Revelations

An ice storm hit us with full force last night leaving us to trudge through the slush and sleet to work, our faces pelted with stinging ice flakes - but I still love the mid-west. I'm used to this weather. I enjoy the changing seasons, and that means having some days where the world outside my window is covered in a cold white glaze... much like the glaze on a sour cream cake... The only thing that makes me really mad is when it's sub zero and I have to wait 20 minutes outside for a bus. But for now the snow is fine with me.

Here is a view of the library from kresge... and it's still coming down... big wet flakes of snow - yum!

The power went out in the library last night and I was (not so secretly) hoping that it would not have come back on, so I could stay at home and KNIT! It's very important to mention that without this weather, I would not get nearly as much knitting done as I do.

Which brings me to a discussion about my current project: Avast cardigan from Knitty for Steve. Now tomorrow is Steve's birthday, and though I have been knitting like a fiend, I am still not finished :( It's not a surprise - he's seen me working on it. I have accomplished a huge amount in just the past week. I made the second sleeve, attached both sleeves and am now almost finished with the yoke. I apologize for the low quality of this photo.... it was taken with my phone.

On Sunday night, after attaching the sleeves and beginning the initial decrease rounds of the yoke, I had a bit of a knitting revelation. In following the directions of the pattern, my ssk and k2tog were not looking right.... not slanting the way they were supposed to. And I realized... the way that I wrap my yarn around my needle when I purl must be different than most people. I've just always done what is most comfortable and fastest for me. But I think it reverses the way the stitches are facing when I flip it over to the knit side and start knitting. In the round, this would not matter because I'm always working on the RS of the fabric.

Is this common among other knitters using the continental method? Does it matter as long as I understand what the pattern is telling and I reach the same outcome?

Then I was trying to calculate how many stitches would be knitted in the yoke section... to try and figure out how long it would take me to finish this part. In my younger math-whiz days I would have known how to calculate this.... where's my genius sister when I need her????

If I start with 312 stitches in a row, and decrease 8 stitches every other row, 30 times... how many total stitches is that??? I did it the long way and came up with 12,032. So if anyone out there knows the formula for this problem let me know!

At this point I am just about ready to do the collar, front bands, lower hem, weave in ends and block! Then there's some seaming... then finding a zipper... okay so there is still a decent amount left in the home stretch. But I'm ready to wrap this up and send Steve out in the blizzard with a wooly cardigan to keep him warm.