Mad as a March square

I'm surprised that the Barbara McIntire square didn't make the "Five Easiest" list. I've found it to be the easiest square of the lot. Yeah, there are a lot of cable crossings, but there are no other techniques required: no moss or seed stitch, no bobbles, and certainly no calisthenics with multiple double pointed needles. All the wrong side rows are "rest rows": knit the knits, purl the purls. And the two major charts even have the same number of rows.

I did have to go down a size from the suggested #8 needles in order to keep the square from turning out too wide. And I added four rows to the beginning of the central Saxon braid so that it would turn out vertically centered, but you already knew I was funny that way.


The other featured square for March was the Ada Fenick square. Can you believe I actually knit something according to the directions for a change? It was a little challenging to keep my place when working the ground and sky sections, but none of the techniques were difficult. And I really like those monster-bobbles.

I read a great hint on Ravelry about knitting from charts: use colored highlighters or pencils to shade each cable, then shade the corresponding instructions in the written directions with the same color. I'm too lazy to actually do this (I'm frequently too lazy to place a stitch marker when I should, and usually pay for it), but it's a terrific idea.