Needles

This is Audrey before and after the determined frogging on Thursday night. She’s still stewing in the pot, but I’ll pick her up and give it another go before Monday.

I knew it would be a very slow day at work yesterday, so I brought books to make working copies of some patterns. I made copies of the “Galway” chart and pieced them all together to make a 60-row repeat (that’s 1/3 of the pattern). I cut and taped and marked all kinds of notes to myself (RS, WS, arrows to indicate the direction to read, order of the charts). It’s been a challenge to wrap my head around all this. I’m no stranger to reading a chart, even large and complicated ones, as I’ve done many a cross-stitch sampler. Unlike working a sampler, though, where you can stab the fabric and start wherever you want, a knitting chart has to be followed stitch-by-stitch, row-by-row, and there is no background upon which to work.

I also brought knitting (Galway) to work for the first time ever. I forgot to grab the cable needle, though, so here’s what I used instead.

Other than having too sharp a point, I really liked using this nail! I needed a cable needle for 2 sts at most, so the length of the nail was great; it wasn’t rough, but it did have some texture, so it didn’t slide around and even if it did, look at that great big nailhead to keep it from falling out! I managed to knit about a dozen rows at work, using my pieced-together chart, and have thought of some improvements to said chart which I will try today. I knit a few more rows last night. I think I’m on about row 26 in this picture. The Wool Ease is not the most perfect yarn for showing off the stitches, but I think it will improve as it grows. Having completed a full repeat of the largest chart and several of the smaller two, I am feeling more comfortable.

We’re in for another Memorial Day Weekend of crappy weather, so knitting it will be!