Thanks Corrina. Glad to see I was doing it correctly. I’ve gotten to the point where t is coming along nicely, but … aaarrrghhh!!! still one set of flowers to go???!!! – Erika

I know what you mean about the Whew –an easy part! But I was really surprised when I started the second set of Trees! I felt like it was “Old Home Week”. It was familiar and fairly comfortable. By the time I got to the 3rd set–I could even watch TV while I did it! How Fun! – Kaye

Got throught the trees ok & feeling pretty chuffed with myself. I found that the holes on the sides of the trunks from the m1 stitches disappeared once the trees took shape – great! Now I’m stuck on the flower garden. I can do the loop stitches ok, but like others am getting the extra loop at the top of the main loop. I’ve searched other posts but can’t find a clue as to why this is happening – can anyone advise?

I echo Lois 7 on the leaf part! I’ve started my second flower garden. I was going to make this a baby gift, but I think it’s too sophisticated for a baby so I’m going to give it to my niece who’s getting married in August.

I just finished the first seven rows of flower garden and am approaching the ‘leaves’. Ahhh. It never occurred to me that I had a choice to twist them or keep them flat! If I hadn’t read the posts I would have likely made them flat.

Caribbean Tahra checking in………
Well it is time to cross the old eyes again. I am on the second set of trees.

Zontee!!! I just got Nicky Epstein’s book “Cover Up” in the mail. Thanks much for the referral.
The designs are breathtaking and make the tree of life design look like a beginners scarf.

I love the sun pattern and the English Garden. When I finish the tree of life I will choose one to try. Hopefully Lionbrand can substitute in some of the yarns. One of the patterns has over 20 colors!!!

Zontee says: Hi Tahra, good to hear from you! Glad you like the book. Check out our yarn substitution guide to figure out which Lion Brand yarns you can sub into the patterns. Enjoy!

I used a crochet hook to pull the loops thru to the front and found it much easier than trying to do it with the needle…

All of my leaves (loops) are untwisted and flat – front and back… Everything is starting to shapeup and look good – I’m very please with it so far – can’t wait to finish it… I’ve already done a test swatch of the border and it’s really nice…

To #11 Rosita – the k1b is knit thru back loop in this pattern…

Just getting started with my first trees. At first was really hard to concentrate unless I was alone in quiet. But now getting easier. I am using a circular needle instead of two long needles…seems easier to me. It’s gorgeous! (so far)

I put my project aside last week until the pictures of the tree were posted (and I had a baby blanket to finish anyway). Thanks so much for posting them.

The discussion about the 2nd loop vs. no loop (I have a 2nd loop also) reminds me of a baby sweater I once knit. When I was almost finished with it, I discovered I had done the cable pattern incorrectly according to the directions and the pictures. But, I was consistant throughout the project, so who, besides me, knew? It looked terrific! The same goes for the loop on the stem. As long as you’re consistent, it will look just fine in the finished project, and who would know that maybe it didn’t quite follow the original pattern. Besides, knitting is an art form. If we say this is the way it should be, we’re right, because we’re the artist, and we said so.

In other words, enjoy the project, and don’t get hung up on the second little loop, just like I did. It could be just another leaf!

Hope all is well!

I am finally through the first set of trees and on looking ahead how do i make 7 stitches out of one???? as required in the flower section.

Terry, Thank you for putting into words what I have been thinking. We are all truly artists, giving a personal flare/touch to pattern. And the love that is put into a knitted project is what makes a gift so important.

Better late than never — I’ve finally started this beautiful afghan. It will be a wedding present for my step-son. The advantage of being a late starter is that I get the benefit of everyone’s experience up to now. I’ve carefully read all the posts and so far things are going pretty smoothly. I’m on row 26 and so excited to see the trees start to take shape!

I’m knitting a lot slower now. Living in Texas with the heat waaaaay up in the upper 90′s it’s been hard to sit still with a throw in my lap! lol
That and I’ve been out in the garden.

Seems to me that there are people at all different stages here so no one should feel alone in their endeavors!

About the edging, I’ve actually done this same pattern as a lace edging on hand towels. Not a difficult pattern and knits up quickly.

I’ll post more pictures once I’ve completed the last set of trees and before I start the edging.

Char: First, have you counted all your stitches on your last dividing row just before you start the flower garden. You should have 180. Each flower multiple is made of of 12 stitches. Therefore, doing the math:
incr 1 in first stitch, p 10 (1 time)
K1b + 11 = 14 times (12 x 14 = 168 stitches
p 1 (1 time)
So at the end of row 1 of the flower garden, you would have 181 stitches: 12 + 168 + 1

I can only think that you had more than 180 stitches on last row of the dividing pattern.

If you had 181 stitches, then you could not make the additional stitch at the beginning of the row.

If you had 182 stitches, then you would not make the additional stitch increase at the beginning of the row AND decrease a stitch at the end of the row by pearling 2 stitches together.

More than 182 stitches, you would have to make further stitch decreases. Adjusting at the beginning of the row and the end of the row are not very noticeable. More than that? Well that depends on how much of a perfectionist you are.

I hope I didn’t confuse you further.

Lois

I was intrigued with the idea of a knit-along. After much mental debate I finally decided to join in this activity. The TofL pattern is really pretty and my three girls are very encouraging. I am still on my first row of trees – I do not knit very fast because I find it difficult to do things involving fine motor skills. However, I find it to be good therapy. I made a mistake on one of my tree sections and had to tear it out – actually I back-tracked one row to where the mistake occurred. I’ve started using stitch markers not just for repeat of the tree pattern but wherever I have to change from k to p. It makes the ws rows go so much easier. I’m anxious to get to the flower section after having read all of the comments. Maybe I’ll be there by the #5 post.

MsMcDLT, that must have been such a shock! But I can see how easy it is to do. The pattern doesn’t take right side/wrong side into account all of the time. I went through (based on some of the earlier posts) and double-checked, adding extra rows where needed to make sure I was always going to start a pattern in the right place.

I copied the directions for the afghan onto index cards (like I do for lace knitting) so it is easy to flip a card and always know exactly where I am. I used 5 different colors: one for the overall directions (i.e., work the twin trees pattern, purl 1 R, work the dividing pattern, work the flower garden, etc…), then different colors for the 3 major patterns and the border. The different colors make it easy to find which set of cards I need to use, depending on which pattern I am working on.

So far, so good on my afghan. Monday I spent most of the day in the hospital waiting room and the good news is that I got a lot done. So I’m now halfway through the first flower garden. At first I thought those leaves would drive me crazy! I still find them a bit fussy. I need to adjust the stitch tension after I have done a few rows above the leaves. But the end result seems to be good and my speed is picking up.

I got a late start on this KAL, had somethings that had to be finished first. I am making this for my goddaughter and her fiance as a wedding present. I was glad to see the comment about making the pillow, because I will make a couple of pillows to go with the afghan. I knit fairly quickly, and have almost a two hour commute each way from my home to my office, so get lots of knitting done on the train and bus. When the pattern is simple enough, I even knit while walking down the street. Right now, I am up to the dividing rows pattern and am so glad I read about the problem with an incorrect number of rows. I will probably add one row to the dividing rows, rather than changing the Tree pattern.

I love this as a wedding gift because of the symbolism. Two trees with intertwining branches reminds me of the couple joining their lives. Flowers are a frequent symbol of fertility. And both my goddaughter and I are very concious of symbols, so I know that will be appreciated by her as well.

I am so glad you made the pattern available free for the KAL. I use many Lion brand patterns, and feel that the ones you sell on the web site are overpriced. I am not saying you should make every pattern free, but it costs so much more to buy a single pattern from the web than to buy one of your books on a per pattern basis. This is particularly true looking at the fact that web downloads do not cost Lion brand anything on a per pattern basis.

Stephanie, I can’t illustrate, but you do exactly what it says. Bring your right needle into the stitch on the left needle, yo, and draw it through — just like any normal k st. But don’t slide the old stitch off the left needle yet. Instead, yo, then bring the right needle back into the same st on the left needle and bring a loop through, STILL KEEPING THE OLD ST ON THE LEFT NEEDLE. You now have the old st still on the left needle and 2 sts separated by a yo on the right. Repeat the yo, then k (leaving st on the left needle) two more times and finally slide the st off the left needle. On the right needle you’ll have a k st, yo, k st, yo, k st, yo, k st all from that one previous st — in other words 7 sts from one.

On the next row you will purl into each of these new sts. These mega-increases are what are going to give substance to the bobble/flower. On future rows you will decrease, finishing the bobble, to get back to your 180 sts.

Glad to help, Sally W. I was wondering if anyone had considered knitting the border on as they go? I am just about finished with the body of the afghan, and I am not looking forward to sewing on the border. Just wondering.

Knittingmama, I was thinking about picking up stitches to knit the border onto the afghan and asked the same question as you, but on a different blog entry. Zontee cautioned me against doing that because the gauge for the border is different from that of the afghan. So I will knit it separately. I am considering doing a provisional cast on to try to make where it joins less visible.

Brenda, you need the extra stitch to make the pattern come out perfectly symmetrical. I think any kind of increase will do. Since it is in the first stitch, it will hardly be noticeable, especially when you add the border.

Leslie, I’m not that far along, so can’t answer with confidence. But I think that block an enormously long strip of border would be a pain. Instead, I’d probably just sew it on, unblocked, and then re-block the finished afghan if I felt it needed it.

A funny thing happened: this week I finished my second flower garden and dived right into the dividing section. I was looking over the garden, patting myself on the back for getting through it, when I realized that on the very first row of flowers I had missed one leaf. Yup, there is one flower, all the way down, with just one leaf.

So now I’m thinking — do I embroider on a leaf, or just leave it as is? I’m leaning towards leaving it as is, sort of like the Persian weavers who (deliberately?) make a mistake and say that only Allah can create perfection. That missing leaf is just the way it is. No flower garden is 100% perfect and all the flowers are never identical. I’m giving this afghan to my step-son as a wedding/housewarming gift. Maybe in the years to come the children will have fun finding the flower that is different?

Beth,

Thanks for the reply about the border. I think I will reblock the entire piece when I finish.

As for your missing petal, I’d leave it…it makes the afghan uniquely yours…and you are right it shows that not everything needs to be perfect.

People will be so overwhelmed with the beauty of the piece, they won’t even notice it!

Amy, the k1b means to stitch in the BACK of the stitch, not below.

Leslie, I’m catching up to you! Now that I’ve started working on the border, I see that there is a beautiful dimensionality to it that makes me wonder if it would be better not to block it. I love the way the leaves (tulip buds?) puff out and I would hate to accidentally flatten them. So my current plan is to block the body of the afghan separately and then sew on the border. Hopefully I’ll be done after that, but I’ll reblock if I think it would benefit from it.

Amy,

I’m afraid I have to disagree with Beth on the K1b question. I reviewed the directions and there is both a P1b, and a K1b.

The directions state that the P1b is pearl in the back, but that the K1b is knit into the row below which will produce a twisted stitch, which makes the stems of the flowers. I did it this way and it came out great.

Leslie