under the strand between the stitches on the left hand and right hand needles, from back to front. Then I knit this loop (that I created by picking up the strand) through the front.
To make the left slanting increase, I brought the tip of the left hand needle under the strand between the stitches on the left hand and right hand needles, from front to back. Then I knit this loop (that I created by picking up the strand) through the back.
In this entry, I will respond to yarndork’s comment on my last blog entry on how I could make an increasing mitre. She made a suggestion that maybe I could do a YO, K, YO. That is true, I could. I didn’t because the practical engineer in me didn’t want my nephew’s baby fingers getting stuck in holes. For that reason too, I’m not going with a lacy background or edging; the pattern I picked is a solid texture.
Of course, then you have to figure out how frequently you have to do the corner increases – every row, every other row? Too frequently, it’ll bunch up in the corner. Not frequently enough, it’ll pull into a more circular form. The math geek in me did some calculations to figure out how many stitches to increase over the number of rows I’d be working to reach my desired blanket according to my gauge swatch. Theoretically, I should be increasing 16 stitches per side per 12 rows of pattern repeat. I say “theoretically” because even though I do a gauge swatch and calculations, the real deal always ends up being a little different.
