I was having awful trouble working out what all the bits hanging around on safety pins were, but reading on in the pattern and closely comparing the pattern photo and my work so far helped me to understand what was expected and that cleared up a lot of mist.
Another problem I had was learning, the hard way, to both make a note on the pattern where I've got to and also to compare the pattern with the completed side of the top before knitting on regardless and missing out about half a dozen rows that were key to keeping the pattern and level of the tops genuinely even!! So, there was some unpicking done - 15 rows worth, and that's not easy with a pattern that you just daren't pull out and then pick the stitches back up onto the needle as there are extra loops made that don't pick up well like that and all sorts of things that are over-challenging for a novice like me, so I had to remove them stitch by stitch - in effect, knitting backwards!! Well, it's done now!=)
As I mentioned on one of my CED posts, I've managed to get hold of a 3rd ball of this yarn - even the same dye lot (I happened to be keeping a label in my diary so it was on hand if I had a chance to get some more), so I can complete the sleeves in the same colour. I now just have to decide if I want to do them in pattern, or to do it the easier way and stocking stitch them. Whatever I decide, I hope to get one of them done this week. It feels good to have got over a real stumbling block with this one and to feel that it's moving forward again. So, yes, I'm very pleased indeed to be making this post.
:-)
Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2013
