Can you believe that it’s already six months since Tiffany and Agnes were launched into the world at Yarndale? It’s really flown by. That means that I will be adding the patterns to my usual platforms (my website, Payhip, Ravelry and Lovecrafts) on Friday 31st March. RiverKnits are still selling kits (yarn and printed pattern) and I will include a direct link to those where I can for people who want a kit rather than the digital pattern. I will also have printed copies with me at future yarn shows! Yay!
I have to admit to a particular fondness for Tiffany (shown in the Shadow Rainbow Set of Nene 4ply minis), but Agnes also has great deal of charm (shown in two colours of Aysgarth yarn) and the pattern includes two size options. They will soon be joined by Petulia – the third in my collection of shawls named after the younger witches in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series – and they all use RiverKnits yarn.
Keep an eye out for social media posts towards the end of the week letting people know that the patterns are available from me!
I’ve finished the cardigan that I can’t show you – it’s all sewn up and all the ends are woven in! It looks really smart and I will be making one in my own size as well. I have checked and double-checked the pattern against the publication’s house style and the wonderful tech editor has been very helpful with my queries.
All I have left to do now is: a final check on all the numbers (particularly that they’ve been transferred correctly from the spreadsheet to the word doc); double check the chart files; finish the schematic; and calculate the yarn quantities for all the different sizes. That last one ends up sounding like one of those maths questions where the question setters try to put things in a real world context – except this one already actually is – and on a big scale: “If a UK size 8-10 cardigan takes 368g of DK yarn, how much will a UK size 4-6/ 12-14/ 16-18/ 20-22/ 24-26/ 28-30/ 32-34/ 36-38/ 40-42 take?” That will be tomorrow’s job!
Also tomorrow, I will be posting off the yarn I sold on eBay. One person bought both colours – they got a very good deal and I recouped some of the money laid out on yarn I won’t be using. So, thumbs up for everyone!
I promised to tell you how I got on with my new ChiaoGoo needles. I was using the two shortest tips (2-inch long and also the thinnest at 2mm) with what I thought was the shortest cable (I thought it was 5-inch long, but it was actually 6). I was finding it quite hard to make sustained progress, although it was much better once I’d finished the ribbing and there was *something* to hold on to. I think this is also because I have been using 4mm and 3.75mm needles a lot recently as well as the shortness of the tips.
In an attempt to make things easier on my hands, I tried knitting continental style (carrying the yarn in my left hand rather than my right) which helped a little, but not enormously. Continental knitting is a very rusty technique for me even with regular sizes needles, but I do think that it will be a good knitting style for small circumference knitting if I can persevere with it and improve.
My final tweak has made the most difference. I now have a 3-inch long tip for my right hand and a 2-inch long tip for my left, joined by what actually IS the 5-inch cable. My hand next to the needle tips in the pic below gives a sense of scale. As the previous cable I was using was the 6-inch one, the overall circumference is the same, but there’s significantly more needle to hold on to with my right hand now and I feel much more in control! Fingers crossed for further progress during the week.
I began the crochet Pikachu last week as well. This was partly due to my frustration at not being able to show most of my current knitting to you or on social media. I wanted to be doing something I could share! I’ve done a few more rounds since taking these pics and I’m getting better at keeping track of stitch counts – thanks to the bulb pin to mark the last stitch of the round. The yarn is a thin 4ply cotton and the hook is 2.5mm which gives a nice firm fabric – ideal for stuffing!
That’s all I’ve really got to tell you about this week. Apart from the fact that I’ve been trying to wake my sourdough starter up. Audrey2 has been having a long snooze in the fridge and currently seems disinclined to wake from her slumbers, despite two feeds. I will keep going with her though – she’s always come through for me in the past!
Take care folks, stay safe and cosy and do something that makes you happy this week. Kx