Plugging Away

My friend Barbara shared with me one day that she was knitting through television commercials, and it was surprising how much knitting she could get done that way.  Just getting a little done every day adds up!  Barbara is a big-hearted and prolific charity knitter, plugging away and getting a lot done.

Everything takes longer, at least for me, than I ever estimate.  It's true for me at work, where I think I'll do a couple of small projects by lunch, and find that I did one and handled three interruptions.  It's true when I knit, as well.  I have never done needlework of any kind rapidly, but always use it as a way to relax and take my time.

As I plug away on the Knit Leader course, today was typical.  After work, I did a few chores and then headed to the project.  I steamed the back and the two fronts lightly, looked at the clock and saw that 15 minutes had gone by.  Went to the machine thinking I'd put one shoulder together, but I put both shoulders together, and 45 more minutes had gone by.  Tomorrow, I'll hang an armhole and start a top-down set-in sleeve.

By the way, I put my shoulders together this way.  I like the shoulder join to be sturdy, but not too tight.  

I elected to do the sleeves top down (like the video I put up recently) works just fine with a Knit Leader pattern.  I hope to add value to the Knit Leader course by including lots of techniques.

Besides, doing the sleeve from the top down means I'll do decreases the sides instead of increases.  Decreases are a little quicker to work.  I'll do the ribbing last, too, which is always a good technique to teach.