OH!

I put the front and back of the Turbulence U-necked sweater into the washbasin, left it a few minutes and then lifted it out. The whole garment kind of sighed and relaxed. It is now the right size!!! Nobody could be more surprised than me. I'm so glad I didn't a) sling it into the garbage or b) pull the whole thing back and re-knit it in a larger size. The wonders of blocking!

Visual Colouring by Joen Wolfrom

I get it! I totally get colour now I've read Joen's book. I'm so glad I didn't give up yesterday. I'd never have had the joy of knowing that one of my knitting problems is solved!

This book is very, very easy to read and understand. The basic idea is simple - and it explains how to select a colourway that will make Kafee Fasset's 'Poppies' look stunning when I get around to knitting myself a Channel style jacket in that pattern. Some time next century. Let's not get carried away here.

I Nearly Give up Knitting for EVER!

But what would I do with my hands? I do love television, but it's not the same without knitting. So, after a whole programme of Strictly Come Dancing with not a stitch knitted, I switched on the light, got out my tape measure and had a look at the situation.

It's bad. It's pretty bad. Not only have I gone wrong in the cable AGAIN (see the ugly lump on the left?) but my tension is all over the place. I used to knit larger and larger and larger as the garment progressed. By switching to Lucy Neatby's method, I now seem to be knitting smaller and smaller and smaller. No wonder the sleeves seemed tight. Also, I have been mislead by the boxy nature of this garment's design. I thought it was the same width, as a favourite sweater, and so it is, until you get to the arms. From the armhole up it is about four inches too small.

I looked at the original swatch. No doubt that 4mm needles gave too open and stretchy a fabric. Maybe 3.5 needles would have been better, but I went for 3mm partly because I'm used to my fabric getting bigger and bigger, but also because it gave the best result in the swatch. But the sleeves, in particular, are tiny! Note to self. If your Addi needle is on the front of the sweater when you decide to start the sleeves, for goodness sake go and put the front on a piece of yarn and use the same needles for the sleeves. Don't bunch them up on an old pair so that the tension changes from - are you ready for this - 30 rows per 10 cm to 44. 44!! how can I get it so wrong? So often? I so nearly threw the back, front and sleeves out, along with Tangerine Alef for good measure.

But then I counted the stitches across the cable panel and they were exactly right. It's taken me nearly a year to master the art of getting the right number of stitches, and even though I was so absorbed in the panel, that part is still correct. And if I give up now, I'll never be able to knit. I should be used to the fact that it takes me ten years longer (at least) to master things that other people can pick up and do straight away. Giving up does not cure dyslexia. And if I don't finish this sweater, then I won't learn things that will make the purple version a success. So, I will finish this sweater. Then I'll sit in the bath wearing it and see if the cotton relaxes.

I sat up until midnight and finished the cable panel. One stitch went slightly wrong somewhere at the top, but it's so invisible I fudged it! Enough already.

Turbulence U-necked Sleeves

I've been knitting for days, and there's still inches to go! Well, all right, I've not had much knitting time this week. Now that I'm back on my degree course (last year! Yay!) knitting time has had to go.

I've made another mistake - these are bracelet sleeves, and I didn't measure them and measure the point on my arm where they will end and check that they cuffs would be wide enough until I'd got this far. They are tight.

Well, I know the whole sweater is turning out small, and I'm relying on the cotton stretching, and I'm NOT under any circumstances ripping and doing it again, so I'll cross my fingers!

Oh, and here's an idea! I'll finish the front, neck and shoulders, then I'll knit all the yarn that's left into the sleeves. They might get long enough to fall on the narrower part of my arm then.

Beats me why I want to knit!

Too Arty for Me

Teva Durham is well regarded as a designer so I thought I'd have a look at her book Loop-D-Loop. Knitters beware. She also designs crochet! I got the crochet book by mistake! There is nothing in it that I would make, but that's because I am not tall, stylish or fashionable! Her crochet garments are interesting, and I can see why people like them, but I think you would have to be a model to wear them and look good.

I think this is because they rely on drape and beauty of fabric for effect. It's taken a while, but I'm beginning to understand short round people are better staying away from drape! Oh, and crochet skirts! Many of Teva's items close with a single bow or artfully placed pin. Fine for prancing around a warm garden in America, not so good for running up to the supermarket on a windy day in Lancashire.

The practice cable for the Turbulence U-necked sweater is done, but I'm working on the sleeves at the moment - plain stocking stitch is nice and soothing after all that cable trauma.

Norwegian Mittens

Found another disaster to photograph. These are supposed to be Elizabeth Zimmerman's Norwegian mittens. I'm only not throwing them out because the grey yarn is wool from an Irish rare breed sheep and there's only one ball. When I do learn to knit (I'm still saying when! That's a triumph of hope over experience) I might need that grey to finish the perfect pair of mittens that I will knit one day.

I was brain dead on Friday night so I knit at the sleeves of Turbulence while watching TV rather than going back to the cable.

And this morning I made myself set in the sleeves of Tangerine Nightmare. I hate that garment! It was worth setting in the sleeves as an exercise because I can see that the fully fashioned edges are a disaster! For my next test Alef, I will make the sloping decreases, left or right as the side of the garment dictates, but I will make them at the very edge of the fabric.

I made a start on sewing on the button bands, but I'd had enough. I will do them, though, because the only way to make a good Alef is to practice, practice, practice!

I know what I'd really like - a plain pattern for Rowan's Classic Kid that uses three buttons. Then I'd never have to knit another Alef in my life!

Poppies

When I put away the green and pink balls of yarn I bought for poppies I decided to photograph the swatches - and the failed attempt at a Chanel jacket. Kafee Fasset has no words to wisdom to offer on fit - but he does have the answer to the colour problem. He says that if the colours are not working, what you need is 20 more colours! Hopefully, now that I'm knitting Lucy Neatby's way, I'll learn how to control my tension, and by the time I can knit a garment that's the right size, I'll have the extra 40 colours tucked away in the stash ready to start knitting again. I like some of the colourways, but overall, it's just not right.

Finished the practice swatch for the Turbulence cable panel - hurray! I went wrong once at the top, but I think I'll go back to the real garment now.