Dear Readers
Last time I promised you confessions of an Editor and Joan Lafferty’s words are ringing in my ears. In her article this month she can ‘guarantee that more haste means less speed’ and, of course, she’s absolutely right. Our grand-daughter needed a new hat and scarf, similar to the set we’d previously knitted on my LK-150. She looked through my stash and fell in love with the Raspberry shade in King Cole Bramble DK. She was raring to go, so who needs a tension swatch? I cast on and she merrily knitted. It all seemed a bit big, but foolishly we kept going. She went off, leaving me to gather in the stitches at the top and join the seam. I can’t believe I actually sat and made it all up, because it was far too big. I’d no option than to unpick the lot and start again. The scarf was to be as long as the remaining yarn would allow so I’d none to spare, as she now wanted a ‘really big’ bobble on her hat.
I searched every nook and cranny for my pompon set but it was no-where to be found. Back to the machine I went, to push a couple of needles forward and wind the yarn round and round them. With the needles pulled together to capacity, I tied yarn round the centre then slid the yarn off gingerly and cut round the edges. Making a bobble this way and mindful of my machine’s needles, I didn’t pull the central yarn as tightly as needed and the whole lot fell apart. I’d to line up ‘hundreds’ of cut strands of yarn of different lengths to turn into a pompon.
Eventually, with her hat pulled on and the scarf tied under her chin, she was warm and cosy. However, a job that would normally take me an hour at the most turned into a two-day marathon. So, how did I get it so wrong? The tension dial, of course! I’d been in too much of a hurry to check and we’d knitted everything far looser than we should. It was no wonder her hat was so big and it’s taught me the salutary lesson that the tortoise took his time, but he got there!
This year seems to have flown by and as it draws to a close, let’s hope the coming year will bring each of us the best of health and good fortune. Until next month, my compliments of the season to you all.
NEXT ISSUE February 2023
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Thanks,
Victoria