One done, another one done, .. two to go.

Today I've got something finished, and something mended, but it leaves the 'other-one' to finish and the 'other-one' to mend. There has been mending, and knitting and sometimes it has been the same thing. I'll explain.
I've finished the first Theodora sock, it is a nice sock, one I'm looking forward to wearing, so I'm keen to knit the other one asap. I have cast on and completed the toe .. so should be done soon. I've not managed to get photos during the winter daylight - so I'll post images next time (promise).


I've also made myself mend Toby's gansey , I say made myself because I really don't like mending but know when I settle down and mend things it is always easier and quicker than I thought it would be. Having mending a top down knit sleeve I now totally buy all the oft repeated folk lore about things knitted from the top down, particularly sleeves being easy to fix. Of course being me I had made that a little harder by finishing the sleeves with a sewn bind of, but it was fairly straightforward after I unpicked that one stitch at a time. This is the worn edge that I had to start with, its not very worn .. but a stitch had gone and it was laddering up slowly.

First up I snipped a thread along the sewn bind off and one by one un-threaded the bind off yarn thru each stitch. Usually I love working with dark fine yarns and 2.5mm needles ... but when it comes to unpicking those don't make it easy to see which yarn is the stitch and which is the bind off. At some point I realized that if I unpicked in the opposite direction to how I has sewn it the process would be much easier, and so I worked the other way and it was easier.

Once I had the bind off removed I ravelled the sleeve cuff back to just before the garter stitch edging. That seemed to removed all of the work yarn. I was slightly surprised at how little yarn was involved. Then I picked up the stitches all around the cuff and reknit the last section of the cuff with yarn from the same cone I had knit the gansey from. I was happy that I had written down notes in my workbook about stitch count and needles size and how many rows of what where and if I had started the cast off following a knit or purl round. That made it so much easier than peering at the other cuff and trying to make them match.

And because I like the effect of the sewn bind of, I worked exactly the same edge again. Yes it is a pain to unpick .. but as the whole process took less than an hour, I'm game for another repair if its needed. Here is the finished cuff, it hasn't been blocked or washed or steamed. The underneath cuff is the one that didn't need a repair, and the top cuff the repaired one. I imagine it will settle down and blend a little better with a block or wash. There is a slight dimple in the cast off that I didn't noticed until I'd woven in all the ends. I'm sure it will even out with blocking and wear .. and if not it is a gansey for an 11 year old ... it is for wearing not for competition.

I've still got the Owls to fix, and was the lucky recipient of a part ball of the exact same yarn it is knitted in. I'm dragging my feet over that one, I want to take it away with me at the end of the month ... but it will need repairing. That one is cuff up, not top down, and both cuffs are worn. I suspect that means I will have to remove both cuffs entirely, frog them and reknit them from the top down. The stitches won't line up exactly but if I frog the cuff back to the transition from stocking stitch to cabled rib it should look ok.

That is pretty much all I've been up to .. this afternoon I've been plying the yellow 160g of fine single perendale, so now I am off to sit and ply the last of it. I'm away for work Monday night and Tuesday .. so I'll miss spin night and felt like I needed to spin today so I would have some spinning in my week.
Take care
na Stella