I was not obedient!

Hello my knitting friends! Many thanks for the comments on my scarf! I sure was delighted by your compliments. Wow, there were even suggestions for me to send the scarf to Knitty or Magknits !!! ;) I didn't even know there were such opportunities. Maybe one of these days... when I become more proficient in knitting! Sincerely, it's such a nice feeling to be able to share my knitting adventures with you all!

What's new? I was not obedient!! Why? I've been telling myself not to start any new project as my WIP's are fighting for a space on my tiny knitting corner. Not to mention how guilty I feel for not finishing my wip's. My little excuse story happened this way. The day after finishing my sis' scarf I found myself in downtown just close by the LYS. Although, I told myself that there was no significant need to go there... Forget about all the good reasons for not just stopping by. :D It was gratifying that I walked out the store with 6 balls of On line - Linie 39 Kaschemerino in a taupe shade. My plan was to knit my Topaz mini sweater in which my hands have been itching to start since I spot it in my newest magazine.

This mini sweater is knitted in one piece ( minimum seaming), an easy one I thought when I saw the chart , plus it only has seed stitches ( moss stitch?). I was too naive, did not see the previous page where it has a chart with short rows for the collar. The problem when I work with the Japanese books, is that I have to forget about the pages order. Even though I open the book from right to left, the patterns don't follow the scheme. Besides being in separate pages, the sequence could be from left to right or in any little corner of any other page. Get the picture? I am sure the cause is that I can't read the directions, there should be some indications. How do I decipher the recipe? I mostly search by the pattern number but sometimes I just miss them.

Going back to short rows, I am a novice in this topic and of course I can't just follow the chart. I did some size adjustments ( as usual) and that didn't help at all! Needless to say , right? Besides the short rows, there was a picture of a small rectangle that at first I thought it was a pocket. Hey, but the design has no pockets !! It took me a while to connect it to the collar part. The trick is to knit this small piece ( which is part of the back collar) and continue to knit with the collar in the front , so there is no need to mend ( have no idea how to do invisible seaming in seed stitches, is that possible?!)

Oh well, I was about to rip the whole thing last week because that little bottom curve was not coming out nicely. After a few deep breaths I came back to my normal mind and I decided not to end up with five hand wound balls. :)

Hopefully, with a few more work I should have a mini sweater that resembles this picture below: Design from Puppy magazine - Autumn/Winter 2005 Vol. 4. ISBN4-07-249372. This magazine was recommended by Eva and has lots of cable works and some intarsia as well. It's my first acquisition in this series and I like the designs. My first impression is that their pattern is not so clear ( at least for this project) compared to the Let's knit series. Also this book is not so popular. I have not seen it in shelves of bookstores I normally shop. However, I was lucky to find it at bookstore when i was about to check if they could order it for me. And it was the only copy available ( lucky me).

If you are interested in this magazine, I believe it can be ordered through a bookstore that carries Japanese knitting books or check this site given to me by Eva.

Have a nice weekend and stay away from your LYS if you have many wip's. Look who's giving the advice! lol Actually, go for it, have lots of fun shopping for what we all love... yarn, yarn,yarn...and knitting books!