Knitting

I had a big long post about all my knitting achievements all written and then got an error when I tried to publish it. Blogger having lulled me into a false sense of security by working perfectly for months now, I didn't have a copy and had just typed straight into Blogger. Oh well.

I think I was saying how I had my second class and that after spending the entire week between classes swatching our teacher spent a good five or ten minutes checking my swatches and getting just as frustrated as I had because they just didn't seem to make sense. At any rate, we finally decided on 7mm needles - quite a difference from the 12.75mm (US 17) needles recommended in the pattern. Oh well, my row gauge was exactly right with 7mm and as this is a sideways knit that was most important.

When I was writing this post originally I had done a couple of inches and was just a few rows into the start of increasing. Since then I've spent a couple of hours at it but haven't gotten very far as increasing throws out the cable and I don't like the way it's looking. The rib pattern is RS: P2,K2 and then WS: K2, P2. For the increasing part of things I'm supposed to P2, K2, increase by 1 then continue in rib until four before the end, increase by one more and finish with K2, P2. Then do the same every second row twice more and then every fourth row nine times. However that means I don't have a simple K2, P2 rib on the WS anymore. Nor on RS then next time around. It's very frustrating but I'll do another hour or so this evening and then see what she says tomorrow evening. That'll be the third of five classes but I think once I have this part figured out I might be able to get a good go at it so that by next week I might have something that's starting to look like a jumper.

This is what it looked like at the end of my class last week:


I'm going to do a separate post for my other knitting project - the blanket.

Edited 2 March 2013: I've been clearing out some old drafts and it seems like some of the posts I thought I had lost ended up somewhere in drafts and in a later version of blogger have become visible again.  At least, I'm sure that's the reason I couldn't find them before.  Anyway, here's the post which I assume I was referring to above, just as I wrote it then.  Sorry if it's duplicating something else I've posted but since I wrote it, I decided to just go ahead and post it.


I've made some progress on my jumper. I spent all last week swatching and just could not figure it out so the day before my next class (last Tuesday) I decided to rip it all up and do new swatches which I could bring in and let Aileen decide on. This pattern calls for US size 17 needles, which are 12.75 mm. Knowing I am a loose knitter I thought maybe 10mm would do. Ended up swatching 10mm, 9mm, 8mm and 7mm to bring with me. Even Aileen couldn't figure it out and spent a good few minutes with the measuring tape and looking every bit like she wanted to tear her hair out (i.e. the same feeling as I'd had all week!). We finally decided on 7mm as being the closest on stitches and it's perfect for the row gauge, which is particularly important for this pattern.

So, I got started and have about 1.5" knit of the first sleeve. Hope to get a good go at it this weekend and get that sleeve finished and expand out into the body of it.

I also made a start on a present which I'm planning for a friend's 40th this summer. I decided to knit him a patchwork blanket ages ago but finally realised that if I don't start soon I'll never be finished by the end of July. I'm basing it on a pattern in a Debbie Bliss book of baby patterns and plan to knit about four times the number of squares given for the baby blanket. This means I need to knit about two squares every day until his birthday so last night I did my first two. I'm using Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran, although I think the pattern uses cashmerino chunky so my blanket's going to be a bit smaller and I may decide to do more squares if I have time. The cashmerion aran has some gorgeous earthy colours which are perfect for what I have in mind. So far I have dark brown, green and cream and I'll knit what I have before deciding whether to add more colours or not. I also want to then knit a border for the whole thing, which I'm thinking of doing in moss stitch. I've just found out how to do that and love the way it looks.

I also have three scarves on the go and have promised one more scarf to another friend (can wait till next winter now I think!) and a tea-cosy to another friend. And all of that is more than enough to keep me busy for several months so I'm trying not to think about how much I want to learn to knit socks so that I can make myself some fuzzy feet. I have to say though, that it's a very rewarding hobby. Would be nice to be able to spin too so I could make my own wool but I think that will have to be a project for another year.