Knitting - A Quick Update

The news is not good.  I have now started and unpicked the shawl five times: I still haven't got past the stage of Row 11 of the 'rosebud' pattern. I've been there twice now, but most of my problems seem to be actually getting the right number of stitches on the needle in the first place (needle is not a typo, I'm using a circular needle) and then getting the first row of the 'rosebud' pattern correct.  So I eventually gave up trying for the day and settled down to work on my red jumper.

The news here is a little better.  I have finished knitting the polo collar and all that remains as far as knitting is concerned is the button and buttonhole bands on the collar to have their stitches picked up and knit and then it is just a case of finishing the sewing together, the addition of the requisite number of buttons and another jumper is ready for wearing.

I didn't use the wool specified in the pattern, and the yarn that I bought has turned out to be far more economical so I should have enough to knit a plain round-necked jumper; this means that I will have been able to make two jumpers for the price of one. 

I suppose you could call it a 'buy one, get one free' jumper.

Things Aren't Going So Well

Pretty much everything has been going well over the last couple of weeks.  I've been getting on with my studying, and I'm ahead of the drag curve on both courses, so I have been feeling rather proud of myself.  The last couple of psychotherapy sessions have gone well and I can start to see some benefit from it.  I've knitted two jumpers and a hat, and I am fairly close to finishing my third jumper; it was chunky wool knitted on large needles so it grew quickly.  Sleep is the thing that has been a bit of a problem, but I have survived that and I'm generally feeling better than I have for a long time.

So, why I am saying that things aren't going so well?  I started work on the Shetland lace shawl last night and I have so far started it, knitted the four rows of garter stitch and then 10 rows of the 'rosebud' pattern only to make a mistake on the 11th and drop a stitch, which it was impossible to pick up again.  The only thing to do was to unpick all that I had done and start again; I did.  This time I managed to get to the fifth row of the first 'rosebud' pattern before making a mistake, and as I attempted to unpick the stitches to try to correct it, a dropped stitch again caused havoc and the shawl was again unpicked.

Later on this morning, when I have had some breakfast, done my chores, been out to buy some bread and milk, and made sure that I am in a reasonable frame of mind, I will start the shawl for the third time.  You know what they say about 'third time lucky'.  I'm hoping that they are right and this will be the time where things go well and I am able to follow the pattern and count the stitches properly and progress with the shawl's centre.  What is making this so difficult when it comes to dropped stitches is that the yarn is extremely fine, more like sewing cotton than knitting wool, and it is very difficult to both unpick stitches and to catch stitches when you have dropped them.

One of the things that knitting lace shawls over the last 18 months has taught me is that it is possible to get there in the end.  One shawl pattern that I have was knitted and unpicked, knitted and unpicked, then knitted again so many times before I finally managed to master the pattern and complete the shawl.  It was all worthwhile because the finished article is beautiful and I have since knitted the pattern again without any trouble at all.  I know that if I just take my time and don't try to rush things, I will master the pattern for this shawl and that once I have got the first pattern repeat out of the way it will all become much easier.

In other words, all I have to do is PERSEVERE.

Something For The Cold Weather

One of the things that I noticed with the change to very cold weather last week was that I seem to feel the cold so much more than I have in the past.  I don't think I have worn a proper pair of shoes for more than a year, and the only time I wear trainers is when I am working in the garden; I have been wearing sandals all the time and I haven't really felt the cold in my feet. However, last week I noticed that I had cold feet in bed, and that is something that I hadn't noticed for years, so it was popsocks and shoes when I went for psychotherapy on Friday instead of sandals.

While my body and feet were taken care of, I noticed that my ears were freezing and it was then that I determined that I would knit myself a hat, hence the purchase of wool for a hat and mittens on Friday after psychotherapy.  I finished the hat today, and having sewn it up I felt a photograph was called for.  It is a beret style of hat with a quite easy cable panel alternating with plain stocking stitch panels.  Nothing very glamorous, but I'm more interested in warmth than appearance these days.

I've started knitting the jumper with the wool that I bought at the same time as that for the hat.  It is very chunky yarn and is knitting up quickly.  But it will probably end up being my fall-back knitting over the next couple of weeks.  That's the knitting that I have on the go when I am knitting something very complicated that I sometimes need a break from.  Tomorrow I will be starting to knit the Shetland lace shawl and I am sure that I will need to take breaks from it now and again.

I will keep you posted about how the shawl progresses, and will add photographs regularly so that you can see the delicate patterns that are included in the shawl.  Wish me luck, because I have never knitted anything so fine before, and I am a little nervous about such an undertaking.

My New Jumper ... And Other Things

I have talked about knitting quite a lot in recent weeks. It was one of the handicrafts that I was taught as a young child and I usually have some knitting on the go at all times. Sometimes it is the craft that I do in every spare moment and sometimes it takes a bit more of a back seat to things such as cross stitch, card making, or crochet.

Having mentioned the fact that I was knitting myself a jumper, Steph from the Biopsy Report asked to see a picture of it when it was finished. Caroline from Dom Care Dragon has been wondering where the pictures were as it had been several days since the completion of the jumper, but a picture still had not appeared.

The delay had been caused because my camera had decided it wasn't going to work. I was somewhat annoyed, but I bit the bullet and bought myself a new one. I can't complain because it is a good one, and I got it for a good price. I ordered it on Sunday and it arrived yesterday. After charging the battery, I set the date and time on the camera, armed myself with the instruction book and found my way round the camera, turned off the terrible beep that occurred each time I did something, and took a couple of test pictures. Everything worked fine, so I deleted these few frames. Then I got my new jumper, draped it artistically (well the best that I could manage) pressed the shutter button and 'hey presto' I had a picture of the jumper. Out came the SD card from the camera, in it went to the card slot on my laptop, a few seconds later the image was on my computer, and now it is included in my blog. So, for Steph and Caroline here you are, my nice new jumper; it was knitted in aran weight wool and cost me just less than £10 for the wool.

I am pleased to say that my cold is nowhere near as bad as yesterday. I had a reasonable night's sleep, and I have stopped sneezing; I have a bunged up nose, and I have decided to stay wrapped up warm indoors. I shall be doing some knitting this afternoon, my next jumper is almost halfway to being finished.

I don't think it is worth me trying to do any studying because I am not sure that I would take anything in. But tomorrow will be different. I have psychotherapy in the morning, then I shall be going to collect the books for my new OU course, and tomorrow afternoon will be spent glancing through them before starting the hard work for this course. It will be the first time that I have studied two courses at the same time since I started studying with the OU in January 2000. It will almost be like being a full-time student.