Placemats for Dad

So Dad's in his new house now, and I really wanted to send him something to make it feel more like home and less like a furniture showroom. Here's what I came up with:


Dad's table is bigger than mine, so my plan was for six place mats and a table runner. I started out with two 1-lb cones of Peaches & Creme "light blue," a size 11 (or so) circular needle, and a rough idea that I wanted something not too fou-fou. As you can see, they need to be blocked and I ran out of yarn just short of half-way through placemat #5 - but my trust Saukville Wal-Mart special ordered the first two pounds of cotton for me, and still has another pound of the same stuff on their shelf from that order, so they've put my name on it and I can pick it up on my way by on Tuesday. With any luck, it will even be the same dye lot!

Anyway, I'm getting itchy to send the first batch off to Dad so I can get some feedback and the buzz of having gotten them safely into the mail. So I want to crib down the recipe for the placemat, to be sure the last two actually match when I send them off to meet their brothers. Here we go:

Placemats
Hold two strands of yarn together and knit as one throughout.
Cast on 52 stitches
Rows 1-3 (Border): work in seed stitch (k1, p1 for 1 row; p1, k1 the next)
Rows 4-7: work 3 stitches of seed stitch for border, then stockinette stitch to last 3 stitches, then switch back to seed stitch for 3 stitch border.
Row 8: work border, knit 2 (yarn over, knit two together, knit 2) until 5 stitches before end of row, knit 2, work border.
Row 9-13: work border, stockinette stitch to last 3 stitches, work border.
Row 14: work border, knit 4 (yarn over, knit two together, knit 2) until 5 stitches before end of row, knit 4, work border.
Row 15-19: work border, stockinette stitch to last 3 stitches, work border.
Row 20: repeat Row 8
Row 21 - 37: work border, stockinette stitch to last 3 stitches, work border.
Row 38: repeat Row 8
Row 39-43: work border, stockinette stitch to last 3 stitches, work border.
Row 44: Repeat Row 14
Row 45-49: work border, stockinette stitch to last 3 stitches, work border.
Row 50: Repeat Row 8
Rows 51-55: work border, stockinette stitch to last 3 stitches, work border.
Row 56-58: work in seed stitch to make final border. Bind off and weave in ends

Table Runner
Hold two strands of yarn together and knit as one throughout.
Cast on 132 stitches.
Rows 1-3 (Border): work in seed stitch (k1, p1 for 1 row; p1, k1 the next)
Rows 4-15: work 3 stitches of seed stitch for border, then stockinette stitch to last 3 stitches, then switch back to seed stitch for 3 stitch border.
Row 16: work border, knit 2 (yarn over, knit two together, knit 2) until 5 stitches before end of row, knit 2, work border.
Row 17-21: work border, stockinette stitch to last 3 stitches, work border.
Row 22: work border, knit 4 (yarn over, knit two together, knit 2) until 5 stitches before end of row, knit 4, work border.
Row 23-27: work border, stockinette stitch to last 3 stitches, work border.
Row 28: repeat Row 16
Row 29-40: work border, stockinette stitch to last 3 stitches, work border.
Row 41-43: work in seed stitch to make final border. Bind off and weave in ends.

That's it. Wish me luck on finishing the last two.

Oh, and I finished Austin's new socks. They're MSU Spartan socks, per his request. He says he needs to show them to his Grandpa Deters, who's a UM fan. Maybe I'll get them in the mail this week, too?