Knits

I’m knitting Shedir again. Well almost again - I was maybe 2/3 done when I decided it looked crap and ripped it out. This time I am using the Rowan Calmer as it calls for. I’m only a few rounds into the cabling. I’ve just done a search for others who have knit this pattern and they all came out looking great and stating that they really only did require one ball of yarn - it seems incredible with all the cables.

The weird thing is the last round before the cabling begins - it requires you to make a purl stitch by picking up the horizontal bar and purling it. I did exactly this and for some reason there are little holes every place I made one and all the other finished hats, or even in progress hats, I looked at, do not have this little hole! Maybe I should’ve purled through the back loop, but it didn’t say to so I didn’t. This did happen the last time I knit this too. I guess it’s just a ‘design feature’ in my version.

I tried to do the cabling without a cable needle, but found it difficult with such small stitches. Also I’m knitting it in black (hope the cables show up well!) which means I need good light to see what’s going on. Having to use another needle for the cables makes it all very tedious and slow-going, especially because some rounds all but 8 of the 128 stitches are involved in a cable.

I’ve got another cold. Not a happy bunny about this as for once I’ve got a lot going on at work that I’d actually like to be getting on with. And of course I also can’t concentrate enough to knit. Boo.

I have been trying to be good and not buy more wool as I have so much of it already and I’m not one to have tons of different projects going, but being in London yesterday for work, right behind the John Lewis on Oxford Street, I couldn’t resist. I’d been considering some Noro Silk Garden for a mini-Clapotis, but had read a lot of bad reviews about the downhill turn this wool has taken since it’s gained popularity - twigs, straw, rough, unevenness, lots of knots - so I was hesitant to buy it online as I usually have to do. John Lewis had it on the shelf so I got to feel it (a rarity for me when it comes to wool shopping as there is really nothing in Oxford) and see the colours for myself. It felt pretty soft and looked good so I bought four skeins. I also bought two skeins of Debbie Bliss Donegal Aran Tweed. I want a whole pile of this wool to knit a cabled jumper! It is so pretty!