Don't look at me that way, it was an honest mistake.

This was my major mistake in Loll. If you look closely on the top right of the first photo, this was my problem. I misread the directions. After the shaping, when you're now trying to increase, the instructions are as follows: "Inc in first st (rib to within 2 sts of marked st, M1,P1,M1, rib 3- marked st centre st to this group of 3 sts, M1,P1,M1) twice, rib to last st, inc in last st".


So.

Did you understand all that was written here?

Me neither. Somehow, I got four stitches in the increase, where there should have been three. So I had two rows of four and two rows of two going up the back of pattern. I should have taken a picture and posted. My apologies, I had to rip it back before I lost my nerve.

Never mind the paper-clip, I hate stitch markers; they are entirely too awkward, so I use whatever comes to hand, and this paper-clip was here.

The second picture shows the pattern as it should be. After increasing all the stitches should stick to the pattern of three purl, one slip stitch. Helen (my sort of svengali) says that I should be 'in touch' with my knitting, in terms of knowing when things are going wrong. She is right in that you have to be very 'aware' of the pattern.

There hasn't been a point where I have felt that knit this pattern could be knit on automatic. There are loads of techniques that I've had to learn ever since casting on. I think this pattern would have been better if it had charts, so that you could actually see how things should look before you make a honker of a mistake. If I were to do this again, I'd chart it. I think for any pattern that seems too complex, I'm going to sit down with some graph papers and get my chart on.














This is the back of Loll, finished. The red markers are important to the pattern. I'd recommend that you do them. They also show how much I had to rip back to, because the entire pattern was off kilter. I literally had to tear down ten inches of knitting. Being the chicken I am, I asked Helen (the local Rowan consultant at John Lewis) to do the deed quickly, which is why I have no pictures of my glaring mistake. Mea culpa. The ripping process still painful, but hey, it got done.

I now have the fronts to do, and hope to have them done by Mayday. There's a bit of bother with the problem of the left front that I need to work on. *sigh* I also need to look for buttons for this thing. Strangely, the pattern doesn't really give much in terms of directions for button holes. It just gives you directions for one and says you're on your own in terms of button placing and spacing for six button holes.

This cardigan needs buttons because I live in the UK, and no matter how sunny the day is, there is the sly lick of wind that gets into your clothes. The thing is though, I'm stumped as to what sort of buttons I should get. The colour is more a raw umber, and I want buttons that go with it. Should I employ a whimsical red, or go with more complimentary colours?

I will say this, I do like the drape and feel of Calmer, and wish it wasn't half as expensive as it is.

I mean, there's this South African company that makes an acrylic yarn called 'Pure Gold' called 'courtelle'. It is similar to Rowan calmer in terms of the texture and the feel, but it doesn't have the elasticity that Calmer has. Too bad man, it's like £2.45 for 100 grams of yarn, and the feel and colours of the yarn are sweet. Haven't knitted with it yet, but I intend to do something top down with it.

The colour of the yarn is called 'coffee' which is the best colour for me in this yarn right now, especially since I intend to wear this cardigan all summer - in order to get my money's worth from the yarn.