Hand job...

Manual work, non-automatic...when talking about a machine, you expect the machine does all the work, right? Well, yes the machine does the knitting, but how the stitches come out, in this case, largely depends on a fair amount of hand manipulation by the operator.
Don’t know if I mentioned this before, but there are times when a careful eye may notice a link in some of my designs. I have something I like in one way in a certain design and I find myself incorporating it in another way into another design - sometimes I think I work it to death, but I feel compelled to keep using it to get it out of my system.
I told you about ‘Spots in dots’ and how I came up with this mesh knitting thing that made ‘square’ holes - it is every other needle, but there are actually 3 sts on every 4th needle instead of 2 sts on every other needle. I liked the way it raised the column of stitches and it seemed to help hold the fabric more flat, instead of curling around like stockinette does. So, it seemed natural to incorporate EON with 3 sts on every 4th needle into my mid gauge project for No 50. You may also have noticed I don’t often take the easy way out. Why not add an extra little detail to keep raising that bar?
Planning out ‘Midway’ (yes, it’s another hoodie! - the popularity of this item does not seem to be diminishing), I just happened to have this wonderful wool/alpaca blend hand knitting yarn, slightly heavier than regular DK weight - I think anyway - in a perfect olive-y shade - I think anyway - and like, to back me up, the girls at the photoshoot were just loving this little cardy - both Alex and Shanley WANTED it - Alex even said it made her want to learn to knit!! Shanley began imagining where she would wear it and it turned out to be just about everywhere, from camp to partying. I knew we had a winner even though they didn’t realize the intricacy of the manually transferred lace pattern.
Admission - I knit this on the metal bed SK860 because I wanted the ribs to be 2X2 and with the ribber on that machine, it is totally easy, but I think I finally figured out just why I love the plastic bed LK150 so much. Hand transfers are so much easier on the LK150 because there are no sinker posts to get caught up on. The sinker posts on the metal bed - especially when the ribber is attached and therefore the knit bed is angled - make the transfer moves more exaggerated than with the channels dividing the needles on the plastic bed. If I were to make this again, I’d knit the ribs on the ribber, transfer them up to the main bed, take them off on waste yarn and rehang the pieces on the LK and thoroughly enjoy the hand work!!!
Here’s our cover garment for No 50 - ta-da!!