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June 21, 2004
Herringbone
Just a simple crew neck pullover, an interesting texture yet not too complicated, knit in the round... I knew I didn't have a pattern that interested me in any book or magazine, or I would have flagged it long ago.
So I flipped through my Vogue knitting book for a good stitch pattern and found this:
It's called "Herringbone." I like it because, if knit in the round, you never have to purl. The fancy stitches are either lifted increases or k2tog decreases.
So I'm making up a sweater as I go along. I've got 230 stitches on a tubular cast on according to Lucy Neatby's fabulous instructions in "Cool Socks, Warm Feet." You use a crochet hook to make a provisional cast on with a contrasting yarn, then you knit three rounds in the main color with a needle 3 sizes larger than the rib. To make the tubular edge, you go back and pick up extra stithces from the main color in between the stitches of the provisional cast on. It reminds me of making a knit-in hem.
Anyway, you get this beautiful edge without having to do all that slip-stitch stuff that the other methods call for.
The only problem with this pattern is that it's hard to tell where you're at if you lose track. Right now, it seems I've lost a stitch and I might have to frog back a couple of rows to find it. I hate it when that happens.
So, you're probably thinking, what's up with a wool pullover in the middle of summer? Well, a couple of things. For one thing, we're still waiting for summer here in northeastern Colorado! We had a few days of heat in early June, but the last week it's been cold and rainy (is the drought finally over?) and more of the same is forecast for the upcoming week. And you know, by the time I get this sweater done, at the speed I knit, it will be sweater season for real once again. And besides, I wore my Everyday Cardigan quite a bit on our camping trip a couple of weeks ago, and was glad I had it along. If you venture up into the mountains much, sweater season is a year-round proposition.
On the home front, I had a very good week of orderliness and tidiness that I hope becomes habit. I'm not getting very far beyond the daily routine stuff, however. I really need to get moving on a bunch of projects and I keep getting sidetracked by, well, knitting!
My walking program has been compromised by all the mud. It cleared up a while yesterday afternoon, and the whole family went out on a walk. When we got back to the house, there was another big deluge and yet more rain again this morning. The farm lanes are just a big mud quagmire and the county roads out here are too hazardous for pedestrians. I suppose I could go to town and walk, or go to the school athletic track. Nah.