15-11-2015

Done! But I had to rip out my too-tight bind off and re-do on hand needles.

Let’s see, other learning points.

Cast-on -- used the machine equivalent of the long-tail cast on in hand knitting as described in Susan G.’s new book “Hand Knits by Machine”. It’s a kind of reverse e-wrap with a double twist on each wrap. She has you knit through by hand, but after doing a few of these, I realised I could e-wrap all across with the cut end and then go through by hand all along. Probably could have used the carriage (must experiment). Very happy with this!

Garter stitch - it is what it is. Fortunately only five purl rows. Important learning though - this machine needs the stitches behind the latches to work, so important to push all needles with reformed stitches out to position 3 and then back to position 2. Otherwise, the carriage yarn doesn’t knit. Fortunately, the knitting doesn’t fall off. How does anyone ever learn to machine knit? Every machine has its quirks and the manuals are just so inadequate.

Centred decreases etc - the Bond tools (8mm) worked on this 9mm machine with a bit of persuasion. Lucky, without them I’d have been sunk.

Short rows - no problem, just forgot to wrap on the return. Which doesn’t matter at all, looks intentional and is OK with this design.

Overall summary

Really, this is a very nice cowl thing. The top is small enough to hug your head should the weather call for an over-nose-and-ears type of look, and it’s easy to pull up over your chin. The bulk of the cowl is concentrated at the throat, which is nice if your coat has a substantial collar to protect the back of your neck, as most coats do.