The Adara yarn from Elann came yesterday which means I could finally start the Ravelympics Grrlfriend Bag projects.
I casted on and got through the fiddly part. Perhaps it’s just me but Laura talks about it in the pattern itself too. It’s VERY hard to keep the DPNS (double pointed needles) from falling out after you’ve divided the stitches from the cast on. With two stitches on each needle and the yarn held loosely because you’re trying to be sure you’re attempting to knit from the correct needle and not accidently cabling… there’s nothing to really hold the needles in place so they keep falling out.
I finally solved it by dividing among two needles instead of 4. With that few stitches, you can get the first couple rows knitted before it becomes an issue with laddering and by then, you’re enough on the way that you can hold the yarn snugger and the needles will stay in.
One thing that was advantageous about making the pattern once already was now I know the pitfalls of how easy it is to mess up on the K2tog/YO row. If you get off at all, the lines of the stitches start reversing and going the other direction up the bag or branching instead of being a proper grid like a chain link fence. I didn’t mind it in the first bag so I left the mistakes in and instead just practiced on making sure I was on track.
The trick is, when you knit the 2 stitches together, the 2nd stitch should be the knitted YO from the previous row. If it isn’t, you’re off. So just pay an iota of attention to whether or not the 2nd stitch is correct and you’ll be fine.
Also be sure to remember the final YO at the end of the row, it’s very easy to forget when you hit the stitch marker that marks the end of the row!
I got the bottom done and about 5″ of the sides when I needed a break.
So I dug out the icy aqua balls and casted on for the Moon Beads since it’s crochet and not knit which makes it a very different project.
It said to chain loosely and to use H hook. I of course was bad and didn’t do any swatching so I was trying to figure out as I went along. When I got to 200 of 234 to chain, I held it around my shoulders and it already seemed too big. Decided to stop there and move on to the pattern.
After 3 rows of V Stitches, I finally decided that I didn’t like how loose it was coming out. I think the charm of the cowl requires tighter/smaller Vs. So I frogged it all (using the ball winder to wind up the yarn that had been used – that was tricky cause there’s still the original balls!) and started over using an F hook and being sure not to chain so loosely either. At 200 chains, I still thought that it was loose around the top of the shoulders so I went again with that number.
Didn’t make it to the V rows because it was time to go to bed and I was drooping. I couldn’t even finish the episode of Battlestar Galactica that I was watching.
I can see why people love the new BSG so much. I did the knitting & crocheting for today to the initial miniseries that kicked off the remake and then started the formal season episodes.