Category: project – shelagh

Oh I had grand plans this week.  I was almost finished with Sheelagh.  We are having a bit of Indian Summer and the warm weather is a welcome relief from the bitter cold of last weekend.  

I finished the right front of Sheelagh, dropped it in the sink to soak and went to pin it on the blocking board.  Only then did I realize what a major mistake I had made.

As I mentioned, the right front is worn doubled and is knit as one piece and folded at the hem.  I knitted the first half, the underlayer, perfectly and I realized as I knit it that the second half would be simple, as I had charged all my rows and shapings and it would be very easy to count backwards from the fold at the hem, changing the decreases to increases to finish the piece.    

But of course I did not follow my instinct.  I read the instructions, which are not at fault here, the blame rests soley on me.  

The instructions said "work to correspond to left front, reversing all shaping".  

Easy enough, right?

But that is exactly the kind of instruction that I always bollux.  It has to do with my inability to tell left from right, which relates to my inability to look at a piece separate from a garment and tell what side I am working on without actually holding it up to my body and looking at as if I was wearing it.

I had already charted the rows for my increases on the left front, so I figured if I just reversed the columns I could do it that way, and I drew cryptic little arrows to tell myself to switch left and right.

But did I do that?  No.  I should have made a new list.  It is too late now.  The piece is twisted and wrong.  It is also still wet.  Once it dries I will have to rip it out and reknit it.  I don't know if I can just reknit from the fold, or if the yarn is too crimped from being washed to knit smoothly without rewashing it after I rip.

I'll learn the answer quickly enough.  In the meantime I had already started a fall sweater so I will continue working on it for a while.  The opportunity to wear Sheelagh this fall has probably passed and a little break will do us both good. 

Somewhere over the last couple of weeks I started knitting again, and knitting regularly.

Therefore there has been progress.  The vest I started in early September went on the blocking board the other day, or at least two pieces of it did.  If you think you notice that the left front is longer than the back you are correct.  I had to check it twice just to be sure it was not my error.

I am now somewhat over half way done with the right front.  The right front is knit double length, from shoulder down to the hem and back up to the shoulder again, it is worn folded at the hem and doubled, as shown in this photo.

I am still not completely certain I will like the sweater.  I stopped it once, put it aside and started a fall sweater, but then I came back to it.  Now that I am this far along I will finish it.  I am enjoying knitting it, and it is so light I can easily fold it up into a tiny bag and take it with me anywhere.

It is very likely that it won't be worn until next spring, but then it is always nice to have something new in the closet just waiting to be pulled out on the first spring-like day.