fairisle foibles...

On the Two-Faced Wendy, I did a scoop neck, 10 cm (D) down and the vee, 15 cm (other D) down from the top of the shoulder, both with a half width of 9 cm (B from the schematic), shortrowing both. On the vee piece, because the row count for fairisle is different (42 rows to 10 cm as opposed to 50 rows for stockinete) I recalculated the decreases (need 30 sts in 64 rows), starting at RC170 which is 15 cm below the top of the shoulder. Put the left side in hold - used the ravel cord method just to make sure not to damage that line of stitches and to make it easier to keep track of the vee shaping: [1 st, KWK, 2 sts, KWK] 7X; 1 sts, KWK, 9X which puts 30 sts in hold in 46 rows. Leave these in hold and knit to top of the shoulder without wrapping. After removing the shoulder (see below), pick up the remaining neck portion edge to the top of the shoulder, knit a loose row in the neckband colour (dark brown here) over this side of the vee and chain off. This is a neat, quick way to get the vee done in fairisle! Love it! I'll be using this method again!

shortrowing vee

A few other details about knitting fairisle: shoulder was shortrowed over 5 rows and then all returned to UWP. Change to stockinette and knit 1 row in the background colour (tan here), then remove on waste.  Do the same for the other one. If you don’t knit the plain row, good luck picking up those stitches! Just saying! To join the shoulder, pick up the first one, knit side facing. Hang the second piece, wrong side facing and rip out that row of stockinette (easy to do because that’s the way it was knit). Pull this set through the back set and presto! you have a nice seam, without a line of plain knitting because the second set of stitches is fairisle and when pulled through the plain row of the first side, disguises the plain row. For comparison, the shoulder join on the left of the photo, I hung the first side, the way it was knit, ripped out the row of stockinette and then turned the piece on the garter bar. Hung the second side, ripped out the row, and joined as above, putting last fairisle rows, one through the first and then cast off. You be the judge - there is a slight difference looking at it like this but not enough to make it worth the danger of loosing a stitch! And who’s going to be studying your shoulder seams?

in the pocket...

Did I mention I also just happened to have almost the exact shade of WCD for the pocket lining – it’s lighter/thinner so doesn’t add too much extra thickness for the single-layer pocket.
Funny, the colour name of the three different beige/tan yarns: the WCD is ‘sand dune’, the mercerised cotton is ‘khaki’ and the alpaca is ‘camel’.
I set the deformed Back aside to think about. My options are re-knit the whole thing if I have enough yarn  after the fronts are done (likely); redraft and rip it back to the point of the mistake and cast it off and make the back yoke deeper to reflect (possible); or rip back, rehang, reprogram and hope for the best – worth a try and I’d have more bragging rights!


begin pocket slit shortrow ravel cord

On to the fronts. I’ve decided on an inside-patch pocket set into a vertical slit. This will mean knitting to the bottom of the pocket opening (in pattern with DAK, bless his little heart!); putting one portion in hold, knitting the depth of the slit, holding this side; putting the first held side back in work, re-reading the row and knitting this side up to match the other, blah-blah-blah…for a little recap of the MAO-approved shortrow method, check this link for photos and how-to in lace [https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2017/01/life-lessons.html] Also plug ‘shortrow ravel’ into the search box at the top left of the page for other instances.

shortrow using garter bar to hold sts

Practise a few deep breaths, jump in and get to the bottom of the slit, no problem. Because I don’t want to be passing the carriage over and over the held side, possibly damaging the yarn of the held row, I’m using the ravel cord method of shortrowing, bringing the stitches back to A position on the ravel cord  so there are no needles sticking out but you need to make sure the held stitches remain back in A. I find out quite quickly this new carriage has a zero-tolerance policy for this and suffice it to say, I did manage to get the first side of 26 rows knit with only six instances of severe profanity, while considering ways to revise my plan for the second front. I’m not at the abandon-ship level of frustration yet!

successful slit opening for pocket

For the second side of the slit, I put the first side out of work by taking it off on the short section of garter bar and roll it over on itself and clamp it to keep the stitches from falling off – works successfully and Bob’s your uncle! One Front done! I did briefly contemplate making the second front in two pieces – the slit opening for the pocket is a vertical line and I could just seam the two pieces above and below, leaving the same slit for the pocket, but what the heck? What is life without a little adversity?
I just thought of the perfect name for this thing – The Skin Game! or maybe just The Skinny!