Finally, finally, finally, I have begun my Blueberry Moon sweater using the Malachite colorway of Rowan 4 Ply soft, which is a fingering weight merino wool. According to Rowan's website it is a washable yarn, so maybe that's why my washed swatched didn't blossom. Hmm....
I was hoping to knit this on size US2 needles. I have a set of two 16" bamboo circulars for the initial knit up but knowing I'm going to need the larger lengths for when I get closer to the bust portion of the garment I hit the web in search of bamboo needles and found zip. Seems like the only market for size 2 and smaller is sock knitting and sock knitters primarily use dpns or metal circulars. I want bamboo. Insert a big WAH!
In fact some of the things I did read about bamboo needles in the smaller sizes echo the complaint that I have with the needles I do have. There is a metal join between the nylon cording and the bamboo needle. It snags at the stitches so that one must manually push the stitches over the join, knit up these stitches, manually push the next set of stitches over the join, knit them up, and so on and so on. Not fun.
So I decided to use (the recommended) size 3 needles instead. In order to knit up the shoulder cuff I wont join the two sides, so I will use size 4 needles on the purl side of the garment to account for my tight purling. I cast on 161 stitches, 2 for selvage and 159 stitches for the p2k1 rib.
At one point I got all in a tizzy thinking I was doing the selvage increases wrong. Instead of frogging the piece then and there, I decided to put it aside until I could think clearer on it. I quickly turned my attention to my Cashsoft Shawl which is going ever so slowly on it's addi turbo needles. At least it looks purdy, eh?
I was hoping to knit this on size US2 needles. I have a set of two 16" bamboo circulars for the initial knit up but knowing I'm going to need the larger lengths for when I get closer to the bust portion of the garment I hit the web in search of bamboo needles and found zip. Seems like the only market for size 2 and smaller is sock knitting and sock knitters primarily use dpns or metal circulars. I want bamboo. Insert a big WAH!
In fact some of the things I did read about bamboo needles in the smaller sizes echo the complaint that I have with the needles I do have. There is a metal join between the nylon cording and the bamboo needle. It snags at the stitches so that one must manually push the stitches over the join, knit up these stitches, manually push the next set of stitches over the join, knit them up, and so on and so on. Not fun.
So I decided to use (the recommended) size 3 needles instead. In order to knit up the shoulder cuff I wont join the two sides, so I will use size 4 needles on the purl side of the garment to account for my tight purling. I cast on 161 stitches, 2 for selvage and 159 stitches for the p2k1 rib.
At one point I got all in a tizzy thinking I was doing the selvage increases wrong. Instead of frogging the piece then and there, I decided to put it aside until I could think clearer on it. I quickly turned my attention to my Cashsoft Shawl which is going ever so slowly on it's addi turbo needles. At least it looks purdy, eh?
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