Re-charting the afghan

Well, not a whole lot to report here. I'm still working away on my 6 Mother's Days gifts, and I still can't show pictures. I'm 2 gifts in, and about a quarter of the way through #3. So far, so good. I had to take a brief break on the gifts to work on . . .

Square #4 (Burns Square) from the Great American Aran Afghan. You might remember that we started an 18 month afghan club here at the store in January, and next Sunday will be our fourth meeting. So far I have really enjoyed making these squares (I'm using the undyed Malabrigo). However, the book does not present them in the most workable format, listing individual chart motifs separately and making you keep track of the overall order of things. I don't fault the publisher's for this, because I understand that in the interest of saving space they had to do it this way. So for the class, I take this:

And re-chart the entire square to something like this (click on graph for better view):

I created all the cable and chart symbols as .jpgs in Photoshop so that they would exactly match the symbols in the book in case anyone needs to cross-reference (except I color-coded mine to be easier to read). Then I just put all the individual charts into Excel into a nice big chart that shows the entire width of the square. I added all the symbol definitions below the chart for easy reference on one piece of paper (usually). For me, it is SO much easier than having to reference each individual motif, then the symbol map for each cable, then the written definition of each cable, every time you need to work across the row. I think the nice ladies in class think I'm doing this for them, but in reality, I wouldn't be able to work these squares without doing this for myself. :)

Comments

[Destiny]

By the way, YOU ROCK for re-charting the squares. I don't mind that it was not ORIGINALLY intended to make our lives easier. BUT I am soooooo glad you did..
I only have 1/2 of my first Mother's Day gift done. Unless, I gift the entralac scarf then I would be 1/2 way through 2..hmmmm What is a girl to do?

[Yvonne]

I must agree with Destiny, your charting of the squares really does rock!!! I'm sure the rest of us (not including Donna of the only 1 square to go) agree that we would be lost without you.

[Beck]

Oh this afghan is exactly what I've been looking for as a wedding present for my daughter! I'm ordering a copy of the book right now! Wish I could be in the class so that I could get some of the reworked charts too! Oh well.