This evening I was knitting my purple sweater, wearing the finished sleeves to fend off the chill in the evening air, and thinking about the blog.  All week it was on the To Do List and I just never got to it.  A couple times I sat down at the computer to write but nothing came.  Spring is in the air but we still haven’t had consecutive warm days that make it seem like it’s here to stay.  The mornings and evenings can have quite a bite to them still.  So knitting my sweater doesn’t seem completely off base.  If I hurry I can wear it at least once this spring.

The sweater has given me some headaches.  The language is a bit awkward for a ‘first time’ knitter.  I got really stuck here:

When piece measures 33-34-35-36-37-38 cm [13''-13 3/8''-13¾''-14¼''-14½''-15''], cut the thread. Now continue as follows: Beg after the 15-17-20-23-26-29 st from the first MT. Work 14 sts front band – see above – and stockinette st on the next 74-82-94-106-118-130 sts. Now pick up 14 new sts behind the front band = 102-110-122-134-146-158 sts.  [ DROPS Jumper Pattern here ]

Thank goodness for Ravelry as it saved the day.  Between envisioning the knitting, rewriting the directions how I understand them, talking to folks on the forums, and looking at notes made by other people on the same pattern I finally got that part figured out.  One thing I learned is that I may want to rewrite the DROPS pattern so I don’t get lost in it all.  All the different numbers for the sizes and whatnot really, really distract me, to the point where I forget what I was reading about before the list of numbers.  I end up doing a lot of reading aloud to help myself get a grasp of it.  I even act it out a bit.  LOL.  I’ve also been using a notebook and just writing my version down for myself there.  It’s so much easier to follow!  The above section looked a bit more like this:

When piece measures 33cm cut thread.  Continue as follows:

Begin with new thread after 15th st from 1st marker.  Work 14st of front band and stockinette in next 74st.  Pick up 14 new st behind front band.  88+14=102st.  Continue back and forth on needle with 14 front band st on each side.

Now in my notebook I have each direction as a bulleted note so that it’s even faster for me to find where I am.  Sometimes paragraphs and I just don’t get along.

For the sleeves I had to either buy myself some size 11 double pointed needles(also known as DPNs) or learn how to do the magic loop for knitting(which is nothing like the magic loop for crochet!).  I decided I have 2 sets of size 11 needles, 1 with a 32″ cable so the magic loop would do for me.  I went to my favorite knitting learning site, KnittingHelp.com,  and watched the video several times for the magic loop as it was throwing me for a loop!  After knitting about 10cm of the sleeve I decided that it was too large in diameter for me so I pulled it all out.  Then I decided that now I’ve got a handle on the magic loop I should knit BOTH sleeves at the SAME time on the magic loop!  I was feeling pretty proud of myself for deciding the tackle that within 24 hours of learning the magic loop.  This time I refered to Liat’s video YouTube to see how one would do 2 things with the magic loop.  I made my notes with all the new numbers and worked it all out.  I was feeling some math love when everything worked out on paper and again when it worked out on the needles.  The sleeves have a bit of a gap where the magic loop causes tension between the 2 ‘sides’ of the circle but it’ll do.  I’m pretty sure that my sweater will be a ‘lazing-around-the-house’ thing anyway.  If I had a couple more stitches on the sleeves there may have been slightly less tention between the sides.  Doing the two at the same time worked out nicely since I could just do the same thing to each at the same point; if I increased on one I’d do it to the other too, less note taking that way.  I am quite happy and impressed with myself, which is probably why I wore them while working on the sweater back tonight.

After some diliberation I decided to pull out what I had done on the left and right of the sweater front.  I had attempted to understand when to decrease but not with the right results.  I took my new sweater-knitting-confidence and ripped it out to where I first cast off 6 stitches to make the bottom of the arm holes.  This was a bit unnerving as knitting doesn’t behave like crochet; instead of one live loop there are many stitches that can slip out at the slightest wrong move.  I put the sweater on a pillow on my lap to give it an even surface and ripped.  Since the yarn is so bulky it went fine.  Phew!  I don’t think I picked up the stitches correctly though, so one side has twisted stitches.  Oh well, like I said ‘lazy-around-the-house’ thing.  I looked at my notes, rewrote them and have reknitted both sides.  All that’s left now is knitting the back and then the neck.  I’m skipping the hood so I’m sure I’m in for some more headaches, this time of my own doing.  Then it’ll be seaming time, another new thing.

There is more to blog about; Kes’ 2nd ampuversary, my finished plarn tote, and the CT Sheep and Fiber Festival, but I’ll have to put that on this week’s To Do List.

Kes helping keep my place in my notebook.