Lets try that again ....

for a third time, maybe this time I'll get it right? You see I thought I was finished knitting the body of Owls, or nearly finished. There was the minor matter of making it a few inches longer, 1.5 inches so not even a few ... and so ... I worked those inches, and stopped to position the side seam point, as you do. For a cardigan or sweater knit in the round, you need to have the side seam marked so the under arm stitches can be set aside ... equally on either side of the side seam. Little things like symmetry there are important.
So I counted the stitches between my left side front and left side back shaping points on the left, 30 stitches. That is easy, count 15 stitches, put in a knitters safely pin to mark the side seam. Turn the work over and count 15 stitches from the right side front shaping point,

Oooo

that is not right, 15 stitches is not half way between the right side front shaping and the right side back shaping, O .... ooooo, this side has 40 stitches ....

as my 9 year old son would say Dum dum ... dum in an attempt to introduce an element of dramatics. Let me tell you it was dramatic enough inside my head with or without his voiceovers.

I sat there stupidly thinking over and over "they don't match".




Bother!
It took a cuppa tea, and maybe something stronger, and I hauled the ball winder out of the hall cupboard, and wound off all the knitting till all I had was just the cabled ribbed hem band, and and inch of plain stocking stitch worked above it. Two 50g balls of yarn. That was Sunday Night ....dum dum .... dum and no I did not make photos, some things pass by without a camera recording the happening. Honestly some times that how it should be.

So I knit and I knit and I knit some more, all the while very aware this was the third re-knit of the body ... but now its almost done.
I've knit back to nearly the end of the shaping and it looks beautiful, and pretty much the same as before, but this time there is an equal and matched number of stitches between the left and right side shaping points, rather than being 2 inches more on one side. Yes at 5 stitches to an inch, those extra 10 stitches made 2 inches of difference. And here it is.

Today I report pretty much the same as was reported the last time I thought I had knit the body. Today I started teaching again, a full day with students, so I'm tired and happy - they are a good bunch. Today I received notification informally but assuredly that I had passed the final paper for this which means I don't have completing that final report assignment looming on my to do list anymore, and in the mail I got two patterns for Born to Knit Signe mittens and BK Edith Mittens, gosh they are beautiful. I know this post is all backwards, and I still have to nominate recipients for the Kreative Blogger award (I'm making a list and checking it twice), and I am really enjoying the comments and emails and Ravelry messages with suggestions for Hand Knit designers of note to inspire my students (I'm making another list and checking that twice). Maybe I'll check both thrice? I'll post both soon ... promise.

and Yes, I know why they didn't match, a little point of there being 11 repeats of cable and rib pairs around the hem .. and me thinking there were 10 ... lesson learned.


Please excuse me whilst I knit some more on the body of my Owl sweater, you see its the third body I've knit ... and I'd like it to be the last.

Na Stella