Thursday, September 27, 2012

BFF Cowl, part 2

I finished the first part of my BFF Cowl project with Evelyn last night, and have already sent it off to her.  This morning I couldn't wait to start the second part, so I grabbed another ball of yarn and got going.

Now, I woke up with a huge sinus headache, and when I get like that, I often have a hard time thinking straight.  BUT, I think this pattern is trickier than it needs to be. 

I'm used to knitting from a chart, if there is one, so I started knitting away, assuming that the first row was the right side.  But when I got to row 8 - uh oh!  I realized all might not be well.  I went back and looked at the written instructions, and discovered that there's a little problem. 

There are three separate sets of directions you need to follow when knitting this pattern:  the chart, the line-by-line instructions for each stitch pattern, and the "set up" instructions for each cowl.  I didn't have any problems with the "Stepanie's Link," but for this piece - "Ysolda's Link" - the instructions don't correlate!  The "set-up" instructions say that row 1 is a right side row, while the stitch pattern instructions say it's a wrong side row.  The chart doesn't give any hint at all.

After reading all the instructions closely (something I rarely do), I decided that I would be better off working from the chart and starting with row 1 as a wrong side row.  Once I got that sorted, I was able to knit happily away, and finished the first repeat of the pattern.


I'm very happy with how it's coming along.  The Cascade Cloud knits up with fantastic stitch definition, and I love the ruffled quality of the seed pods.

And how do you like that background?  That's my new knitting chair!  I spent all day Tuesday driving out to Ikea, getting the chairs, driving back and then putting them together, but it was worth it.  The POÄNG makes a great knitting chair.

18 comments:

  1. Oh, this is so pretty! What a great cowl this will be!

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    1. Is it cool enough over there for you to start knitting yet?

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  2. I like the new chair. I sometimes knit with straights so I need a chair without arms. I'm still looking! Can't wait to see the finished cowl.

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    1. You'll also need something vintage-looking, right? Otherwise I'd recommend this one!

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  3. Very pretty!! :) It's looking great!

    I hope they fix the pattern- you should email them and hopefully save some future knitters some strife! :)

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    1. I just don't want to be all, "Hey - you did it wrong!" LOL! But I will link my Rav page to this post.

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  4. Love the cowl and the chair Gail. I stayed up half the night working on a mistake I made in my Sunday Sweater, got up this morning to see I had made it even worse and frogged the whole thing! Oy, sometimes knitting is NOT relaxing.

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    1. Oh no! I agree - sometimes it's the opposite of relaxing!

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  5. knitting is a huge mystery to me, but this looks so pretty!

    i've been dying of sinus headaches myself... can't think straight either! ugh!

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    1. This year has really been bad for a lot of people - I wonder what gives?

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  6. Isn't it so frustrating when patterns aren't proofread we'll before being released? I noticed that problem, too, when I first cast on for this cowl but fortunately, I read those first few lines carefully and sorted it out before starting. Yours is looking great!

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    1. You're a better woman than me! I'm always too anxious to start knitting to waste time with reading the instructions!

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  7. Ah I love the pattern on your new knitting chair, so cute! Also, you are making me seriously want to do an Ikea run. I'm so glad that you mentioned that problem with the cowl, when I finally get around to starting maybe I won't pull my hair out over it.

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    1. I knew a few other people (like you!) were doing it, so I wanted to put the info out there :-) Despite that hiccup, I'm really having fun with it!

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  8. What a cool-looking pattern! It amazes me what you good knitters can whip up in seemingly no time at all. I wish I had time to learn! The chair looks great too -- a friend had one of those chairs with a plain old white cushion, and it was her favorite reading chair.

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    1. When I was researching the chair online, I saw a plain white one that the owner had stenciled onto! Such a cool way to personalize it!

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  9. I saw this pattern and would love to knit it with my BFF, who is also a knitter! Perhaps ill wait for the kinks to get worked out.

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    1. I was going to say that those were the only errors I found, but then I realized that I still haven't read the entire pattern through, LOL!

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