Doing the Impossible - and Doing It Well!

In my last post I mentioned having to do an "impossible" afghan. The backstory is this: In October, I was contacted by someone who said that she had an afghan pattern worked in squares and that she needed some help putting it together. I envisioned someone who had all the squares knitted and just needed a little coaching on seaming techniques. Boy, was I wrong!

When I arrived to meet with the customer, she presented me with a pattern book
and a big bag full of yarn


and explained that this was the yarn she had chosen for the afghan pattern she wanted.

The problem? The afghan pattern calls for the squares to be knit with the same size needles, the same number of stitches and rows - BUT the three yarns she had chosen were all different weights - one bulky, one worsted, and one almost a fingering weight. Needless to say, it was a huge challenge to somehow make it all work out.

The end result, although frustrating to produce (involving multiple needle sizes and doubling the lightweight yarn to make the blocks come out the same size), turned out surprisingly well. I was a bit disappointed (although not surprised) that the cables pretty much disappear into the color changes of the variegated yarn. Had I made the choice, I would have chosen the variegated yarn for the plain stockinette blocks, the brown bulky yarn for the double moss stitch, and the solid blue for the cables.
However, the customer was delighted and paid what I asked without batting an eye (although in retrospect I think I probably should have charged more for this job). The biggest downside was that due to a scheduling glitch and a looming deadline I developed a major case of tendinitis in one hand and wore a splint on one finger for a couple of days to give myself time to recover. However, it's done and delivered and now it's on to the next project (or six!).