Progress

I'm knitting Arboreal by Jennifer Steinglass.  This is a top-down yoke sweater and I am using Batik by Stylecraft, a 20% wool yarn.  I chose it because the colour really spoke to me.  I bought the recommended size and length of circular needles.

So, last time I had cast on the neckline and begun the yoke of stranded colourwork.  I have begun topdown sweaters before but have never finished one.  I think this is because I don't like circular needles.

There I was at my knitting group happily knitting along when the stitches started to slide off the right hand needle somehow.  The cable had pulled out of the point.  I realised that it was a screw fitment and wrestled it back in place, picking up the stitches.  But then the joint began to fail because the cable was shearing off.  Fortunately I had a 4mm  circular to hand and was able to transfer the stitches before the cable finally gave out.

Now I am jogging along on the body of the sweater simply knitting round and round.  I decided against waist shaping as I don't want it tight across my stomach.

Batik is performing well for a budget yarn and I am happy with the speckle effect.  However, twice I have come across a major boggle, once at the end of a ball and once after a knot.

 Here the dye changed from a speckle to a solid, once light and once dark.  Knitted into the middle of  sweater body this would create a distinct and anomalous line.  I simply cut the yarn and removed the solid colour sections, but it was a surprise to find them there in the first place.