Now, where was I?

Seems like all my knitting energy was focused on Jewel for the last couple weeks. Now that it's finished, I'm resuming work on Mandarine.  I finished the back yesterday and now I'm getting ready to start the front.

I'd like to finish this up soon, before it gets too warm to wear it.  Because I believe that, eventually, it will get too warm to wear it, although those days still seem far off.

One of the reasons I started this blog was to expand my project notes beyond what I put on Ravelry.  I love looking at other Ravelers' projects and then reading their blog posts about the process of making.  And yet, sitting down to write such a post is surprisingly difficult.  What can I really say?  "I sat down, got out my needles, opened the book and followed the instructions?"  In my case, I could add in which Netflix I'm watching as I knit.  I could post pictures of partially finished and finished pieces of the whole.  None of which seems especially interesting, really.  So I'm kind of at a loss.

But I do have one little thing I can share which may be of interest to the other knitters out there.  I'm not sure how other people keep track of increases, decreases, etc. while knitting; I know my BFF does it in quite a different way than I do.  Here's my system:

I always have some Post-It pads in my knitting bag (4" x 6" is my preferred size), and I use these to write out the pattern instructions in shorthand.  At the top of the page, I write the name of the project, which size I'm making (because I usually fall between XS and S, so I have to choose which size I need in any given pattern based on the amount of ease I want) and what needle I'm using.  I also usually write the date I started, because I sometimes don't get a chance to enter the project on Ravelry as soon as I start.  Then I write which piece I'm working on.  This page is the first of two I used for the back of Mandarine. I write out each instruction from the pattern, and leave room for the hash marks I make as I go along.

I've been doing it this way for many, many years, but it just occurred to me in the last year or two that I should keep these for future reference, because I do sometimes make the same pattern two or three times!  This method is helpful to me for getting the back and front pieces (and both sleeves) to be the same length - I find it more reliable to have the same number of rows on front and back rather than rely on measuring each piece, because measurement can change depending on how much or little the knitting is stretched.  And since I sew most of my seams using mattress stitch, having the same number of rows makes that easier.

So there you have it.  Perhaps interesting, perhaps not!  And now, time for a little knitting . . .