Monday, October 06, 2008

Thomas and the Bear at Lincoln’s Inn. I’m not used to seeing him in spectacles. It looks odd…


And here’s the Princess.


The offset isn’t quite what we call in computing a Fatal Error, although it's distinctly unfortunate. I think it looks rather worse in the photographs than it does in real life. My decision – not the same as yesterday’s decision – is to revert to the original set of the pattern. The offset occurs half-way up the centre, visually (although not half-way through the knitting of it) – that will help make it look less accidental. Or so I tell myself.

There are still a couple of rows to go before Repeat No. 7 is finished. When that’s done, I’ll count stitches again, this time being careful not to count the centre stitch twice as I think I may have done after Repeats Nos. 5 & 6. Will the numbers be equal on each side? I’m sure not. I will also apply Cynthia’s formula (comment, October 2) to discover what proportion of the centre I’ve finished knitting. That will be fun.

I joined in a new ball of yarn last night – that’s always an Event. I think it was the 7th from an original purchase of 10, but it was a long time ago and who knows?

Part of the laying-out-on-the-floor-for-photography thing is to eyeball each side to see whether I seem to have advanced to the same point of the border pattern. That’s assuming I started at the precise centre – I think I can trust myself to have done that. Sharon is most emphatic on the point. The left-hand side always seems to be slightly in advance, although the right-hand side is the one with a couple more stitches.

I do not understand this. I make cautious adjustments. When I get down to the last two repeats, with about 50 stitches left to pick up on each side, I’ll address the serious business of making sure that the numbers will be equal when I get to the end game.

Meanwhile, I am very grateful indeed for everybody’s helpful suggestions as to why I can knit a gold or red Wedding Ring or Unst. Of course – somebody might marry a Hindu, as Alexander was lucky enough to do, and the wedding will be all red and gold. That’s all the excuse I need. I probably don’t have time to finish it, life-expectancy-wise, but at least I can look forward to a future of Heirloom Knitting. The Wedding Ring looks the more fun of the two.

I won’t actually order the yarn yet, though.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:16 AM

    Good idea to go back to the original pattern for the next repeat. That gives you the option of deciding to stay with the pattern as given, or offset every other repeat when you see how it looks. It certainly isn't obvious from the photos; there is SO much going on in Princess that it might look like a design element.

    I mentioned Unst yesterday because I don't own the Wedding Ring Shawl pattern. I intend to buy it in 2010 if I'm still alive and if I can still afford it. Insha'allah.

    I look forwward to reading you every day.

    Cynthia

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  2. Erskine and Thomas both look very happy and very proud of themselves (as they should).

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