12.04.2021

I love this pattern. But like many others (it appears) I struggled with the Cast On and the Cast Off - but they are soooo worth the effort.

As I reknit this, here is where I struggled… and why.

Errata Cast On:
After casting on an even number of sts + 2 (beginning with a twisted loop that is not counted, then p1, k1 + p1 stitch with the tubular cast on method and a backward loop) you are double knitting two rows. The pattern doesn’t specifiy this, but when you slip a stitch you slip that stitch purlwise WYIF thereby trapping the float within the double knit fabric - you’re basically wrapping the sl1 on the front.

inc/dec:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMeQHI7LLsM

Thus, errata in written pattern:
M1R means insert LEFT needle from back to front in between the horizontal strand of the stitch just made and the following one, then knit it.

M1L means insert LEFT needle from front to back in between the horizontal strand of the stitch just made and the following one, knit tbl.

Casting Off
Anne Ventzel’s tutorial from a different project helped with the general movements, but note that the first few and last steps are slightly different because of the selvedge stitch in the slanting slipover, but the steps that you’ll have to repeat over and over are the same: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UPamU8qMKs

The written instructions were super confusing, but it did help to know in advance that a knit stitch would have to be worked purlwise first, then knitwise later on. And a first contact with a purl stitch would have to be knitwise, then purlwise upon the second encounter (i fucked up the first couple of attempts and this is how i noticed that something was going wrong). (= each stitch worked twice, similar to working the kitchener stitch)

My main mistake was to not take the wording of the needle-movements seriously. Do distinguish between pushing a needle THROUGH a stitch (thereby basically knitting or purling it as indicated) and pushing the needle purlwise BETWEEN stitches, thereby simply guiding your needle through to the RS from the WS so that you can then comfortable thread the needle through the next stitch knitwise again.

Also, don’t guide your yarn over your left knitting needle before pushing it from the WS to the RS BETWEEN two stitches, rather take it around the tip of your left needle to the back - as though you were wrapping your first stitch. At some point I found it easier to combine the 5 steps so as not to fuss with the very long thread too much and establish a rhythm for myself (1 - knit the first/knit stitch & take it off, purl the next KNIT stitch right away & leave it on; 2- purl the first/purl stitch & take it off, thread needle from WS to RS in between the first and second stitch; 3- knit the next purl stitch & leave it on)

Once you have gotten it right (and you will), the movements will become more intentional. There isn’t anything wrong with the wording, it simply is a matter of seeing it done being easier than making sense of the words by yourself. :)

10.05.2021

I knit a second version in my handspun yarn, a 2ply Swaledale-BFL blend. Why it never occured to me before to blend fibers from my stash on my drum carder, I don’t know. It was so much fun trying to shoot for a specific project with my handspun, fail (too heavy, too think, too much twist), and redo it, I’ll totally do that again. Also, yay, no sleeves! I spun about 400g and roughly had 600m to work with, I think. :)