At Last - Progress So Far

Of course, now that I have made the effort to post about Forecast, it's so gloomy outside that it's impossible to take a decent photo. We'll have to save that for the grand showing of the completed garment. This may include a gapping between the button bands and, in fact, severe stretching of fabric all round. I did want my Forecast on the snug side, but I think this may require a generous dusting of talcum powder in order to get into it in the first place. Put it this way - it will either be so snug that it'll make me look really slinky, or it will be so snug that it will show off all the bits I don't want to show off. Extra bits (though I don't have as many of those as before - ha!).

I've been enjoying this knit so much I will make another. I already know that on the next one I'll start the ribbing higher up - just under the bust - and I might do the original sleeves. I tried my current Forecast on so many times, in an attempt to get the ribbing to start just where I wanted it but, weirdly, once I'd got a few rows of the ribbing done, it turned out that the top section was longer than I thought. Having said that, I am still very happy with it. On the sleeves, I've started the ribbing above the elbow, instead of nearer the wrist. I'm happy with that, too. My only concern is that the upper, cabled part of the sleeve may not be as snug as I'd like, in comparison with the lower, ribbed part - and this may make my arms look a bit chunky. If the upper part was huge and puffy that would be fine, as it would be obvious that it couldn't possibly be my real arm!

I expect you all know that this is knitted from the top down. I really enjoy this way of knitting. It does make it so easy to monitor progress and make adjustments as you go, something I've not been confident about doing in the past. It's just so brilliant to be able to slip the garment on and see it coming along, even if I need at least two pairs of hands to hold the fronts close together (to see if they actually meet in the middle).

I've been using lifelines effectively for the first time ever (I tried one on the Edwardian Shawl, about ten repeats ago, but got lazy). The lifelines this time have not been in case of errors - I put one in every time I make a change to the pattern (such as starting the ribbing high up on the sleeve) so that, if I don't like it, I can rip back to the point where I changed it, and not right back to the beginning. This gives me a real sense of freedom within which anything may be possible.


I've included a close-up of the yarn, which was taken in better light, a week ago. It really is lovely in real life; there's a light covering of deep red fluffiness all over it, in the right light. I will definitely use Cascade 220 again.

I just have one and a half sleeves and the edging to do. See you then.