#54. Summer Yarns

On my “bucket list” was to try some summer yarns, ie. not wool.  This beautiful linen/hemp/silk blend was irresistible to me.  Beautiful colors with a sheen from the silk.  So I bought some to make a cap sleeve top.

But it is indeed rough on my skin.  I’m developing a sore spot from abrasion on my right ring finger. 😢 Maybe if I was a Continental knitter this wouldn’t have happened.  I don’t plan to give up on this yarn.  I love the colors and sheen too much.  I already have another pattern picked out.😁  And I’ll keep working on my Continental knitting!!

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#53. Charting

Patterns are great but I find that a row by row chart is MUCH more helpful.  Telling me to repeat rows A-D five times is nice but a chart that tells me how many stitches to increase/decrease in each section (sleeves, back, sleeves) is much clearer and helps me make sure that I have the correct number of stitches.  Plus it helps me visualize what is going on, where the increases/decreases are.

I have been spoiled.  I usually knit projects as part of a class or with a friend.  Usually one of my friends creates a chart to track the number of stitches in each section and/or row.  Then gives me a copy of her chart.  This time I’m on my own so I had to create the chart.

I would normally generate it on an excel spreadsheet but we don’t have a printer with us here in Florida.  So I bought a cheap composition book and created a chart.  Much better than counting how many times I’ve repeated a set of rows.  I really appreciate that the pattern I used for my advent sweater came with this type of row by row count chart for each size.  This pattern obviously didn’t.  But on the other hand, I guess it was good for my visualization to generate a chart for the size I am knitting.

Maybe some day I’ll find an easy way to generate row by row charts, but for now it’s pencil and paper (or maybe excel😁).

#52 More Cute Markers

As stated many times….I love markers!!!  Here are some ridiculously cute increase/decrease markers.  The little sweaters are M1R and M1L.  It’s kind of hard to see because I added a drawing to the back to show if the running yarn goes front to back or back to front.  Kinda wish I hadn’t added the drawing.

These cute markers are available on etsy at knit bits boutique.  Warning, it ships from Canada which isn’t bad per se but it means there is no tracking info on the shipping.