Random thoughts of a fiber enthusiast - mostly fiber related, sometimes coherent

Author: Grace Page 10 of 12

Free tix

Free sports event tickets? Instead, I got a call to remind me to attend an annual ethics briefing. The briefer reminded us that we are not allowed to accept sports tickets or seats in corporate boxes. I also get to attend annual security and sexual harassment awareness training. No jokes, please.

Kate Pix


I finally took some pix of Kate. Here is the detail of the inside. As I might have mentioned, I knit the whole thing in one seamless piece. The neckline is short-rowed. I used 84 stitches for the neckline, 30(front)+15(L sleeve)+24(back)+15(R sleeve). Why does the front have 6 more stitches than the back? Because I stair-stepped the front neckline in 3 short row segments on each side (2*3 rows) which means the front has 3 fewer sets of double decreases than the back. Is this clear as mud? It just worked like magic. It was much clearer to me than the French instructions I downloaded.

“Kate” finished

We went to the Lair of the Bear last week and I managed to sit down and finally complete “Kate”. “Kate” is in quotes b/c I was too lazy and cheap to send away to Canada for the pattern. I downloaded the free tank pattern from Phildar’s french website. Never mind that I don’t read french–the schematics seemed clear enough. I picked up 4 skeins of cotton-ease from joann’s on the way home from the doctor one day and cast on.

Casting on was an adventure because I plunged right in without thinking things through. (This will be a recurring theme.) Why have side seams in the 2×2 rib?
Why not just knit in the round? So I added up the stitches for the front and back, subtracted 4 stitches (clever me!) for the seam stitches and then added 4 stitches to make a slightly roomier sweater than the sz 38.

Adding 4 stitches works for the 2×2 rib, but then I encountered trouble making the sweater ribbing at the side symmetrical. Aha! I need to add 4 stitches front and back for a total of 8 stitches. Frog the thing and cast on again.

I knitted the first ball while watching movies with my family. Knitting in semi-darkness is hazardous to your knitting. In the light of morning, the sweater looked really limp and pathetic; it screamed to be knit on smaller needles. A second visit to the frog pond.

So I went down 1 size to #5 needles for the ribbing, #6 needles for the body. Note to self, recheck the gauge and adjust the total number of stitches. But I was in a hurry, having already spend too much time fussing already with the number of stitches.

The pix and the rest of the story of woe will have to wait for another lunch break.

Page 10 of 12

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén