Plodding along

No pictures today, as we haven't seen the sun much these past few days. I've been knitting as much as I can in the midst of family crises and wedding planning.

The body of the Fairly Easy Fair Isle sweater is complete, and I've gotten past the Fair Isle parts of both sleeves. It's taking me some time to get acclimated to knitting with the Brown Sheep bulky yarn, as well as to get the tension right for the Fair Isle. I've frogged the sleeves several times, but I think I'm on the right track now. I'm pretty happy with how the waist shaping turned out, though the whole thing seems to be a little bigger than it should be. Darn gauge issues! Hopefully it will all work itself out in blocking. I put both sleeves on the same needle so I can work them simultaneously and they should hopefully come out the same. (Actually I did the Fair Isle parts of the sleeves individually because I was too lazy to set aside an extra spool of each color.)

Probably the most invaluable lesson I've learned so far is, when starting a new skein of Brown Sheep yarn, to take the label off the skein. Both ends are wrapped around the outside of the skein, under the label, for easy access. No need to dig around in the middle of the skein, as I so foolishly did the first time, ending up with an "abortion" of red yarn. (You have John to thank for that lovely metaphor.)

Also, I now know why you're not supposed to put two decreases right next to each other: big ugly holes! Fortunately I was able to go back and fix those, even though I had already done all four sets of decreases. How I love looping up the ladder with a crochet hook! (When it's stockinette or ribbing. I hate doing that with garter or seed stitch!)

I've also learned how to M1F and M1B. Fun!