Sunday, July 06, 2008

Achtung baby!

Chevron Stripes Hand Towel (from Mason-Dixon Knitting)

Yarn: Knit Picks CotLin (70% Tanguis cotton, 30% linen; DK weight)
Colorways: Moroccan Red and Crème Brulee
Needles: US 5s
Stitches: 87
Size: 13" x 22.25"

It took several froggings and more than a month, but the Chevron Stripes Hand Towel is finished. I decided to knit one more repeat before polishing off this FO. I'd long ignored how long the pattern called for this to be (14" x 24"). If I'd been paying attention, I might have gone ahead and achieved the suggested length, although this is plenty big enough.

The pattern calls for knitting the 12-row repeat a total of 27 times. I stopped at 17 with this yarn. If I knitted ten more repeats, it would be folded over on the countertop and possibly creeping into the sink.

I don't think I used a skein and a half of each color, so the CotLin goes a long way with this pattern. I certainly didn't need to order three skeins of both.

The initial problem I had knitting this hand towel was with the error in the pattern and the errata published online. As best I can determine, row 6 should be k5, *k2tog, k2, kfb in next 2 sts, k3, SKP; rep from * to last 5 sts, k5. (The k5 at the beginning of the row is missing in my printing of the book. The k3 is absent in the errata online. I e-mailed about it but never received a reply or saw it fixed, so I'm posting it here as much as a reminder for me than anything.)

Although this was a frustrating knit at times, I'm very pleased with the result. Certainly it's a good example of the inefficiency of making something like this yourself versus buying something at the store, but we know that knitting isn't best subjected to cost benefit analysis.

Plus, I picked up a few tricks of the trade along the way. I learned how to knit in the front and back of the stitch. I learned SKP. I learned (again) to check the errata. In the end all of this tallies up to a success.

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3 Comments:

At 9:13 PM, Blogger Karen said...

Way to go, Mark! It looks fabulous! Now, remember to check for color-fastness when you wash it. I throw those Shout color catcher sheets into the washer. That way any dye won't go all over the other laundry. Or... you can hand wash the towel.

Yeah, right.

 
At 10:49 PM, Blogger donnadb said...

Looks great! I second Karen's suggestion of the Shout color catchers -- I use them in every load, and I wash all colors together. You learned a lot on this knit. Woo-hoo for you!

 
At 4:26 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The towel looks great. I would love to see it at knit night. I should be back next week (Jul 17) :)

 

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