Row 10 finished – and there’s trouble.

I read somewhere once – lace list? Heirloom Knitting list? – that there was a problem with the pattern for the insertion, that at some point it needed to be offset by two stitches to make things work.

And I think I hit that point last night.

The insertion is supposed to represent laurel leaves. I thought as I toiled along YO’ing and K2tog’ing that I could see them pretty clearly – they spring from a manoeuvre in row 2 that provides a bunch of three stitches.

Row 10 consists of K3tog, K1 all the way across (reducing the stitch count seriously). And surely the K3tog’s ought to come at the top of the leaves, bunching them back together.

But that’s not the way the pattern is written.

I discovered this about 80 stitches into the row. I didn’t try to tink back – undoing K3tog’s is a precarious operation. I thought it was riskier than to proceed. But I did some sort of quick step in place so that the rest of the K3tog’s in the row were in the right position. What seemed to me to be the right position.



If I had ever got around to leading Photoshop Elements, I might be able to draw circles around the relevant parts of this blurry picture. Most of the "laurel leaves" shewn are open at the top. At the far left, I have made my adjustment and started closing them. You may be able to discern it, with peering. You may wonder what the fuss is about.

And now I’ve got to figure out how to tackle row 11, without much help from the pattern.

Kathy, (new comment day before yesterday) I am sorry to hear how boring the centre is. I feel it couldn’t be worse than the insertion, but I had a closer look yesterday and it does look alarmingly easy and repetitious. Don’t those rows of Daleks help? Both in themselves and as you thrash your way through the tedium towards the next one?

But I think if I ever get out of this mess and arrive on that happy shore, I had better get quite a bit of centre done before I stop again. There are acres of it to do, as you know.

Non-knit, but still talking to Kathy

I’m enjoying Lisey’s Story. I think you’d better have a look. It’s dedicated to “Tabby” so it must be a book that King himself regards as important.

Franklin, I am much taken with the idea that Dolores might join us for the Games. There’s an agricultural show in the morning greatly enjoyed by my husband and the smaller grandchildren – she might meet Mr Right. (Seen one sheep, seen 'em all, is my attitude.) It seems hard to keep her away from the drink, though. The rest of us will be tucking in.