Hiccups

I tried the Agatha swatch chart last night. I seemed to lose stitches, so I put it down and decided to come back when I was fresh and chipper.

Here I am, fresh from a good night sleep, coffee in hand with one attempt at the Agatha pattern under my belt. I feel utterly confident. So back to my gorgeous yarn. It is working up much better this time, and I am starting to get a feel for how this yarn will look worked up. All I can say is wow. Just wow. It glows, it shines, it looks just amazing. I have absolutely no doubt that this is going to drape exquisitely.

Or it will if I could remember yarn overs.

When I started knitting, I did so following Yarn Harlots generic sock recipe. I am really attracted to the idea of a recipe rather than a rigid pattern. I think it appeals to the rebellious follow no authority part of me. That only works so long as I want to knit things that are simple and generally square. Following a pattern is a whole other ball game. I knew this from my work on Picovoli, but felt surely with the support of a few good people around me, that I could master pattern following. I can if only I would remember to actually do what the pattern says.

If you look at the rust swatch, and follow the lines, you will see I am missing things all over and the increases and decreases are happening a stitch left of where they should be. There is a 'chunk' of knitting on the left edge where I am not sure what is going on. In order to produce a proper swatch, I am going to have to pull this apart and try again.

This fine yarn won't stand up to a third rip back. It is wonderful to work with, don't get me wrong, but... You know how pantyhose catches its teeny tiny fine little threads on anything with the tiniest bit of roughness? And how the more expensive the pantyhose, the faster those teeny tiny threads catch? Following this analogy, this yarn is pantyhose you would send to Paris or Milan for. Splitting is not a problem, but catching tiny unseen snags is.

I have worked the yarn in the sample through twice, and I will use that section again for the proper swatch, but I expect some haloing on the twice worked yarn instead of crisp glossy edges. If like me, you have fallen for Cotton Viscoses absolute beauty, choosing a simple pattern is probably the best route.

I am committed to my path and this yarn will be Agatha, so I am proceeding carefully. I decided to do a pattern swatch in another yarn. I want to have a good understanding of just what the pattern does, how the edge stitches work, how the increases and decreases play along with the knits and purls. I am looking for the rhythm of the lace, and I am close to finding it. This swatch of Patons Classic Merino is helping that happen. I have a small issue with stitch count on the left edge, but the basic pattern stitches are looking much better. It is beginning to have a very natural feel almost as if the completed stitches are telling me what to do next.

I'm going to go on and work the complete chart so the lace is in my head, and then will rip back and figure out what I am doing wrong on the left edge.

If I can continue to ignore the shouts from the Cloud Cotton Project, by the end of the day, there is a very, very good chance that Agatha will be on the needles.