left front x 2

I finished the back of the cabled sweater

It looks a bit odd to me, but I've never knit raglan in pieces before, so I'm not losing sleep over it. I moved on to the left front. I was going to do both fronts at once, under the theory that knitting them together makes the ol' "reversing the shaping" easier, but when I read the directions it says to knit the left front first, position the buttons, and make the buttonholes on the corresponding rows on the other front. Oh. Duh. So I only cast on one side. I got this far

and am having niggling concerns. Do you not see what I see? The moss stitch band at the left side is turned under at the slip stitch to make a doubled button band. That's fine; I like moss stitch. But the part between the moss stitch and the knit-purl panel seems ill defined to me. I counted and recounted and checked the pattern and I did exactly what it said, but somehow I think it would look much better if there were a twisted knit stitch dividing the button band from the rest of the front. Especially given that the twisted knit stitches define all the other parts of the pattern--one on each side of each cable, between the pairs of knit-purl pattern, etc. What do you think? I stopped knitting on this piece and cast on a second left front. I'll try increasing one stitch after the rib band to see how it looks with the extra twisted knit in there. If I don't like it, I'll pick this one up again. No need to rip before it's necessary.

In non-knitting arenas, I am up above my hat crown in work. Trying to look on the bright side, I've tweaked things so that if I have to do research, at least some of it can be textile research. Did you know that the Chinese were the first to invent a water-powered, multiple-head spinning machine? Did you know that Segovia was a capital of Spanish wool weaving in the 16th century? Did you know that elite Mayan women taking part in important religious rituals wore transparent robes? Ok, maybe I'm having fun after all.

Last week I decided I need to sew some new skirts and I took the precaution of measuring myself before I cut out any fabric. Curses. The body has amplified itself significantly since the last time I measured. Enough of this ridiculousness! Clearly exercise has got to become a priority once again. My doctor told me this would happen. She says every Jan-Feb she gets scores of female patients who started grad school in the fall and after one semester find themselves heavier and bulkier and wail "what happened!" Well, ok, it happened to me too, but I'm not going to let it go any further. I'd rather take an incomplete in something than turn into a doughy dumpling.

Someone remind me of this when I am next tempted to give up exercise in favor of long hours buried in books because of fear of failing out of school.

Comments

[diana]

I agree with you about the need for a twisted stitch to help define the button band.

Sorry to hear that you are so mired in work right now. On the bright side, the end of the semester is coming soon. And there is no way in hell that you are going to fail out!

[June]

Follow your intuition on pattern changes - otherwise, you may always wonder if your idea wouldn't have suited you better?

Sorry 'bout the weight gain - it's happened to me too since switching jobs - and I was "doughy" to begin with! :b

[Emily]

I agree that it will look better with the extra twisted knit stitch.

Good luck loosing the weight. I still haven't lost the extra pounds I put on when I started grad school.