Purple Project pt 2 (progress, mounting concerns and a confession)

It's coming along. The snowy weather and lots of staying at home has helped a lot. In fact, I've now got two complete sleeves, and there's 'just' the knitting down of rather long rows of stockinette until it's time to knit the bottom edge.

Anyway, here's where I'm at so far.

This is a bit of 'shaping'. Not anything too ambitious, just a bit of two x two ribbing at about waist height, and just under the arms and roughly halfway around the front and back. It would have been a bit nicer to have this at empire-line height, but it's not too far off, and a bit of trying on as I go along seems to indicate that it's going to work just fine.

And the cuff...I tried several options here, but finally plumped for this.

Just a really simple cable in a 4 x 1 rib, with a rolled stockinette finish. It looks kind of smocked, an effect created by putting all the cables on the same row, and probably because they sit very close side by side because of only having a single stitch between each group of four knit stitches on the RS.

I think I'll do a similar thing on the bottom edge, apart from not changing to a slightly smaller needle size, which is what I did for the cuff. So I'll do a 4 x 1 rib, but I won't cable on every vertical four stitch bit of it. That would pull it in too much and I want the bottom edge to sit nice and 'flat', but don't want to leave it entirely plain either.

A couple of things are worrying me just a touch. I haven't counted the stitches in the long rows I'm currently knitting (from front edge on one side, all the way round the back and to the other front edge) So I'm not sure how I'm going to make that 4 x 1 rib fit.

Also, I thought it would be nice to not have long side seams - nice to not have to sew them, and that it would just look and feel 'cleaner' to wear. I'm worried that as this is going to be longish, mid thigh length even, that there won't be enough structure and the whole thing will just be a bit too heavy for itself. You know the thing, the saggy soggy knitted swimming costume effect.

This particular worry is exacerbated by a recent post from the Yarn Harlot where she talks about gauge, and how her swatch is 'too open'. I'll tell you why...

I knit very loose. This is because, I think, of the fact that I don't knit 'properly'. I'm a thrower. It's embarrassing I know, but I just never learned to knit without dropping my working needle. I've found ways round it - I sort of support the right needle with the tips of my left fingers, and I kind of prop the right needle on my thigh or a strategically placed cushion - so I never drop the needle very far as it were, and I kind of tension the yarn with my right hand. But it isn't ideal, and basically means I knit at one tension and don't have enough fine control of the yarn to adjust it consistently.

I've had one bash at changing my ways, but honestly, it was a tough gig - I gave up. Maybe it's time to have another go...but not until I've finished this. Right now I'm thinking that just a few more snowy days and I'll be done and smugly ticking off one of my 2013 goals before January is out - actually knitting a WHOLE and hopefully wearable garment (shoot me down in flames if you like, but I've already decided that only ever wearing it indoors, in private, COUNTS AS WEARABLE!).