Ohio Star

Lookie what I've been making:


This was like the proverbial potato chip -- once I started, I just had to keep going. You start at the center square, and each section is picked up and knit from there. I believe this traditional quilt motif is called an "Ohio Star". I have two.

They are for this felted tote:


I think this is so cute. It's from Knitter's magazine, Fall 2006. Can you see why I was eager to see if I could machine-crank worsted i-cord? However, the pic in the magazine is so not my colors. I'm allergic to green, and beige-y colors do nothing for me at all.

Mine is Paton's Classic Wool. The solid blue is "New Denim", and the other is "Denim Marl".

And under the heading of "lessons learned", we have this:


Ever heard that some white yarns do not felt? I'm here to tell you that it's quite true. Paton's Classic Wool in "Winter White" has been bleached in the processing and, well, apparently what it did is considered slightly felted (fuzzy, lost its stretchiness), but the different shrinkage rate from the blue? Not good.

The white will go in the places the green went in the pattern photo, so it has to shrink at approximately the same rate as the blue, or -- I shudder to think. So despite the label that says, "Ideal for knit, crochet and felted projects"? Not true of "Winter White". But new swatching has been done, and "Aran" shrinks just fine. Onward and upward.