Bobbles
I'm done with the left front! This is its unblocked state, with the live shoulder stitches waiting for the 3-needle bind-off. My gauge is somehow looser than when I started, so I'm thinking about tossing the thing, dampened, in the dryer after it's all seamed up to tighten the stitches. Does that sound like heresy? ...I don't think I want to go back and rework the whole thing with a smaller size needle!
I experimented with different bobble instructions because the pattern version came out loose (again it may have been my gauge) and flat. Google searches ended up with some instructions on the Knitter's Review forum that didn't involve turning, then I made up my own from there: k1, yo, k1, yo, k1, don't slip stitch off the needle; pass 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th over 1st; move stitch on left needle to right neede; pass 1st stitch over; move stitch back to left needle and knit through back loop. Somehow I think that someone is rolling their eyes at my version of the bobble! I also made sure to tighten the stitch after that on the right side, and the stitch before and after on the wrong side. I loves me some bobbles.
Reading: Leap of Faith by Queen Noor of Jordan, and 3rd Degree by James Patterson. Queen Noor provides some insight into Middle East politics and life in the Arab world, which is different from what we read about in the papers. I like it so far. Another James Patterson book; 3rd Degree has started out more promising than the last Alex Cross book I read. Of the last 4 that I borrowed, I liked Indu Sundaresan's The Twentieth Wife, about one of the wives of Indian Emperor Jahangir. It turns out there's another book, The Feast of Roses, which continues the story after she was married to him. Another book to read later this year!
I signed onto Bloglines this morning and looked through the list of knitblogs: gah, so many to read! I have a desk job, so it's easy to read a few here and there during a break. Fast reader that I am, I have over 100 subscriptions. I try to comment on the days that I don't post, and write my replies on Mondays. Blogging can be time-consuming but it has its rewards as well.
Hey! The front looks great - the directions for bobbles gives me a headache - let alone actually trying it. I say, do what works, and yours look wonderful. Can't wait to see the whole thing!
Looks wonderful! And throwing the whole shebang into the dryer sounds like a great idea.
MJ, your bobbles are looking good! My bobbles are a two row repeat worked over 4 stitches, R1(RS): purl all stitches, R2: K3tog, (knit,purl,knit) into next stitch. My only experience with the dryer was with the demin yarn. Make sure your ends are secured before throwing it in there! Good luck!
I use an RSS feed software (Newsfire), as Bloglines was a little sketchy for a bit after being bought by Ask Jeeves. It truly stresses me out when I have too many unread posts too! Its hard to keep up with everyone and everything!
Your dryer theory sounds good to me. It looks beautiful! No doubt there are a lot of knitblogs. It's so hard to keep up!
looking lovely! i can see why you don't want to unknit the whole thing, looks like a lot of work... good luck with the dryer!
becks
What a beautiful front! The cablework looks fantastic and so do the bobbles :-)
I think the bobbles look great! Can't wait to see the FO! I can't believe how fast you are reading all those books... I wish I had time to read that many, though if I stopped knitting all together, I bet I could do it :)!
I don't see why you can't throw it in the dryer....I put a bucket hat knitted from cotton in the dryer for a whole cycle at 60 degrees, and it only shrank a small amount, so I'm pretty sure there's no way you'd ruin the thing (if that's what you were worried about!). You could always check halfway through too just in case. I love bobbles too! They are so much fun.
wow they are beautiful bobbles! i love cables etc .. color changes bug me.. i always make a mess when weaving in the other strands.. but cables, bobbles and lacy stuff thrills me! karola