Now I remember why I hate Fair Isle knitting

Oh, yes. Every once in a while I start a new project involving colourwork, and think: Yes! That's exactly what this needs! Then I get to the point where I need to actually start doing Fair Isle knitting, and... gah. Do you have any idea how tough it is to keep an even tension while knitting socks with two colours? The yarn is either too tight or too loose, and all colour changes mean stitches that are (you guessed it) too tight or too loose. Then I have to go back and start evening them out later, one by one.

I really don't know why I bother, unless it's in the faint hope that some day, it's all going to magically click and I'll get perfect tension. Eh, I still have one more sock and 17 rows of colourwork to go, and Christmas is creeping closer. At least 75% of this knitting is plain!

Snow's on the ground, and so are new projects

Here we go again!

I managed to start the Soleil top, with the same yarn and needles as the I Do shrug, so it seems that I'll be getting that twinset! I haven't yet calculated the pattern tweaks, but I'm sort of considering just winging it. It's close enough that I could, but I think I'll use measuring tape one of these days. Progress pic here:



As you can see, it's not very far along. But that's because my attention's been divided with this other project (yeah, and you all can believe that if you want. Truth is, I'm just lazy.): socks as a Christmas present. No pics, and I won't tell who they're for - the recipient doesn't read my blog, but just on principle, I'm keeping mum :D


Yarn: 1 ball (150g/300m) of Novita, Seitsemän Veljestä
Needles: 3mm dpns

And that's it for the day. More to come later, perhaps.

I Did!

Last weekend I finally finished the I Do shrug. Yay! Not even the Kitchener stitch could faze me! It only took me this long to actually take the pic and post it, and it's still unblocked. Anyway, I liked how it turned out, even though midway the first sleeve I was afraid that the drapey yarn wouldn't be as nice as something crisper, or mohair. I still need to attach a bead in one end so I know which way to wear it - otherwise the 'blank' spots caused by careless increases are on the outside of one sleeve, not inside and invisible. Gah.

Anyway, here's the badly-lit picture:



Isn't it lovely? I'm thinking of doing Knitty's Soleil next from the same yarn. That would give me... a twin-set. Isn't every lady supposed to have one of those in her wardrobe?

More progress, and some sun

The thing is starting to get its shape! Exiting. But there are some problems:



Maybe you can't see it, but I can. The elbow-to-shoulder increases give you some more stitches to play with, but they're not enough to follow the pattern, so you get these annoying, shapeless patches... I tried to do some stuff with them, (it seems to be a good idea to at least do CP rows 1 and 10), but as you can see, not too successfully.

Here you can see it in its full, washed-out glory:



I've actually done the armhole and moved into FP. And because of the teeny-tiny pattern mod on elbow-shoulder row 1 (remember, its CP row 10, not 1), I didn't have to do the modification detailed here, but could do CP row 15 on the short row 60, and then turn the work and use FP row 6. Note that after the short row, you have 'moved' the first pattern repeat of CP to the first/last repeat of FP. Confusing? Slightly, but not impossible.

Soon, it'll be time to cast on for the second half...

Golden rings of Progress

Long time no update... but at least I can show some progress, here:



Observe the lovely 'golden' rings for stitch markers (I kept one of the hair ties as a reminder of changing rows). Really, they're curtain rings, but strangely appropriate for this project, don't you think?

I did one modification to the pattern. To keep the lace pattern continuous, the 1st row in the elbow-to shoulder section now reads like this (right sleeve):

Row 1: CP row 10, m1 (right needle), place marker

Then of course I had to twist the 1st stitch of the 2nd row, but that's trivial. I'm now halfway to the shoulder section, which is good. Now if I only can finish this before the winter!

I Do Too Shrug!

I knit, therefore I... blog?

In any case, after a long needle-less break, I cast on for the I Do shrug from Knitty.

There is a tale unto itself in how I found the yarn shop (practically local!), how I finally found the yarn, how I forgot to buy the needles and then tried desperately to find another yarn shop in Brussels that a) would sell #4,5 needles in any length and b) would be open when I went there.

Finally, I bought the needles in Bielefeld, Germany. From an ordinary department store.

List of materials:
Needles: Prym 80 cm long circulars #4,5
Yarn: Phildar Tribord in Azur, 70% cotton, 30% acrylic
+/-115m (125 yds) per 50g (1oz) ball
Stitch markers: at the moment, rubber hair bands

Here are my materials - the instructions are copied on the sheet of paper:



I'm experimenting with keeping track of the rows on another paper. Here's to show the start of the right sleeve with my temporary rubber hair band stitch markers:



Also note that I'm using the magic loop technique. Should've bought a longer circular, but this works. Sort of.

So, that's it for now! Hopefully, I'll remember to add more progress pictures.