No Knitting

I went to a cattle auction yesterday. I have been known to knit at a sale, but an almost finished cardigan was too bulky to take along. It's obviously not the right place to work on the Spring doily, so I'm a bit behind on that. The day was warm and the sky an amazing blue; I enjoyed the outing, even with that 'I got nothing done' feeling.

One Third

I'm one third of the way around on round 20. It's a time consuming round, of course, but I'm on track. I've allowed myself 2 weeks to get this round done.

Pay Attention!

Jane Eborall is right, round 20 is interesting to tat. Which means that it requires attention! I tatted away merrily this morning before noticing that I started my tatting session in the wrong place, I left off a chain and ring:

I know there are tatters who would undo all the work they'd done, but that's not me. I couldn't use the trick of cutting rings not chains because both shuttles had been used to tat rings. I cut off everything to the mistake, but didn't want to have to hide four threads when I started off again. So I used another trick I read somewhere on the internet. I tied the threads of the two shuttles together

Then I wound some thread from the pink shuttle onto the grey one, so that the knot was further along. With a 'false CTM', I started again, hiding the two cut off threads, one in a ring and one in the following chain. I tatted along until I reached the knot. I had to cut and rejoin it, to put it in a convenient spot, but then I could hide the new ends, one in a ring and one in a chain.

Threads are hidden in the ring on the left of the picture and the one on the right, but I think they're pretty discreet! Now to proceed without mistakes. I've set myself a quota of three repeats a day, which will give me two weeks to complete the round.

Decisions, Decisions

After perusing the pattern and my meagre collection of size 40 thread, I decided to do the outer row  in white. The round is going to be a thread-gobbler and I really don't want to run out of thread before the end. The round is also easier to work in one colour.  My ideal would've been green, but, I read somewhere, life is the art of the possible! 

Round 19

I've finished round 19. Round 20, the final round, has already been released. I'm going to have to think about it carefully before I begin. I kept size 40 green for this round, but I'm not certain I have enough to work the round entirely in green, as I originally planned.  I'll use two colours, to be sure I won't run out, but I'll have to decide on colour placement.

Momentum

I like the idea of working on a number of projects at once, but in practice, I'm not very good at it! I've been knitting only in the evenings, but progress on my cardigan is so slow, I feel as though it has stalled. I have finished one sleeve:

If I'm going to wear the cardigan this Winter, I'll need to regain momentum. So I've put my beads and beading equipment away and plan to do some knitting by day as well as in the evenings.  I am, of course, still working on the Spring Doily.

Colourways

I crocheted another beaded necklace, using the same pattern but different colours. Here they are together, to show how different they look: