I may not even leave the hotel room. I have a balcony with a gorgeous view. My plan for the day is to knit, catch up on Downton Abbey, take a craftsy course, and random acts of exercise so I don't feel like a total slug. Nothing against slugs of course.
The first thing I did was work on a secret squirrely design project for the fall. I was even able to block it out.
Next onto an advanced Brioche pattern, Icicle. I was about 14 (pattern) rows in which is really 28 rows in Brioches rows when I realized one of the pattern repeats was not like the others. I stared at it hard and long, trying to decide if I was going to rip it out.
Deep sigh. I threw caution to the wind and whipped it off the needles (much like pulling a band-aid off quickly). I had to go back to pattern row 1 after the set up rows. You might be wondering why I didn't pull it back to the cast on. The cast on is fiddly and time consuming.
Success. No stitches were lost in this endeavor and the knit goes on. I'm happy with my decision. Lifelines will be a given in this project.
I watched a Craftsy class in Portuguese Knitting. I am forever in search of a knitting style that will tighten up my natural gauge. I dream of knitting on the needles a pattern calls for rather than two or more sizes smaller.
The different (cultural) methods of knitting fascinate me. Being the knitting geek that I am, I knit two swatches - same needles, yarn, stitches, and rows: one Continental and one Portuguese. The yarn is Berroco Elba (Worsted: 100% cotton, 137 yards). I'll test it out with wool next.
The Continental swatch on the left yielded 4.5 sts/1" versus the Portuguese swatch, which yielded 5 sts/1". Berroco Elba's gauge is 5 sts/1" I want to practice more and maybe knit a small project with this technique. It was a rare luxury for me to take the time to watch an online class.
All in all it was a perfect day.
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