The unconditional love of a dog. Who could ask for anything more? My little shadow is always there giving me all of the support I could possibly want and more. From the moment I start a new project, to the time it comes to block it, Bernie is there. He helps to keep my yarn from tangling by putting it in his mouth, he brings me my pattern, even when I'm not looking for it. Most importantly, he loves to sit on my lap and yarn as I knit, all 70lbs of him. Throw in Marvin and it's a regular party, no wonder my projects are covered in pet hair and saliva, the real reason I need to block. Bernie seemed extra excited to help me block my Carden tank top yesterday, I think he liked the bright colors. It should be dry today and now I get to put the crochet edge on and figure out what it means to do a Rev sc, YouTube here I come. I am optimistic I'll be wearing it before July, even though I wore gloves this morning when I took Bernie to Hard'ack, it was 32 degrees. We know it's Vermont, wait 10 minutes and the weather will change. If the daffodils can survive, so can I, I'm no shrinking violet.
With the completion of my Carden, I have officially started my Tegna, 3 times!!! I'm once again playing the gauge game, I love myself. If any of you were wondering if it makes a difference between getting 5.5 sts/inch and 6, let me tell you, YES!!! I didn't want to increase my needle size because I liked the look using my #6 needle (the pattern calls for a #3). I did some math and decided that making the next size up in a smaller gauge would give me the size that I need, pretty slick, huh? Now comes the fun of casting on 340 stitches and guesstimating how much tail to use. Wanda suggested using her new favorite cast on, which is a Knitted one, suggestion taken. I have all the stitches on and decide I hate the way it looks, I'm knitting with linen and it just looked sloppy. I pulled it all out and went with my "go to" long tail and get to over 300 stitches only to discover that my tail is too short, UGH!! Three times is the charm with plenty of tail leftover to probably knit half of the sweater. Now to join without twisting, the palms sweat and that crevice between my eyebrows deepens, the many joys of knitting, let the fun begin.
I successfully negotiate that first knit row without twisting, phew. Now the lace pattern starts, thankfully it's both charted and written out, I hate lace charts. P2, Ktbl, P1, K4tog, P1, (yo, k1)x5, yo, sl2, k2tog, P2sso, P1, Ktbl, P1. Have you ever tried knitting 4 together using linen that does not have any give whatsoever? I'm instantly irritated in about 3 seconds trying to get my stupid knitting needle through all 4 stitches without them flying off and disintegrating into my cast on row. There are 17 repeats in this stupid lace pattern, everyone knows I HATE knitting lace, but this sweater is soooooo pretty, worth the sacrifice, right?? Here's a great little tip that I'm happy to share: Use a much smaller DPN to knit those stitches off and then place the "new" stitch onto your right needle. It may sound a bit cumbersome, but it's almost as easy as using a cable needle and I can assure you, much quicker than trying to jam the equivalent of a square peg into a very tight round hole. I made it all the way around, I've worked a couple more rows and so far, I'm still convinced that I'm not twisted, stay tuned.
This past Saturday the KAL gals met IN PERSON in my backyard, it was AWESOME!! I can't tell you how happy it made me to finally gather again and knit. Thank-you Mother Nature for cooperating, it was so wonderful to see everyone. We did keep our distance and wore our masks and of course did some show and tell. Vibeke has already finished her first summer sweater, the Etta in Summer Sesame, it's GORGEOUS!! Sandy and Susan were working on their Phillipa's using Zinnia, Annie was knitting her Derecho in Remix Light, Julia was working on a linen dress for her daughter using Linello, and Charon spent the majority of the time counting her stitches. As the weather hopefully continues to get warmer and nicer, we will be meeting less on Zoom and more in my backyard. We did discuss the whereabouts for Wednesday evening's Stitch and Bitch and it was decided that my backyard was going to be the place. I'm not sure what tomorrow's weather will bring, it keeps changing!! The general consensus was, if it's not raining, snowing or freezing, we'll meet outside. I will send the link just in case a last minute change of venue is needed, April and May can be fickle as we know.
Weather permitting, we will be meeting tomorrow evening from 6-7:30 for Stitch and Bitch in my backyard. Make it a great day and I hope to see you soon!
Katy
OMG, your newsletters are so great. Thanks!!!