Socks for my friend are finished but I haven't come round to the picture yet. However, I've finally tackled the forgotten tweed cardigan again! I decided to start over again - I wasn't that happy with k4p4 ribs after all - and do a really plain stockinette cardigan. The tweedy bits really look best that way :-) I'm following a pattern in Classic Knits for Real Women, albeit loosely because I'm not doing the seed stitch edges, my yarn is quite a bit thicker and I'll probably put in a zipper rather than do buttons.
I'm not a big fan of ribbed hems and wanted a flat, neat stockinette look. Wiseman's The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques held the answer - tubular cast-on! It was the first time I used it, and I also did a chain cast-on for the first time. So far so good as far as resolutions for the new year go ;-)
Provisional cast-on with waste contrasting cotton yarn. Nifty but a bit straining on the hands:
Prov CO plus three rows of stockinette:
This is what it looks like on the purl side now. You see those little yarn loops between the two lines of red cotton yarn? That's your stitches from the first main colour row, the ones you need to pick up and knit now!
Knit (or purl) both the live stitches on the needle as well as the picked-up stitches from the first row, alternating between pick up and knit - knit regular stitch - pick up and knit - regular stitch and so on ... And yes, I'm left-handed!
After I did the tubular thing. The instructions said to knit the picked-up stitches for a k1p1 look but I purled all stitches for a smoother stockinette look. Here I'm ripping the cotton yarn which was dead-easy. Simply loosen the last crochet loop and start unravelling:
The edge. I love it!
