Bad news:
Notting Hill is not going the way I want it to, and I am seriously considering frogging it. I was loving the pattern until I reached Row 30 where I was supposed to bind off for armholes, but Row 30 was only 5 inches above the ribbing where the pattern said it should be 12.5 inches above the ribbing. Was I way off in gauge? I don't think my gauge was that far off since I made a swatch, washed in Soak, and laid flat to dry before I started the project. So I went for another 90 rows before I reached 12.5 inches. Afterwards, I got a bit lost on the underarm shaping due to the "when there aren't enough stitches to complete a cable, work in rev st." This happened in Talia too, but somehow the scroll lace pattern worked itself out. Here, my cables are looking pretty wacko since there are 2 different types of cables. Sigh. I don't want to give my dad a vest that isn't at least mostly perfect. But I've spent so much time knitting on it last week. I know it was only a week's worth of work, but somehow I really wanted to power through and finish it. Now I'm considering ripping and finding another vest pattern, perhaps "Peter Easy" by Berroco or "Skye Tweed Vest" (another Kathy Zimmerman pattern). Notting Hill was designed by Kathy Zimmerman. Has anybody knitted her patterns before? In general, are they clear and straightforward? Maybe I'm spoiled because I tend to knit patterns that are very clear and concise.
See the cables at the very top that are going wacko? :-(Good News:
Out of frustration from Notting Hill and excitement over the Fall Knitscene, I casted on for Opulent Raglan last Sunday. I made at least three different swatches using different needles before I could finally reach stitch gauge. Row gauge is a different story, but I don't mind it being smaller as it would mean my neckline would get raised (yay, for no cleavage showing at work!). It's only been 2 days and it's growing really quickly! My only minor concern so far has been the waist shaping. I reached the waist shaping part last night, but my work so far had only reached the top of my bust! Maybe I'm short-waisted (one of these days, I need to go measure and find out), but it's quite alarming to shape for my waist when I haven't even gotten past my boobs yet. After consulting Ravelry (oh, how I love that site), I decided to add in another 19 rows before I start the waist. Hopefully, by then, it'll fall right below the bust.
I'm using Ella Rae Classic in Colorway #11 which looked like a pastel peach online, but it really is more of a dusty rose. It doesn't bother me at all since the yarn was deeply discounted, and I still love the pink color. The other wonderful news is that I bought a couple more balls of yarn from yarnandfiber.com from their Spooktacular Sale they're having this month, and they all arrived yesterday. But wait for it! The best news is that I had ordered 2 extra balls of Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Woodland Mix to add to the 2 balls I bought in April from the WEBS anniversary sale. I figured it would make a good 2nd Opulent Raglan should I be successful with the first. Or perhaps the Backwards Cabled Pullover in Custom Knits. Here's the best part...THE LOT NUMBERS WERE THE SAME!!! Wow, talk about luck! I really wasn't expecting the lot numbers to match considering the yarns were bought 6 months apart from 2 different companies, and I hadn't even put in a request for it. Yup, that really made my day. :-)
