They're Called "Wrist"warmers for a Reason...

Day 2 of my progress on the #knitchat knit-a-long: I finished one wristwarmer at my son's hockey practice today, then cast-on the second one this afternoon. Some in the KAL have complaints about the 'curling' so I've taken a photo to show what that looks like:

As you learn, stocking stitch (plain knitting) tends to curl. Garter stitch (knit row/purl row) or ribbing (knit stitches alternated with purl stitches) will lay flat. I'm not overly concerned about the item curling when OFF the needles, but if it affects the way it fits, then I'd have an issue. Certainly some prep rows leading into the cables would help make this lie flat, but the designer may have had a different preference.

Another great thing about knit-a-longs (OR having someone knit a pattern and leave notes before you try it out), are the 'warnings'. Learn from other people's mistakes! This is an 8 row repeating pattern. Some people made the mistake of assuming row 3 & row 7 were the same - they are NOT...so I kept an eye out when I hit row 7 and understood how people made the error: the difference between row 3 & row 7 happened halfway through the row. Lesson: Read through entire row before starting/assuming.

Another warning issued was the length (or lack thereof). Some made it longer than the pattern called for. I kept with the original pattern (counted it out to 86 rows, then bind off). This is called a WRIST-warmer not a fingerless glove...so the fit, is right at my knuckles with most of the knitting down my wrist (fitting nicely into my coat sleeve).

It's a travelling work-week coming up, so I may not finish these until the weekend, but I'm sure to finish this before the end of the "Selfish Knitting Month".




Related articles

• Twin Rib Baby Cap (stringandbeans.blogspot.com)
• Knit or Purl? (knittysurprise.wordpress.com)

Yummy Mummy Knit A Long

January was declared "Selfish Knitting Month", not sure by whom, but a lovely group of tweeps who 'meet' weekly under the hashtag #knitchat decided upon a KAL for selfish knitting - The Yummy Mummy WristWarmers by Linda K.

I cast-on mine today, and already ran into self-made issues.

1) Substituted Jaeger Wool-Silk yarn for the Blue Sky Alpaca yarn called for. BSA requires 2x50g balls, each ball being 133yds - my JWS is 20g balls of 100yds each - this means I'll likely need to make a join on each hand.

2) Using Long-Tail Cast-on - I had too long of a tail, so had to cast-on a 2nd time...as I started knitting realized I cast-on too many (I got lazy & just dropped one hoping it'll be hidden)

3) Sticky Needles - not sure what got onto my 2.75mm needles, but they were sticky so things weren't moving smoothly - had to bring out the microfibre cloth to smooth/clean them down. Not to mention I only had 4 instead of 5 needles (I prefer 5)

4) Started getting ladders (I never get ladders) - originally thought that was due to the 4 vs 5 needles, but it ended up being where I split the 59 stitches - originally split BEFORE the k1tbl that was a sl1 on alternating rows - shifted those over & things seems to be better.
ie split 19, 19, 21 - now split 20, 19, 20

So far, have 20 rows, fits me, looks pretty - just hoping it'll bloom once washed....oh, did I forget to list the fact I didn't swatch??