Random Ramblings of a Knitting Banshee

So, I finally got around to knitting Kate Davies' Owls jumper, which I have been staring at with envy for months now.

I have to say, I love it! The pattern is very clear and easy to follow - although I did tweak a couple of things here and there, but then again when don't I? And the result is amazing! The owls look beautiful even without the buttons.

Photos can be found on my Ravelry project, for now. 

Now, what to do next? Paperdolls? Or Boreal?

 So. Some of you might have heard me talk about colourwork. About how much I stay away from it because I always mess it up. About my total inability to carry the non-working yarn behind the work (called creating a float)and not have it bunch up the whole thing into a complete mess. About how happy I am to not ever do colourwork... 

Now, you might wish to have a look at the Tir Chonaill pattern, either on Ravelry or on Kate Davies' website. 

Yep, it's colourwork. Not only colourwork, but there are some quite significantly long floats in there. No, I don't care what people say, 11 stitches is a long float, at least for me. 

Not only that, but it is knitted in the round. Yeah, that makes the colourwork easier, insofar as you are always working on the right side. It also means the blanket needs to be steeked at the end. Yeah, that means taking scissors to the knitting, once it is complete, and hoping that you did everything right so it won't unravel. Still scares me to death, but hey, I'm still far from that part. 

So, why on Earth did I decide to do this? Wspecially now when I am in the middle of a jumper and about a month away from yet another Unique Sheep knitalong (and also when I should be considering NaNoWriMo, but that's another story).

Well, it's a matter of biting the bullet and proving to myself that I can indeed do colourwork if I do try. Plus the pattern has a lovely Irish name. And my newly discovered local yarn shop carries Studio Donegal yarns, and  I couldn't resist them. I did some colour substitutions (my blanket will be cream, blues and berry, with no green), and I hope that'll work out okay.. 

So, I started it this morning. Without swatching, as usual. I'm a firm believer of swatching as you go - if you get the gauge right, you're already on your way to making the finished item. If you don't, you have to frog anyway. I'm lazy like that, so sue me. With yarns that are forgiving when frogged, I rarely swatch... You might have heard the story of how many times I started my partner's jumper, but hey, I would only have had to swatch that many times and then started the jumper, so I still feel I saved time.  

Funnily enough, I seem to be making gauge (just half a stitch under, really - doesn't get much better than that). And, surprisingly, I seem to have found a way to avoid the super-tight floats that have ruined all my previous attempts at colourwork. See, I knight English-style (yarn on my right hand), but i'm incapable of carrying two yarns on my right hand without making a right mess of them. So, the theory of carrying background colour on the right hand (and knit it English style) and the pattern colour on the left hand (and knit it continental style) seems to be working. Also removes the problem of yarn dominance, which I don't quite understand the subtleties of, but I'm sure I would mess up the "always carry your yarns in the same order" if I tried to carry both in the same hand. 

So far, I have managed half a vertical repeat, which is not bad for a day's worth of knitting with a cold-addled brain. And it's looking good so far, and growing rapidly. Gotta love chunky yarn. 

Anyway. I suspect this is going to be a slow project, since I need to be awake to count stitches and keep yarns in the correct hand and all that - so I can't knit it at lunch time, or when I'm tired after a long day at work. But I'll try to get as much of it done before the next knitalong starts... 

Let's not think about the steeking yet...