Monday 12 March 2007

Picovoli apace

This morning I found some greengage jam stuck to my foot in the kitchen, which was the last hint I needed to remind me to wash the floor. So I nobly sacrificed my morning knit time in order that my family might live in relative hygiene - which means that Picovoli is where I left it last night, just at the end of the waist decreases after six days of knitting. Doesn't that look excitingly like a wearable garment? Thank-you, top-down knitting in the round, for gratifying my impatience!

This is not a bad workrate for me, so I had better confess to my knitwrongs before I'm accused of betraying my blog title. Well I've mysteriously lost two stitches at one underarm (probably by overzealous k2tog-ing to tidy up the stitches either side of the mid-row cast-on), and my picked-up short-row wraps on the right side look like this (see right): not exactly monstrous, but not the perfect, invisible result I was hoping for. However, as they're discretely positioned under the arm hole and won't be seen, I can't bring myself to rip back and fix them. I'll just do better next time, and given that the short rows make for a pretty much perfect fit, I think I'll be making much use of them from now on, so I'll get my chance to get them right.

I'm now on ball 4 out of the 7 balls of Rowan Wool Cotton I snagged on eBay, so I'm planning on continuing the top to upper-thigh length and wearing it as a tunic. Apart from that, and the addition of the short rows (borrowed from White Lies Designs' Shapely Tank Top), and the loss of the 2 stitches, and the colour accent around the edges, I'm following the pattern exactly as written - and hail to the Grumperina, for it is a very fine pattern indeed with beautifully conceived shaping. My yarn, while not the recommended yarn for the pattern, gives the combination of drape and warmth I want for a Spring tunic and is soft to knit. It's also machine washable, which is the practical choice if you are, like me, liable to find clots of jam adhering to you first thing in the morning.

2 comments:

Blu Roux said...

Overall, a nice piece of work, Webbo!
I also think that the wraps from the short rows aren't going to be too noticeable.
Oh, and remind the kiddos that jam is better in the tummy than on the floor. ;-)

Sarah Ditum said...

Thank-you, Blu! I'm ashamed to say that the jammy floor was probably more to do with me than the children ...