I like when knitting and crochet is combined. It gives any knitting a romantic overtone, which I love. This is from the Hungarian version of the german magazine Diana. Of course the yarn is different, my gauge is different, I had to recalculate the pattern (what else is new), and figure out the decreseases. The yarn came from the turkish company ICE (bought on e-bay). The yarn is OK, and very affordable, and they ship fast. And use a different service NOT the mail (which knowing the unreliability of the hungarian post office is a great plus). On the site they said it is 50-50 bamboo and cotton. The ball band said 100% mercerized cotton...Hmm. I sent an email asking about that though. But it does acts like it has bamboo in it.
Not that much change it this one though, except for the redrawing of the charts for the different number of stitches. I did changed the tie from a crocheted one to a knitted Icord though. I came to that point on a Sunday evening when I was at work. Very quiet afternoon, mind you. I knitted the collar, picked up the stitches for the I cord, and realized I brought the wrong DPNs with me... I had four choice:
1. I could use the bigger DPNs, but I knit loosely as it is, using bigger needles would result something that would be good for a few things, but a tie is not one of them.
2. I had a crochet hook, so I could crochet it.
3. I could wait until the evening I get home and knit the ropes then.
4. I could dash to the mall in my "lunch" break and see if the haberdashery has any DPNs. They do have a limited selection of most things, so that really is a question. Do I need an other set of 3mm DPNs? Not really.
But you know me. Yes, I did rushed out, and I did get the needles (they had it, yay), for twice as much as the wholesaler I usually get them from. But the ties were knitted.
Then I had some yarn left. Yuck. Don't everyone hates those small balls of leftover yarns, that has like only a few meters. I can't throw them away (it is YARN), but there is nothing to use them for either. I had 200 gramms more than the pattern called, but I guess cotton (or cotton+bamboo) is heavier than the silk cotton it was made in, so I had to open all eight skeins. Trying the sweater on I saw that the collar could benefit a bit more width... I (frogged) unknitted the cast off measured how much yarn it took (268 stitches loosely cast off = 7 meters of yarn) picked the stitches back and knitted until the yarn had slightly more than seven meters left, then cast off again. I ended up with about a meter of yarn left. Now, that is more like it.
BTW I did the (frogging) unknitting and picking up on the bus (waiting for it to leave). I only travel with PT in the city for short distances, so they are not my usual KIP place (doctors office are much more). I was the first on the bus, I had my choice of seats, and I realized there is at least ten minutes before it leaves the station. I was anxious to finish the sweater, so I started the (frog)unknit while he bus was empty (not many to look at me strangely, right?), and I lost, I had my mp3 player and a Stash and Burn episode in my ear When the time came and the bus started the engine and I looked up... it was almost full, and more than one passenger was looking at me "WHAT is she DOING? "
PS: Just wanted to add...Thank you Dinara, for the great pictures.
