Revised

 

 One of the ladies in our knit and natter group asked me if I could sort out her knitting for her. She had downloaded a pattern for a child's pullover from the internet, but when she got to the right number of stitches at the top of the front, the front was much too long. Mmm.  The pattern is not very well written. Red flag number one was that the stitch gauge shows number of stitches per 4 inches, but not rows. In a raglan pattern, it's crucial that rows as well as stitches are correct.

 I said I'd undo her knitting to the armholes and rewrite the pattern with a set in sleeve instead of a raglan. There was a lot of scribbling on paper and referring to Design, Knit by Betty Barnden and Gabi Tubbs before I sat down at the  computer. Writing the pattern on the computer is easier than writing by hand because it's so easy to revise things. I thought Maureen could just use the original pattern for the sleeve, but then realised in the middle of the night that it would have the same problem as the front and the sleeves would be very long. I rewrote the sleeve section this morning. We have a knit and natter meeting this afternoon, so I should be able to give Maureen her knitting back with a revised pattern. 

Starting The Sleeves

 

I delivered the socks and gloves on Saturday and was asked to make a hat too. I'll have to spin and dye wool for it. I thought I'd work on the Kaffe Fassett cardigan for a bit first. A member of the local quilters' guild has asked me to show them the cardigan-in-process at their next meeting, so that gives me an excuse!

 I'm going to knit the two sleeves at once, to be sure to match the colours. The pattern has long sleeves, but I'm going to make mine short. I used the ribbing on the back to work out how many stitches I'd need for a cuff and it turned out to be the same number as the fullest part of the sleeve on the pattern, 99 stitches, so that's handy. I can just knit straight for a bit and then follow the pattern for the sleeve cap, without having to make any adjustments. 

Matching Gloves

 

These fingerless gloves are in the same colourway as the socks in the previous post. I dyed four skeins in one batch, so I have enough left for another pair of gloves. The colourway may not be the best to show off the Spragues pattern, though it's more obvious when the gloves are on. The Spragues pattern is by Galt House of Yarn. There are two versions, one with long cuffs and one with short. 

Socks And Recycling

 

I've finished knitting a pair of socks for an order. I used wool I had already spun. I just had to wind it into skeins from balls and dye it. I think I can do the rest of the order from stock. I'll need to replenish my stock of course, but I have some leeway. 

At the moment I'm preparing for tomorrow's craft group meeting. We're going to make milk jug covers. I was worried I didn't have enough suitable beads to sew around the edge of each cover,  but then I remembered some beaded knitting I was given. The two pieces look as though they're intended to be made into a handbag, but I'm never going to do that. They're just lurking. So, I've unravelled one of the pieces and voila, I have enough beads for tomorrow.

Before And After

 

I finished knitting the front of my Kaffe Fassett cardigan. The front is in two pieces, of course, but I knitted them simultaneously to be sure the colours would match. The ends are all knitted in, but I didn't cut them off until I'd finished knitting. The job took well over an hour, but that was a fraction of the time it would have taken if I'd had to sew them all in! When I took the first photo, the camera labelled it as 'food'. Spaghetti perhaps? Good enough to eat anyway. 

Nearly

 

I've nearly finished knitting the front of my Kaffe Fassett cardigan. I have an order for socks and gloves that has a deadline, so I'll have to put it on one side for a while before I do the sleeves, but I'd like to finish the front first. 

Still Knitting

 

The front of my cardigan is going slower than the back did, as I expected, but I have reached armhole level. The neck shaping starts now too, so the number of stitches in each row will decrease and progress should be faster.

The blog list that normally shows  recently updated blogs at the top has been frozen for a couple of weeks. I'm wasting time checking blogs to see whether there's a new post on them! Do you think Blogger is telling us something by not sorting the problem out??