Thursday, March 31, 2016

Juliet's birth is announced in the Times today.

And I'm nearly there – one more decrease to do at the neck edges of the Sous Sous.

I arrived, at one point yesterday, at the situation most dreaded when one is knitting two halves of something with two different balls of yarn: namely, I was interrupted when precisely at the centre. When I resumed, there were the two balls, each attached to one side of the neck. I could complete a right side row, or else a wrong side one.

If one or the other half had involved a decrease, all would have been clear. That was not the case. There is no solution to that problem, is there, other than counting the rows? I relied on my Sirka – or, rather, on myself, to have moved the pointers faithfully. The worst that can have happened is two extra rows on one side or the other. And I think I got it right.

My other problem is marginally more serious. When I finish the decreases – it will happen today, barring a disaster – I am to work one row straight and then “Patt 4 sts, place remaining 66 sts on holder.”

The trouble with that is, that at the beginning of a row (any row, right side or wrong side) I am down there at the elbow. And those four stitches, it soon becomes clear, are about to be extended into an edging and sewn to the back of the neck, and therefore must be the four ribbed stitches at the neck edge, half-way through the row. “Work 1 row straight” must mean, work half-a-row, back to the neck edge.

 But the pattern has been meticulously written up until now, and I was wrong about it once before and you had to put me right. So I’m slightly worried.

And absurdly concerned at the following instructions, for the RH side and the LH side. Does that mean the wearer’s right and left? Or the viewer’s? It doesn’t make the slightest bit of difference, as far as I can see, but we Blind Followers get really worked up about problems like that.

Change of subject


I signed up this morning to be a Patron of Knitty – they’re having trouble staying afloat as advertising dwindles. I should have done it some time ago. I’ll add the badge to the sidebar if I can figure out how. I’ve knit Kate Gilbert’s Clapotis (what did I do with that?) and the Dunfallandy blankie and that’s more than I’ve knit from many a magazine.

(I suddenly couldn't remember the words for either "Clapotis" or "Kate Gilbert". I googled "shawl pattern Knitty Kate" -- and it came up top. Clever algorithm somewhere.)

8 comments:

  1. skeindalous10:18 AM

    Would assume that RH and LH refer to the wearer's perspective. Good luck! You are almost done with it.....Then we must se photos, of course.

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  2. There seems to be a clarification about the neck extension in the pattern description on Ravelry which addresses your concerns.

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  3. I signed up to support Knitty as well. Knitty is a good resource for us all, and always available. I should look for the badge.

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  4. I am not sure if I have ever knit anything from Knitty, but I enjoy looking and so became a patron let month. I heard about it from Knit Nottingham's video podcast.

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  5. I had exactly that mid-point issue when knitting intarsia in Stephen West's Flamboyan! Unlike you, I was not wise enough to recognize the problem, and it took me most of the project to understand why I had a couple of small holes at the intarsia line where I had come back to the work and turned around instead of proceeding. I felt pretty silly when I figured it out. I'm glad to hear it's not just my problem. Take comfort in knowing that at least 1) your work is all the same color and 2) without the intarsia line, there will not be a little hole in your knitting if you did go the wrong way.

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  6. If it is any comfort, I'm currently struggling with a short row issue too, just mine also involves lace. How exactly am I supposed to see the turning point in faggoting? Best guesses thus far are a) do the math to keep track of how many stitches in I am or b) use a marker. It probably says something about me that my first thought is math rather than marker (stupid things throw off my gauge so I use 'em as little as I can get away with and never on the needle).

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    Replies
    1. Could you use a little bit of yarn to mark the spot - a loop can be knitted in and then snipped away/off later...

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  7. Anonymous12:13 PM

    In the interest of reinforcing the good example provided by others I am going to pipe up and say that I have also contributed to Knitty. I benefit from it on a regular basis, the amount is tiny, and maybe most crucial of all, Amy has made it so easy to commit, no big hoops to jump through. For someone who spent years engulfed in paperwork while working in a bureaucracy, this is a big plus for me. Chloe

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