(Knitting) Progress

As promised, a shorter post about knitting. I really suggest not asking about the kitchen; it’s gone from bad to worse.

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My Isabella is proceeding apace but is currently paused until I decide if I like the way it’s going or not. I ripped back the picot edging that the pattern asked for and used a provisional cast-on to start knitting it in the round instead. The eyelet rows are pretty and I love the way the fabric is coming together. I’m getting the exact gauge listed in the pattern and I have exactly the right number of stitches for the size that I decided I needed. However, now I’m not sure that I want to knit the size that I decided I needed. It seems a bit big. I’ve tried it on and it still seems a bit big. My only recourse is to measure me and measure the knitting so far and decide if I want to rip back and start again. If only I didn’t have a terrible phobia concerning finding out the exact measurements of my hips and waist!

Also, since I came across some old unfinished projects when we moved, I’ve been working on one of those. The first winter that we were in London, I was lonely and bored and wanted something warm and cozy to knit. I decided that I wanted a shrug but couldn’t find a pattern that I liked (this was pre-Ravelry). I found a pattern that I sort of liked but didn’t want to knit in the aran weight yarn that was suggested. I bought a couple of balls of different yarn and knit some swatches. In the end, in a moment of weakness, I fell in love with the swatch made of Rowan Kidsilk Haze held double. I did my maths, worked out my pattern and bought 8 balls of yarn from John Lewis (much to the shock of the assistant, who really couldn’t believe that I needed that much expensive yarn). I absolutely adore the way that this knits up but am not a huge fan of the actual knitting. The Kidsilk Haze, being a fluffy yarn, is not terribly easy to rip back and it’s very difficult to count your stitches. Since it’s also knit almost entirely in stocking stitch, it’s not a very fun project to work on. It took me about 18 months of infrequent knitting to complete the back and, after leaving it lying in a bag for 6 months, I’ve only just cast on the first front. I’ve fallen in love with the fabric that it knits into all over again though, so hopefully I’ll make more progress on it this time around.

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I know this is a really bad picture but apparently my skills as a photographer don’t stretch to pure black on a light background. The apparent uneven-ness is due to to it having been crumpled in a bag for so long. It will be fine when it’s finished and blocked.

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