I had a plan for the blog this weekend: I was going to show off my completed Tin Roof tee. All I needed was a few rows of ribbing and a bunch of ends to weave in, and a nice day in which to photograph it. The only problem was: I didn’t like it.

Remember that the Tin Roof pattern [Ravelry link] has two parts to it: the top part is knitted side-to-side with wide stripes made by alternating colours, and the bottom part is then picked up and knitted down. Crucially, in the pattern, this bottom portion is knitted in reverse stockinette stitch, so that the reverse side of the knitted fabric faces front. You can see it here in the pattern photo:

Yesterday, I tried on the nearly-finished top, wanting to see if the length was right before casting off, and found that I really didn’t like it. Don’t get me wrong: I love the top portion with the wide stripes in lovely shades of grey, blue, and green linen. However, I really hated what was happening with the bottom portion of the tee. Here is a photo:

There are two things I really don’t like. First, the reverse stockinette stitch does not look good in the linen. Instead of looking kind of funky and textural, it looks messy. Second, despite having very carefully picked up 3 out of every four rows, the bottom section balloons out a bit and looks even messier. You can see both problems in this close-up below:

What to do? Time to rip! Some people agonise over ripping, but I find this to be one of the miracles of knitting: everything can be ripped out and knitted over again. If only life were that forgiving and resilient!

Each of the wide stripes on the top portion of the top is 32 rows wide; so I initially picked up 288 stitches (12 blocks of colour x 24 stitches each). I ripped back to the pick-up row, and then, while knitting the first row of the bottom portion, I knitted two stitches together in the middle of each stripe, so that I now had a total of 276 stitches. I am hoping that this will be enough to get rid of the ballooning. And of course, I switched to stockinette – so the smooth knitted side is on the outside, instead of inside out. Like this:

Thank you for all of the kind comments on the blog last week; they are much appreciated. It is a Bank Holiday weekend, and miracle of miracles, the sun is shining and the day is warm. Time for a little sunshine therapy!

The Actual:

There is not much actual knitting going on these days chez knitigating circumstances. One might be tempted to say “life got in the way”, but of course knitting is part of life, so I reject that characterisation of the facts. Let us say, perhaps, that work got in the way. I did manage to finish the second piece of my Tin Roof pullover, knit the two pieces together, and block them. It currently looks like this:

I still have to sew the sides together, pick up stitches all along the bottom and knit down about 5 or 6 inches with the black yarn. Believe it or not, this piece is about two inches longer than the pattern calls for because I added stitches to lengthen it. If knit to pattern, this is a seriously cropped top, so if that’s not your thing, take care. I tried to get a better photo for you, but it has been grey and raining for weeks, and this is the best I could do.

The Virtual:

I have joined two knitting clubs this spring, Arnall-Culliford’s Confident Knitting club and Kate Davies’ Bluestocking club. This is the third year of the Confident Knitting club, which features a new pattern each month showcasing techniques. This year’s club has been running for three months already and I have yet to cast on anything, or even to log onto the Knitting Hub where they host discussions and forums about the club’s patterns and projects. So why did I join? Because I think that Jen and team make really fantastic videos and tutorials about knitting techniques, and I use these frequently. They care about supporting diversity in knitting and feature many new designers and producers, as well as more established ones. And I enjoy reading both their blog and their newsletters. I want to support them in that effort. And hopefully, sometime before the year is over, I will find more time to engage with the club. In the meantime, I am enjoying being a hanger-on, albeit rather peripherally.

Kate Davies’ Bluestocking club is an interesting mix of knitting and eighteenth-century women’s history. She describes it this way: “This club celebrates the lives and work of the important group of intellectual women – known as the “bluestockings”. We’ll explore the contribution of these women to the material and literary culture of the eighteenth century through seven different sock and stocking patterns; we’ll examine the history of sock knitting; and we’ll (of course)  knit our own bluestockings!” This is so up my alley, even though I have never knitted a pair of socks. Kate was an academic before becoming a knitting designer and I think her blog is one of the best and most interesting ones around – she combines discussions of knitting, history, design, disability, writing, and craft; it is smart, beautiful, and eclectic. Does joining this club mean I’m going to knit socks? Well, I won’t say never, but at the moment, I’ve joined for the fun and I will enjoy the knitting virtually.

The Wishful Thinking:

I received the yarn kit which I had pre-ordered from Loop, for the Scout Shawl. The yarn is gorgeous:

The shawl, designed by Florence Spurling, is just beautiful:

I purchased this kit within 5 minutes of first seeing the pattern, but once I got over my swoon, I realised that I am not sure my knitting skills are up to the task. So, for the moment, it is in the “wishful thinking” box. With any luck, I’ll get up the nerve to start it soon.

I am in danger of becoming zombified, and having taught all day yesterday (a Saturday), my plans for the rest of today extend to turning the pages of a book and lifting the coffee cup to my lips. The “actual knitting” mindset is currently in the off position.

Doug and I have both been working from home for well over a year now. We took over the girls’ old bedrooms and turned them into working spaces. I work in one room and Doug is next door working in the other. We have fixed up the spaces as best we can, investing in standing desks and good internet connections, microphones, cameras, and headphones. As is probably familiar to millions of people who now work from home, this is a weird experience and it is difficult to set boundaries on your space and time. We are both teaching, so it is often the case that one or the other of us is conducting a class, and when not teaching, is sitting in on an endless stream of meetings.

Our schedules are both full-on and sometimes I do not see him all day long, even though he is sitting a few feet away. But I can frequently hear him. I can hear his classes in the background (I have learned a lot about teaching neuromethods this year), and can confirm that departmental meetings in psychology are almost exactly the same as departmental meetings in the business school. We wear headsets when on-line so I hear only one side of the conversations. The other day, I was sitting in my office and suddenly heard him mention my name. Of course, I started to listen. Here is what I heard:

“You see this great vest I am wearing? My wife knitted this vest! ….Yes, it is cool, isn’t it? …Here, let me turn around so you can see the back… She used a pattern but did a lot of fiddling to make it work right, so you can see it fits perfectly……You know that she also writes a blog about knitting which is very well-respected…You might even say that she is ascending the pantheon of knitting greats…”

Hee hee! This truly made me giggle. I had to write it down so that I wouldn’t forget. I think that there are two conclusions to be drawn from this:

1. Love is blind.
2. He likes the vest.