Sorry, no new photos to share this time. Just a quick report that I am (finally) nearly through all of the yarn for the Reading Hospital infant caps. The one I’m working on now will be the last one from this bunch — I’m still questioning whether there’s enough yarn to 1) make the pompom for the top of the cap and 2) finish the cap to the specified size! We’ll see if it ends up with a shorter cuff or completely cuffless.
One thing I’ve noticed in making these last few infant caps is that I’ve gotten faster with my knitting. I actually finished one in one afternoon last Sunday. It used to take me several evenings of knitting (maybe a week of evenings) to make just one cap. Since I learned to knit about 7 or 8 years ago, I have always knitted “English” style (with the working yarn held in the right hand) and have developed a pretty decent knitting pace with that method (although I’m in no danger of breaking the sound barrier or anything). I have heard the rumor that knitting “Continental” style is faster, more efficient, what have you. I’ve also heard that “Combination” style is fast and efficient, in addition to its reputation for producing a more consistent fabric. Of course, the fastest and most efficient style is the one you’re most used to, in my opinion. But I got to thinking maybe I should try Continental, and possibly Combination style, and see how I like them. Going from English to Continental is fairly simple — just getting used to holding the yarn in your left hand instead of the right. I’m not nearly used to it enough yet to be as speedy as I am knitting English style, but used to it enough to be productive. Combination style, which I haven’t tried yet, involves moving the working needle so that the yarn wraps around in the opposite direction and requires some slightly different techniques than English and Continental, but I think once I’m more used to working with the yarn in my left hand I may give Combination a try as well. At the very least, switching between English and Continental could help alleviate some hand cramping (I did notice my left hand gets more cramped up when knitting Continental, and I don’t really have a cramping problem in my right hand when knitting English, unless I’m knitting for very long stretches of time.)
Oh — and through all this thinking and knitting and experimenting, I’ve finally decided what project I’m going to make next. I’ll be making a second Odessa (Ravelry link – login required) hat, but this time in a lighter weight yarn (Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino), in two different colors (not 100% sure how I’m going to split them up yet, but I have some ideas), and with beads. And of course I’ve also decided that I want to make some sort of hand accessory to match (probably mittens), but I don’t have enough yarn for that… so I’ll have to get some more. And then I’ll probably have more than I need and will need to figure out what to do with the leftovers. So the cycle goes…
