The firsts

I was thinking about it while wearing Hope to my knitting group last night - there were a bunch of "firsts" in this project -
- first cable
- first chart
- first set in sleeves
- first time I used the yarn called for!

I now look at other cabled or charted patterns without nearly as much dread or fear. Once it is broken down, it is back to the basics - just knitting and purling.

Another first, but on a different project - I did a good chunk on the RPC (Red Planet Cardi) - got about 5" in and was looking at my edges - since they will be showing (I plan on making it a zip front)they were not nearly as smooth as I would like. So, being the new fearless frogger I am, I ripped the whole thing out and started over. I am now slipping the first stitch of every row. Much, much better. In about an hour, I was back to my 5". After watching my TiVo'd Amazing Race (anyone else just not happy with this season?) I noticed that my ribbed edging was off - I somehow space knitting the last 3 stitches of the purl rows. Using newfound confidence from my frogging, and reading helpful tips on Knitters Review I simply dropped the last 3 stitches back to where I should have purled and purled them, bringing the K/P pattern up the ladder as I re-did it with the crochet hook! Sweet! How cool was that! Any previous time I would have ripped the whole thing out again, but I wasn't going to do that. So, another first to add to the list. I like doing that. New skills are so much fun to use!

A side note - I really, really like how the increases look. Very raglany (if that is a word). I guess that would make sense for a raglan sleever cardi! Pics coming....

I got about 60lbs of books from the library yesterday. They all came in from interlibrary loans at the same time! The list includes:

Simple socks, plain and fancy

Handknits for Kids by Lucinda Guy

Knitters Stash

Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick

Knitted Toys by Fiona McTague

Rowan 37 (can you believe they had Rowan at the library!)

Luckily, most are not due for a few weeks, so it will give me a chance to go through them. The Lucinda Guy book looks really cute with it's combination of the "real life" knitted garment on the illustrated bodies. That is pretty much the only one I've flipped through so far. Good thing it's supposed to rain the next few days!