Sunday, July 8, 2007

So glad I'm petite!

I have been struggling with the start of my Kauni.. multiple issues. My rib curled horribly. I steamed it and it didn't look too bad - but then I found out that I should have used a German Twisted cast on technique. I also didn't like the way the green color seemed to last forever (maybe it was my imagination) So... I proceeded to rip this off my needles (I'm saving it in case I need the yarn - but I figure the pattern calls for 480 gm, the 2 skeins add up to almost 600 gm and I am making the smallest size- which is why I'm glad I'm petite - so there is a LOT of room for error):




And then I spent 2 hours trying to learning how to do a German Twisted cast on. I watched U-Tube, read Sweaters from Camp - but couldn't figure out where to pull the loop thru. Then I dug out my Knitting Glossary (EZ and MS) DVD - put it on SLOW and knit along with it. The lightbulb FINALLY came out - that I had to tip my hand forward (not just the thumb) and from then on I was plugging away. Don't you love learning something new. I also decided to put more contrast into the color combinations and try a K2, P2 rib (the pattern calls for K1, P1) . Here are the results:



Well - pretty - but I didn't think I wanted a Red/Yellow combination which was the next section - and I decided that I needed to go down a size on the ribbing. So... I ripped this one out too.

This AM - I started over again on size 2 Addis.. and went back to K1, P1 and back to combining colors one shade away from each. I started with blue and green. I think I will like this better.. and for some reason the green didn't last as long this time. The green section at the top started out as blue. The yellow section started out as green. Go figure. So this is where I am now and I like it. I think I like it!



One more day off work so I should FINALLY make some progress tomorrow!
Ricki

2 comments:

Danielle said...

Color decisions, they can be tough. You're doing the right thing by swatching now, rather than hating what you've done with a whole bunch of the sweater on the needles and then you'd have to rip it all out :-( One good thing in your favor is that you were smart enough to get a lot of yarn. I had a really sad thing happen to half of one of my skeins of kauni, as I was winding it I encountered some strange tangle or knot in the skein and nothing I did made it better. Actually it only got worse. I lost half my skein of kauni!! I ordered 2 skeins of 260, I was very sad. I have about 390 left, but I wanted to knit the large size. I don't know if that will be enough. I also am a little sad because I waited too long to sign up to the kaunikal, and when I decided to it was closed :-( Well, sorry for the terribly wordy comment, lol! Have fun with your kauni, I'm going to begin mine soon. I'll post progress on my blog, drop by anytime if you want.

RickiLynn said...

Danielle - I'm hoping that Kauni becomes easier to find soon in the US. Then it won't be as painful if you need to buy another skein. Yes - I keep reading blogs where many knitters have frogged their Kauni's due to color problems after a lot of work! I'm happy with mine now - and I'm determined to just "let it be"! Good luck.