So last night... after much thought wrangling (?) I decided to try the OpRag in the DK Weight Ranco. I cast on (including the 20% extra stitches), I made a few rows... and then became perplexed. While I had calculated the horizontal guage needing 20% extra stitches, hadn't really thought about ROW guage... and at that point, it was a little more math than my tired brain cared to think about.
So, I decided to cast on for a bag I've been wanting to make, the Sipalu bag. This is the bag that came with the Knit Picks Palette yarn sampler. Cast on 240 stitches... YIKES! And it's a provisional cast on. So I'm thinking, hey what a great idea, I'll just cast on to a cable needle with that cast on where you like wrap the yarn and hold the auxillary piece (in this case the options cable). So as I get READY to do this... I realize, oh crap... this is on a size TWO and stupid knitpicks doesn't have interchange for size 2! DARN! So I stop, grab some cotton and start the cast on. I was about 15 stitches in and something happened. I couldn't figure out what part of the motion I was at, so I started over. Then I tried again... I kept losing count and starting over and then the stitches looked weird and there was a lot of "am I doing this right?"
So, after much thought and trial and error, I ended up doing a crochet chain type provisional cast on. Little bummed about it because I was trying to avoid it, oh well, it works, I know it does, so there ya go... now let me just talk about 240 stitches on a US2! HOLY COW!!!
But I started the pattern, it's not difficult, just time consuming. I didn't even make it through a whole row. I could have, but thought better of it because it was getting late, etc. Granted I COULD have stayed up and knit all night, but I used better judgement. I read a few more pages of Mary Thomas (man she cracks me up!).
So today, back to lunchtime knitting and working on the entrelac socks. I'll be taking these to my knit togethers this week as well. And hopefully I'll continue into the weekend with them. Dare I say maybe even get one finished? Ha! It's a long shot. Entrelac isn't difficult, but I've noticed it is definitely time consuming.
There it is, my un-progress. Oh yeah and I didn't finish seaming the sweater either!
I can't wait to see what you think about Mary Thomas's stranding and weaving section. The diagrams that show how to knit/purl while stranding or weaving blew me away -- so thorough!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about row gauge on you OpRag -- just knit it the right length.
Too bad you couldn't do the provisional CO the method you wanted! That bites. I thought I'd mention (despite the fact that you don't have two US2 circs in this case) that you can also use Magic CO with 2 circs where one circ acts as the auxillary needle. The auxillary needle would be the top needle when casting on. Then, after you turn your finished CO around 180 degrees to start knitting, it's the bottom needle. Since the provisional sts are made on a needle tip rather than cable or yarn, they aren't tight. I wish I could've used this on Amused. But, the pattern has the neck broken into three separate provisional COs. So, like you, I did the crocheted provisional CO (DANG IT!).