Third time lucky?

I've been trying (and trying and trying) to start a tablecloth, which I will use as a shawl, of course. It's the "Tablecloth with center (sic) star" from "Anna" February 1987. I am using the olive green Cashwool I got in Yorkshire and my trusty Hiya Hiya 2.5mm circular needles.

It all seemed to be going fairly well until I managed to make a complete pig's ear (technical term) of one of the double decreases used to close the top of the petals. I didn't discover this until the next round, by which time there was a huge hole. As I was so near the beginning (just about twenty rounds in), I decided to rip out and start again. I was quickly back on track and then I got to about round 45 and just didn't like the look of the area around where the "magic" loop came out. I tried readjusting the tension with a sewing needle. No better. I tried dropping down the offending four stitches and knitting them back up. Even worse. I carried on for two more rounds and then I just knew I wasn't happy with it and I didn't think I ever would be. Out it came.

Part of the difficulty was that in this particular area there were YOs at the end (or beginning) of the needle. It seemed to make a huge hole and just accentuated the ladder effect that all lace knitters need to guard against when changing needles while working a piece in the round. I'm trying to counteract that this time round by not doing a YO at the beginning (or end) of the needle but waiting until the next round and picking up the running thread between the needles. This seems to be tightening that area a little bit, though I'm only up to round sixteen so I haven't done that more than once so far.

I'm almost to the point of flinging it across the room.

I think this was the first try:



I started the Wrap Me Up wrap again, this time using Rowan Tapestry in the rainbow colourway:



This is much, much better in my opinion, though I wasn't able to buy enough yarn in my LYS, so I'm now stalled for lack of yarn - it seems to be taking a long time to get here. One of my knitting friends has just made this same wrap using the same yarn. She has yarn left and has very generously offered to send it to me - I bet that arrives before Rowan gets round to sending it.

For light relief, I've started a "Sock Yarn Blanket". Garter stitch mitred squares using left over sock yarn and joining together as I go. I've made about thirty squares, so it is growing, if rather slowly. This is obviously going to be a long term project.



Ann-at-work's Smart car has died. She is blaming it on all the yarn that I crammed into it on the way back from SkipNorth. I am not so sure and think there may be a deeper, darker reason. She's got a very zizzy (technical term) new Golf and my first thought when she appeared in it was, "Wow, we could fit tons of yarn in that!"

There were going to be pictures in this post but Blogger is playing up (as is often the case these days) and doesn't seem to want to play with me. I'll publish this anyway - just so you know I'm still alive and knitting, and come back later and try to add the pictures. (Edited later: finally got the pictures uploaded.)

Oh, and I'm through to the second round of the Yarn Smackdown and have just sent off a pink number in Rowan Kid Classic to my victim in Maryland - little does she know her death is on its way (though I expect mine from her is too - it's all down to the USPS and the good old Royal Mail at this stage. May the best postman win.)

Last week they said it would snow.

It did: