The Knitting Automaton

Ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-chunk has been a familiar sound in the house recently. The garter carriage has proven a bit more formidable than I expected. In reality I've actually knitted almost two sweaters. There has been a significant about of frogging, rehanging and a quite a few not so pleasant words. Monday evening the back was completed and I'm on to the sleeves which I'm in the process of calculating. (Kathy - You don't have to all the math if you're following a pattern. I chose not to since I didn't want to spend days searching for something that used the yarn I chose from the stash.)


I'd like to know who decided that sweater backs should be knitted first. I knitted the front for the back which resulted in a significant amount of "rippage" because the charting book I'm using uses the "fully fashioned" shaping method. This means that back and front are knit different sizes as is the resulting armhole shaping. According to Ruth Lee, a well-known machine knitter and designer, this results in a more elegant fit. Right now it's not looking too elegant.

I'm going to do cut and sew for the neckline due to issues with shaping on the garter carriage. My stitches kept dropping the narrower the shoulder got and I eventually got tired and gave up. If anyone has suggestions I'd be glad to here them.

I've also been taking time to enjoy the flowers. They're finally making appearance along with the nice green spring coating that comes every year.




I'm praying that the Canna lilies will come up. So far I've only spotted 2 peeking out the ground. There are more lilies to move and azaleas to plant so the knitting will be on a slow simmer as the daylight increases.