drumroll...... I cast on for blue bell last night. I knitted the garter stitch neckline and marker placement row.
Two small mistakes I made: first, I cast onto 29'' circulars which was pretty tight and I ended up with about a 1/2'' stretch at the point where I joined the rounds. On round three I decided the circ was still too tight so I switched to a 24'' which was a lot better. But now I still have that stretch at the join point which leaves a big, but not immediately noticeable loop at the top of the collar in that one spot. Second mistake: when I got to the point where I added my markers I ended up being one stitch short. I'm positive I cast on the 108 stitches, but I think I may have dropped the first stitch when I was trying to fix the gap at the join. So I just kfb'ed at the very end to add that stitch and placed the marker.
I'm trying to decide if I should frog and start over. Both mistakes are really minor and will probably be invisible to everyone but me and perhaps some other knitter who scrutinizes my FO. However, it's at the very top of the sweater and it would be very little work to frog at this point, and I'm afraid that by the time I get to the bottom of the sweater after hours and hours of knitting I'm going to be pissed at myself for having those mistakes at the very top and not fixed them. So I will probably frog.
Next, I have to get my math on to figure out how many increases to do before I separate the sleeves. My bust is a little smaller than the pattern, and since the book is called Fitted Knits I should probably go to the effort of actually fitting the knit. I'm leaving today for a week-long trip to Boston, so I should have lots of time to knit. It will probably be too hot to work with the wool while I'm there, but I should at least get some work done on the plane and during layovers.
SQUATTY SIDEKICK UPDATE:
I finished knitting the squatty sidekick purse early this week, but I haven't gotten around to felting it yet. This is due partially to my fear of the felt and partially to my fear of using my mom's crazy front-load washing machine without supervision. (It is crucial to get exactly the correct amount of soap in the machine or you'll have suds until Tuesday.)
Anyway, here's a pic of the bag, pre-felting:
Fun fact: I used the leftover yarn from my Mrs. Darcy cardigan for this bag, and I wore the cardigan while I knitted the bag... and it was kind of freaky.
Until next week.... peace out.Labels: Blue Bell, Squatty Sidekick
