Building a cabin

So I started my log cabin blankie last night. After a quick question to the Mason-Dixon KAL blog, just to make sure what I was thinking made sense, off I went! The first square went smashingly. Up first: picking up stitches on the side.

I’ve never done that before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The ladies in the book gave some good tips about what to do & not do, and I suspect I did just what one of them did: picking up the stitches on the WS so that I ended up with a line of the wrong coloured yarn on that side. No worries though, since this blankie is for me, I don’t mind. Up next: picking up the stitches for the third strip.

This I found to be much more difficult because the two strips were going in different directions (possibly because my second strip was done on the WS, which meant I was looking at things slightly differently). At any rate, I found it quite hard to pick up the stitches, as I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be picking up. At any rate, I managed to jam the needle through the same “row” of stitches which in the end, I suppose, is the important part.

I’ve done now three out of the four strips around the centre square, and it looks pretty spiffy. Although I’ve got that wierd yarn pulling thing on my last row after putting in the new colour, which I’ve always seem to have whenever I add in another yarn, so I suspect that’s just my technique (again, possibly due to the fact that I’m on the WS, but who knows). I’m quite pleased with the progress, and am actually glad to be at work where no knitting is involved, if only to give my poor fingers a rest! I’ll be picking it up as soon as I get home, as I’m anxious to see how it turns out with all the colours (I’m using 6). I’ll post a pic once I get home tonight and hopefully there’s some natural light to use. ha!

Oh, and a couple of questions about garter stitches:

1. How do I know which is the WS and RS of something done in garter stitch? As both sides are the same, it’s a little difficult for me to figure that out.
2. When counting ridges, do I include the one on the needle? That is, if I’ve got 10 ridges, then one immediately under the needle (I presume that’s the one I just knit), do I count that one too? I haven’t been, and ended up with a few extra ridges in my log cabin. Not a huge deal, but it might be in some other pattern.

Thanks!