New skills

Seeing how slow going Tinker is going to be I thought last night that it was probably about time for me to look into the witchcraft that is cabling without a cable needle.  I've never bothered before because most of the cables I've knit in the past have involved cabling just a few stitches every few rows and it's no problem whipping the cable needle out for a bit and then popping it away again.  The cabling in Tinker, however, is very frequent and I'm swapping needles every 3 stitches or so, so it had to be worth a go.  Despite the whole operation looking a little alarming in the pictures, with my knitting in hand it took me about three seconds to figure it out and I was off.  My verdict?  I'm not convinced that it is actually any quicker for me, but it is certainly simpler for such small frequent twists.  Given my current limitations (yes I will admit that baby brain is making me pretty stoopid these days)having to keep track of one less needle is a major bonus.  Of course this means that the popular spectator sport of 'watching mummy frantically looking for her cable needle' will have to stop for a while!  Clue: It's in my hair.  Every time.  Except when it's on my lap obscured by my giant tum.

Belly!

Swatching all day, ripping all night

Ah swatching, I will admit it is useful, but oh how I hate it. Yesterday alone I must have made about 6 of the stupid things, nearly every one dashing my hopes that it would be my last. After completely failing to decide on a new project, I put all thoughts of knitting temporarily aside and dived into my stash looking for something suitable for a swap I'm taking part in. As I'd suspected there was nothing inspiring lurking there, but I did come across some Wendy Freedom Wool in chunky which looked promising for Lollie. Could Lollie be back on? 3 swatches later I can safely say no, Lollie is not back on, but as I had Twisted Woolly Toppers open I rediscovered Tinker and wondered if the Azapa I'd originally wanted to use for Lollie might do for that instead. It took a couple more swatches but yes it will indeed do. Hoo-flippin-ray!

Not much to look at yet

Of course, nothing is ever that easy (ha ha ha, easy? ha ha) and after a slow cable cast on and 1 set up row I started to cable and.....nope the instructions made no sense. The chart just didn't work with what I had on my needles and I could go no further. I checked the Woolly Wormhead board on Ravelry because surely someone else must have had trouble making sense of this? Nope, nothing. What was I missing? I am ashamed to admit that it probably took me another 20 minutes to realise that *P2,K2,P2* does not equal *P2,K2* in any way at all. So back to the beginning it was for me. All is fixed now and I think I've got it right. I have a feeling this is going to take a wee while though, the (admittedly uncomplicated) cable pattern is repeated every 6 stitches and there are cables on nearly every row so an FO is probably not all that imminent. It's a cute hat though, it will be worth it.

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It's all gone a bit wrong.

Knittingwise, things have not really been going to plan lately. This is rather a shame as it is getting pretty autumnal and chilly here, just the way I like it. After failing miserably to knit the Lollie hat for Cassie I began to swatch for the Baby Sophisticate, only to fail miserably once again to get gauge with my chosen yarn. I began to wonder if I'd gone mad and completely changed my knitting style overnight, but I check the pattern comments and a few people mentioned that they had problems and to try a chunkier yarn. In an attempt to kill two birds with one stone I tried a swatch with the Araucania Azapa I'd intended for Lollie, but again, no dice. And now I'm flummoxed. I can't decide what to do and this is very odd. I want to just cast on for another project but I just cannot decide on one. I should just move down my queue, but I keep wanting to find alternatives for these patterns I've had to give up on, be it alternative patterns or alternative yarns. Why am I being so indecisive?

My sis, me, my bro and SIL to be and Cassie

Not much else seems to be going quite right either. I didn't find any dresses I liked for my cousins wedding on Saturday, so I ended up wearing the same dress I've worn to the last three weddings I've been to. Luckily it fit over my tummy so it wasn't a total disaster. We had a lovely time though and the happy couple were happy so that's all that counts.
I'll gloss over the horror that was this morning, as I got up just in time to witness one of my cats barfing all over the hallway only to move closer and discover that not all the little piles on the carpet were barf...... Cheers kitty, that's just what I needed!

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