Meanwhile, I have been sewing.
The fussy, fiddly bit of a well loved pattern that I have been making since the early nineties - we are talking of the days when it was all big shirts with roomy armholes and dropped shoulders. Back then I came upon a little catalogue of traditional working clothing from around the world, and daughter and I were much taken with the Hungarian horseman's shirt. Because this one (from Burda Moden magazine) was pretty much the same cut, it became known as the Hungarian Shirt, which was not to be confused with the Wromantic Shirt, which was very much like the ones they used in costumes for the film Braveheart. What made that one Wromantic was that it had cartridge pleating at the sleeve heads and centre back. I do like my baggy clothing! The braid is from the haberdashery man in Redhill street market circa 1996 - the joys of a well stuffed stash.
At last I feel I am making some progress with the major knitting. Back and front are finished and joined, and the neckband added, so I can see how well it settles in. I have not made things easy with this one. The pattern was written for knitting in the round, with steeks. This is not really a suitable yarn for steeks, and I HATE knitting two colour in the round - I find the knit rows tiring, and need the purl rows to rest my wrist. I can't really see why the way I work should make this so, but at this advanced age, I don't want to wreck the system by trying to change things. I had enough trouble when I did the traditional Guernsey cast on - I use the thumb method normally, and don't have to think about it, but that cast-on requires you to pick up two loops with the thumb, but in the other direction. After doing that, I was then stuck trying to cast on the usual way and getting no stitches at all because my thumb just could not find the wool. This learning new tricks can be a mixed blessing!
Having done the body of the garment, I now have to manouevre the sleeve instructions since the pattern wants them knitted in the round, and top down - which I do not like with a colour pattern. Much playing with graph paper and calculator awaits me.
