Gateposts Afghan Square for Wool-aid

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you likely know one of my favorite charities is Wool-Aid. They gather hand-crafted  woolen garments and ship them off to several charities, whomever is most in need at the time. They have a number of monthly and year-long campaigns and it is wonderful to interact with knitters on their Ravelry Group as we all work to keep someone warm. It says a lot about the power of the individual. Even one hat or a single pair of mittens will make a huge difference to the child who ends up receiving them. Also, they accept just about any garment made from sticks and string, knitting, crocheting and even nålbinding have been used to create warm things. 

Last month you saw that I knit a bunch of tiny hats (I think the final total was 20-something) and wound up writing a hat pattern. This month I am making 10-inch afghan squares and sending them off to a generous soul who will sew all our squares together and make small blankets. I can't produce as many squares this month as I would like. I don't have lots of the solid colored yarn the squares require for this campaign, and I didn't get started until this week. (I was finishing up an expanded hat pattern,waiting for photo-ops with Oscar to finalize it).

ANYWAY since I won't be making tons of squares, I decided to write a free pattern for each square I DO make so that others can use the patterns for this and future Wool-Aid campaigns. This is the first.

Gateposts 10-Inch Afghan Square

The intriguing texture of this stitch pattern was invented by the great Barbara Walker.
Like most knit and purl patterns it is easy for beginners to accomplish yet interesting for more advanced knitters, too.

Below: some photos that show the importance of blocking: