Lessons Learned

First things first – credits: The sweater pictured is called “40 Days & 40 Nights”, designed by Kathy Sasser, Knitting for Babies and Kids, page 157. I used Plymouth Encore Worsted yarn.

This was a learning experience. After frogging several times, I just went with the pattern. It has been a long time since working with several colors. The first piece knitted, the back, has some large stitches and a couple of holes. By the time I got to the last sleeve, all that was fixed. So I decided to do the duplicate stitch starting with the last sleeve and ending with the back. Again, the stitches are uneven to start, but just fine by the time I finished.

Another change I made is in the shoulders. The pattern has the shoulder stitches, along with the neck band stitches, on stitch holders to be bound off front and back together. I went ahead and bound off the shoulder stitches and put the neck band stitches on stitch holders, sewing the shoulders together before knitting the neck band.

My next challenge was trying to find a 16”, size 5 circular needle for the neck band. Impossible on this side of town (something that will be fixed when I get enough money set aside to open a yarn shop). I ended up using double pointed needles, which as a pain, but worked.

All in all, this was a good learning experience. The little guy can use it for a play sweater. If it gets dirty – no big deal. Mommy can just throw it in the washer and dryer.

My next project will be something simple!!

Recurperating

Cheer camp went well as usual. A great way to prepare for surgery the day after returning. That surgery went find and I am recuperating nicely.

What have I been doing since I can't go anywhere? Knitting!! I started a Noah's Ark sweater for my grandson, got halfway up the back, frogged, and started over. It has been a long time since I've worked with several colors, but I'm getting the hang of it.

For the first time, I entered two of my projects in the county fair. The crochet baby dress placed 1st and the knitted coat placed 2nd. I don't understand the judges comments. She/He said the armholes on the coat are too small and the stitches uneven. The coat fits perfectly and the stitches are supposed to be a little uneven. Using large needles and a bulky weight homespun yarn makes the stitches uneven. Sometimes I have to wonder where the judges have been hiding to not know the trends in the fiber arts.

I'll post where all these patterns can be found next week. Right now I'm somewhere besides home and don't have all the information in front of me.

Till next week...