Boredom leads to a new Obsession

I've grown tired of knitting purses, tired of felting, and tired of small projects. I feel the need to make something more substantial. Due to my busy work schedule, I was only able to start one new project between February and June... a Noni bag for my grandmother. A few weeks ago I heard my knitting bag call my name. After an uninspired search on the web I headed out to gather up the latest knitting mags from my LYS. This is where I found the sundress that I'm currently working on. Why is it that you can't ever be happy with just the project on your needles? As soon as my knitting senses kicked into high gear they were already thinking about the next project. "Hey, why not make an afghan?", they said. After searching the usual online haunts, I remembered the great Lizard Ridge pattern.

I first fell in love with Lizard Ridge when it appeared in Knitty last year. I printed it out and added it to my very thick knitting binder. I had no interest in knitting an afghan, but I loved the way the Kureyon colors exploded before your eyes. The nice thing about waiting to knit this pattern is that many people have had a chance to finish one. A quick google image search yielded lots of great photos of finished afghans. You can see the finished products here, or here, how about here, or even here. This one made with Paton's SWS shows a very suitable substitute yarn, but this non-Kureyon one just doesn't work for me. There's even the obligatory knit-a long.

This is just a small sample of all the Lizard Ridge information available. This afghan incorporates short row knitting to achieve the wonderful wavy shapes. For many knitters these short rows with wraps and turns can seem quite intimidating. As usual, the wonderful website http://www.knittinghelp.com/ has a great video to explain them. Here's another method of doing short rows that I plan to experiment with today. You can also learn how to "knit backwards" to avoid turning your work so frequently. The best explanation and video I found showing how to do this from the purl side is here. With every good pattern comes unique modifications. Click here for one of the best sites with lots of pictures, tips and modifications.

I hope this post will be helpful to those of you thinking about starting this beautiful afghan. So, without further ado.... here's my first Lizard Ridge Square.