Remember I was moaning about doing a picot cast on? Well, now I’m moaning about the whole project.
It’s Primrose, from Louisa Harding’s new Ianthe book, and I’m using the Debbie Bliss Amalfi yarn I bought last week at Coldspring Mill, and I think that’s about three quarters of the problem. It’s a cotton/viscose/linen/silk blend, so there’s absolutely no give in the yarn, and it’s a very loosely spun four ply construction.
Each of the plies is made up of several smaller plies – two are two ply, and two seem to have five plies, so that’s about 14 plies in total, all just waiting to catch in your needle tip when you try to do any sort of lace stitch. Or picot cast on. To call this yarn splitty is like calling the sea wet, and I don’t normally have a problem with yarns splitting.
I thought that things might get better when I got past the pretty row of eyelets for the ribbon under the bust, and onto the stocking stitch top, but whilst the yarns’s not splitting any longer, it’s still hard work to knit with – my fingers are hating me! Of course none of this is helped by the fact that I knit tightly, I really should know better than to start something like this by now.
This is how it should look once it’s done – there is also a sleeveless version, but I think my shoulders need sleeves!
My other gripe is the lace pattern. On the right side, you do a column of purl stitches, with three knit stiches for the lace column, and on the wrong side it’s all knit, with a (yo, double decrease, yo) combination to make the lace. But you run into the problem you get with the loose stitch at the side of a rib, and it’s making the lace column sit very much to one side of the column, with a much bigger bar on one side than the other.
This shot from the wrong side shows the problem – see that loose stitch at the left hand side of each knit column? With hindsight I could perhaps have done something with twisted stitches to tighten it up, but by the time I realised I’d done too much to rip out in such unforgiving yarn. With even more hindsight I should have swatched the pattern, but I only swatched for gauge on the stocking stitch area. Hey ho, I’ll call it a design feature and no one but me will ever notice, I’m sure.
I should mention that I’ve changed the double decrease from k3tog through the back loop (which was just never going to happen in this yarn) to a slip one-k2tog-psso combination, which is easier, although the k2tog bit is still a bit of a challenge, and sometimes I have to put my needle into the stitches purlwise to open them up before knitting them, which is slowing me down somewhat. But I don’t think that changing the decrease has made the yarnovers change size, I think it’s down to the rib on the other row.
In other news, Mollie went out all day on Sunday, which isn’t like her, she usually wanders in and out all day, and when she came back her face was a bit swollen on one side. By Monday morning she looked like she’d swallowed a golf ball, poor thing (although it didn’t seem to be bothering her). I couldn’t take her to the vets as it was a bank holiday and they were shut, so I kept her in and she slept all day. But yesterday morning I got up to find that she’d managed to burst the abscess open, thankfully in the hall and not on my bed, and made a huge mess of both herself and the hall floor. We went straight to the vets, who diagnosed a cat bite (I wish she’d learn to run away and not fight, I end up there at least once a year with her after she’s been injured) and gave her a antibiotic injection. That’s another £38 on my vet bill this month, and they’re both due for their annual jabs next week. Eek.
But I’m pleased to report that beyond smelling a little ripe, she seems fine now. I just need to hope she stays away from other cats for a while.
Oh dear…that yarn does look a pain to work with. I got the book last year to make the pink cardi, think it’s on the cover? I bought some Merino instead of the correct yarn but it feels to spoingy and I think I’ve knitted it too tightly. It’s in my workbox glaring at me!!
Poor cat, poor bank balance and eugh, at the mess in the hall! Hope he’s feeling better now :)
It is a pain, in more ways than one! Serves me right for buying cheap yarn, although it’s still current and not so cheap at full price. It’s not one I’ll be rushing to use again…
Moll seems fine now, she always is after she’s been to the vets – I think those jabs must have magic in them. Actually, at that price, they should have!
sorry i mean ‘she’
lol!!
The book I bought was the Amalfi one, I think I was trying to tell you that I was glad I hadn’t bought the yarn to go with the pattern.
I’m having coffee and bagels now, which should help me to be a bit more articulate!
Ow, poor Mollie! I hope she gets better soon.
Oh, poor baby. I am glad she’s on the mend.
Eep, poor cat!! Glad she’s getting better! Hope your knitting gets better for you :)
Oh poor Mollie! One of my two had an abscess just like that too. Hope she’ll feeling better soon!
Poor Mollie! I can still remember one of my childhood cats having an abscess on the top of his head, and while he was cleaning himself, moving his head around, it burst!! YUCK! I can still remember the awful smell! Hope you’ve managed to sort out the problems with your knitting!
She still smells! Poor thing. She’s absolutely fine otherwise though, thankfully.
I’m just ploughing on regardless with the knitting :)
Hope you had a lovely holiday!
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