Long time no post... I'm very busy at the moment and don't have time to blog. I need to write too many thesis pages in too little time, so keep your fingers crossed I'll meet the deadline! More details on this and other topics as soon as I'm done.
In the meantime, for those of you who want to try knitting like the Portuguese do it, here's part 4 of the mini-series. This week's topic: Casting off.
Have fun watching!
For all of you who ever wanted to know more about Portuguese Knitting... this is part 3 of the mini series: How to cast on in Portuguese knitting.
Watch out for part 4 next week!
Yesterday after finishing off the Italian cast-off, when I couldn't get the turtle neck over my head, I thought I knew what the problem was. I thought as I didn't have much yarn leftover that I had sewn the finish too tightly. To explain this a bit further, casting off this way requires you to knit the last 4 rows on a smaller needle size (0.5mm smaller, to be precise) and then to finish off by sewing the remaining stitches. This results in a smooth, rounded edge, unlike the usual cast-off.
Okay, so I un-sew the finish, tinked the last 4 rows and re-knitted them with the ball of yarn I had left (fortunately, there is plenty of yarn left of the ball as I didn't use this color much. For sewing, though, I had to cut the yarn). So far, so good. I was almost done with these 4 rows when I tried stretching the stitches on the needle and it was... not so good. Too tight. Damn! So, even more tinking last night, and hopefully some more relaxed re-knitting tonight. Stay tuned for more Italian adventures!
Last night I finally finished knitting the K_sweater. Well, for now. I tried the sweater on - oh, why me? You have to know, I have quite a large head. So I thought that would qualify me to test the flexibility and endurance of the turtle neck as I used the Italian cast-off there. The instructions said the yarn I was knitting with should be at least 3 times as long as the piece I was casting off. Okay, that's what I did: 3 times and then some. Guess what!
It wasn't long enough. See the short bit of camel-colored yarn? That's how much I had left!
AND, what is more important, I could not get the turtle neck over my head. I must have sewn too tight... but as I was running out of yarn, this didn't really come as a surprise to me.
So, my plans for tonight are to redo the last bit of the neck, and hopefully get it all done tonight. I still don't feel too great due to my cold, so we're staying in tonight and K is cooking for me. (Yay for K! He's so sweet to me when I'm sick.)
I'll leave you into the weekend with a closeup of the cast-off edge of the turtle neck... hope you can see something!
Guess what: I still haven't finished the K_sweater! I didn't feel much like knitting, or seaming, or whatever, lately. I developed this cold that makes me feel weird, and today I pretty much lost my voice, forcing me to cancel a session today. It's weird, if I speak for a little it seems okay, but the longer I talk, the less voice I have. I guess I'm lucky I don't publish a podcast...
Anyways, here's this week's video. Last week I showed you one I found on knitting in Portuguese style, and this week we all can learn how the Portuguese knitters purl. Don't forget to turn your speakers on, and have fun!
