I had a few interesting experiences while I was working.
1. This is the first time I've knitted with my KH-970 since we moved from Michigan a year ago. I set it up a few months after we moved, but when I couldn't find the setting plates for the ribber, or the brackets to hold the CB-1 box, I stopped. As you may know, I've been making masks since mid-March, so I haven't been knitting or even working on setting up my knitting studio. I knew I had the missing pieces, just could not find them. Hate to buy things I already have, but I almost was ready to do it. A few days ago I opened a tote bag expecting to find yarn, but there they were! Yay! I lightly sprayed the carriage with my last can of machine lube before sitting down to knit.
Now the only thing missing is the power cord.
2. Not having a power cord to power up the CB-1 box meant I had no row counter. This pattern is published using Anne's visual method. Meaning that the graphic shows the needle number of the stitches in work at each change in direction. All the increases and decreases were every two rows, or every four rows. I figured I could count to four without a row counter, then use the needle numbers for reference as to how many rows I had knitted and where I was in the pattern.
3. A useful skill, lacking a row counter, is the ability to "read" the wrong side of the knit. I am easily distractable. I can count to four, but sometimes I got interrupted between the rows where I increased after two rows, and the ones where I increased every four rows. Being able to see the last increase on each side allowed me to recover my place.
4. One of the interruptions was a bent latch. I notice that I dropped a stitch. I fixed the stitch. Then I noticed that 17 rows further down, this same needle had "tucked" instead of knitting the stitch. This pattern is stockinette. The yarn is a shiny mercerized cotton. If I let it go, it would be very noticeable flaw in the stitching. So I laddered down, and latched it up from the reverse side. Unfortunately when I got to the top I realized I had missed a strand at row 16. So I repeated the process. And then I repeated it again when I realized I missed two strands at row 15. It actually took me four times of dropping and latching up, to fix this one stitch. Anyone who thinks machine knitting is "cheating" has never machine-knitted. The latch was only slightly bent, and I was able to bend it back in place with just a little pressure, and had no further problems with it.
5. I am using a no-name cotton yarn from my stash. I made three gauge swatches, but none matched the gauge in the pattern. The first two were made with acrylic yarn but I was way off, so I switched to the cotton. Especially since this top is something I would wear over a camisole in summer. I was close at T8, so I decided to chance it and go with T9 for the garment tension. That's the recommended tension for two of the suggested yarns in the pattern anyway. It probably won't fit, will be too small for me, but I want to see how knitting this garment works before I knit it again with a more expensive yarn. I think I'd like to do it in a lace stitch pattern eventually. My display mannequin is a lot smaller than my actual self.
6. I see on Facebook, in the Machine Knitting group, that my friend from Michigan, Julie Boylan, is also making this top! She has translated it for the mid-gauge and posted a photo. Her yarn was a tweed. To get the airiness I am looking for in a summer top, I was thinking of doing it on the bulky with a light yarn. It will require a great deal of translation.
