Several "silly but infuriating" problems have been experienced to date:
- the interchangeable needles I started knitting the shawl with, with were not working as well as when there were fewer stitches on the needle. The interchange section kept coming undone but I don't think as a result of the needles themselves. The lace stitch pattern (ie. wool over needle part) + the increasing stitches + stitch markers were all having a tendency to get "caught up". With the increasing width, the needle & cord interchange would untwist with the result that the stitches just dropped off the needle midstream of a pattern!!!
- Changing the needle to a standard circular one cured this problem but caused another!!! As this needle was a standard but longer length, the increase in width from 100 to 200 stitches has led to the knitting being somewhat "squashed" across the needle. With the lace pattern being a series of 'yarn overs', some stitches have a tendency to 'stick' together with the problem then of stitches being lost!!!
- The initial stitch markers I was first using were changed to a 'safety pin' style one as the earlier ones just kept getting caught in the yarn/stitches (&/or dropping off) as the width of knitting began to increase.
- A few initial problems when started (see earlier blogs), led me to handwrite the original pattern in full. Although the main pattern is a repeat over a specific number of rows, the further decision to maintain the pattern re-write has been a very good one especially as a means of keeping an eye on the stitch count!!
As the knitting has developed, the lace pattern appears to resemble PAWS (see below) - rather nicely I think!!
