Lost in Translation

Whether a pattern is translated from another language or the (English) it's written in isn't clear, there are times when you have to re-interpret a bit of the pattern to be clear for your own way of thinking.

Jane hasn't knit in a couple of weeks and needed to determine where she was in her Two Harbors Poncho.

Calann was swatched and ready to cast on for the Bergere Poncho #286.57 in Bergere Magic +. Her gauge was tigher than called for.  Since the circumference is 100" around, she going up only going to go up one needle size (her gauge will still be tighter). This will reduce the circumference by 14".

The pattern is translated from French. Something defintely gets lost in translation. This combined with the difference in how knitting directions are phrased necessitated reading the instructions together and rewriting when necessary.

Debbie attempting the Pixie crocheted hoo which was also translated from another language. She had attempted the pattern eight times to no avail.  It caught me up short as well.  Danni was able to puzzle it out and help her on her way.  Ninth times a charm?

Eleanor finished one sleeve on her Cocoon sweater. The goal for next week is to have the second sleeve finished.  That way she can sew them in and pick up for the border. There are short rows involved (which always gives knitters pause) - including pickingup wraps.  In her dark, fuzzy yarn this will be a challenge.  Together we will come up with a plan.

Cornelia was feeling very discouraged.  She's having a very difficult time catching both plies of the yarn.  There are ways to sort this out during finishing so it won't show on the front, but it's not the best solution.  We concluded that her needles are way too slippery for her yarn.  

To simplfy her cast on, I wanted her to cast on using the outside and inside strands of her yarn instead of estimating the tail in the long tail cast on.  It's always a little "risky" to pull out the center strand.  First of all, it's hard to locate.  Second of all, you often end up pulling out a clump of yarn guts.  (Sorry, there should have been a warning for that graphic yarn description.)  

I had a first ever.  I pulled out a yarn baby.  The center came out as an independent little ball of yarn.  

i switched her to bamboo.  Here's the plan: begin one of the fronts (it's a cardigan) and put 

the back in the freezer (time out).  Seriously thiough, if you have to rip out a yarn that is fluffy or sticky, putting it in the freezer for an hour or so will keep it from sticking as much.  I hate to see a knitter so discouraged.  Desperate times called for desperate measures.  We'll see if the bamboo needles alleviate the issues she's been having.

Mary had several projects to go over.  First off was one of her Building Block squares.  She missed a center yarn over in a couple of repeats and it through her stitch count off.  We worked on reading her stitches and how to replace the yarn over. She set that aside and began the next block to learn the left twist stitch.

Over the weekend she took my cable class and is making good progress on my Runway Cabled Headband pattern.

Lastly, Mary checked in on the back of her Customfit tunic.  She just has to finish one shoulder and she can begin the front.  It looks great, doesn't it?

Linda was ready to knit the border on the top down baby sweater she's been knitting.  That was easy.  What she needed help with was placing the sleeve stitches back on her needles and getting orientated on following the sleeve decreases.

Deborah started her mittens over since last week.  She was ready to finish the gusset.  Then it's easy knitting until the shaping for the top of the hand. 

Linda (different from the Linda above) first needed to find where she was in her pattern.  She got caught up in the difference between working armhole shaping for back versus cardigan front. Linda was automatically doing armhole decreases on both sides of the front when there should only be one armhole decrease on a cardigan front. We re-wrote the language and order of instructions.

She is also fixing swaeter that is too short by picking up sts. To make it look more like a design element and less like a "fix" she is going to knit the added border in garter.  She hasn't decided whether she will knit it with a contrast yarn or the same yarn.

Finally, Leslie decided to knit another Cirrus Poncho in the burgundy/maroon color.  Strike while the pattern is fresh.  I really need to knit this poncho.

That's all folks.