For Christmas, Kevin’s gift to me was a day in Seattle: brunch, yarn stores(!), reading at the library, dinner, dessert & drinks. We went in last Saturday for the first half of the day (we’re saving the rest for another weekend — perhaps also do the aquarium before dinner?), which was wonderful. After intense deliberation all week, I ended up picking Bomber (wish it had a different name!) from Rowan’s Denim People. The project in my mind’s eye was initially supposed to have more cables, but I couldn’t find quite the right pattern. I’m waiting on Mariah until I can see a finished one in person, Georgie (to be knit sans-weird-neck-tie) is knit on #2 and #3s — daunting, I like this Debbie Bliss number but there’s no way I’d pay $16 for it, etc… So, Bomber wasn’t quite what I was envisioning, but it’s utterly grown on me.
Instead of making it in Rowan Denim (which I’ve heard mixed reviews of), I’m using Cascade Sierra (color #03) which is every bit as lovely as I’ve heard it would be. I forgot to ask about winding the balls in the store, so here are the hand-wound skeins…
So pretty!
The ribbing isn’t wearing on me yet, though I’m sure it will start to eventually. For the first time ever, I’ve been having a lot of trouble keeping my stitches even across the row. It’s a k3 p2 repeat and the last knit stitch of each rib is invariably huge. I’ve been trying to pull that and the first purl stitch tight, but it’s still a bit uneven. Any tips?
I finally broke down and bought a row counter and I love it. The pattern has increases every twenty rows, and for the first time ever I’m not constantly counting from the start to remember where I am. Yay for labor-saving devices… Here’s the first 53 rows of the back:
I have the same problem – I HEARD that there is a tip in the new SNB book on how to avoid this common problem. If you find it let me know!!
There is a tip for dealing with that. When you are on the WS of the work you are purling the knit stitches of the rib. Purl that big, loose one differently, by wrapping the yarn around the needle clockwise, instead of counterclockwise. This will use less yarn, making the stitch smaller. When you are back on the right side of the work, knit that stitch through the back loop, or else it will be twisted.