Fronts Knitted

I had a knitting-free weekend. I thought I'd just quickly finish knitting the fronts of my cardigan this morning. Five hours later..... These jobs always take me longer than I bargain for!

On The Podium (Just!)

My traditional doily was awarded 5th place in the national competition. 'Damning with faint praise' is the phrase that comes to mind, but hey, those judges are very difficult to impress. The winning doily was tatted in size 100 thread and exquisite.

My Under an African Sky doily was also judged, garnering 69% as opposed to 81% for the other one. Here's my translation of the judges' comments: " Appearance Original but not typical of tatting. This section [of the competition] was intended to bring attention to a technique of historical cultural significance. Workmanship Only three kinds of stitches, single, double and picots, are historically used.   Interesting article from Africa with its own value. "  I'm pleased with the positive last sentence and happy that I achieved my aim of flying the flag for modern tatting. Tatting was the floating section for the competition and won't be on the agenda next year.

Back and Forth

Back and forth, I'm making progress on my cardigan fronts. At one stage I thought I'd just knit in the evenings, but it would be very slow if I did that. With 4 ply yarn and 3 mm needles, progress is necessarily slow. I told myself yesterday that I have no need to feel guilty about working on just one project instead of several!

Another Colour Conundrum

I bought a whole packet of yarn so that I would have enough matching yarn to complete my cardigan. But the ball at the top looks quite different to the ball at the bottom. Yes, it has the same dye lot number. I thought that the orange would just be inside the ball, but I  'rummaged' inside the ball and it is only in the very middle that any orange appears. And there's a stretch of darkest green that is not right at all. I'll leave the ball for now and hope that I don't need it. Worst case scenario, I'll use it for bands and collar. Random dyeing is all very well, but there should be some degree of consistency!

Colour Conundrum

Here's my problem: if I knit the cardigan fronts as usual with variegated yarn, the fronts will not match each other and the stripes on the fronts will be twice as wide as the stripes on the back. I don't think that would look good. Hmmm. The answer, I decided eventually, is steeking. I'm knitting the two fronts together and will then cut them apart when I've finished. Yikes. I'm working 5 extra stitches between the two halves. That's where I will secure the knitting with two lines of sewing, cut and then fold the extra stitches back to form a facing.

I did do a little sample to make sure it will work:

The Back Is Done

I finished the back of my cardigan a few days ago but haven't yet cast on for a front. I've taken time off to deal with cauliflowers and things and must now get back on track. I've left my markers in the back to help me match the fronts to the back.

Cauliflower Day

The weather has suddenly warmed up and the cauliflowers in Jack's garden won't keep long. Yesterday I prepared one of these cauliflowers for the deepfreezer and made the other into pickles -  10 bottles in a thick piccalilli sauce and seven in clear, spicy vinegar. Today it took me more than two hours to get the kitchen clean again!