I'm working on the Nightshift

 This Season the Durham Knitting Guild is having a Knit Along using the pattern Nightshift by Andrea Mowry. Over 5,000 other knitters have made or are making it on Ravelry. That's a strong recommendation, I'd say. I found though that I wasn't able to purchase multiple copies through Ravelry, so it was super helpful that getting in touch with Andrea and paying for everyones copy worked. I had the copies done behind the desk at Staples on nice heavy paper. I feel we all deserve a kntting treat these days.

We liked it because it offers lots of different and possibly new techniques for the members plus it is stash friendly. It's asymetrical, cycles through main and conrast colours, uses slip stitch, rolled edges and i-cord.

This is my first goofy little swatch. To be clear, it is not a tension swatch. People who know me, (as a knitter) know I am pretty keen on the large tension swatch. I confess it took a while for the pattern to penetrate the cranial cement. It became clear to me I needed to stay focused, make a quiet hour to give it the quality of attention it deserved. Most often I'd forget to bring the wool forward before slipping the edge 3 stitches as well as sometimes  to  the inforgetting the increase at the beginning of the row. It had me grrr-ing a bit after the 5th time I ripped it out. The "Rain in Spain Stays Mainly on the Plain" moment was that much more impactful when it finally arrived.

Making a list really helped me. I'm confident that once I have repeated it successfully a few times I might even be able to take part in a conversation or listen to the radio, while knitting this.

I am using the vintage yarn, Florica from my stash. It's a lightweight wool DK and serendipitously I have 6 colours. The label recommended a 3.5mm, but my practice swatch showed me it would be better to go up a full needle size, because of the "pinched" effect of the slipped stitches.

I do enjoy setting up for a project. Clothespins are just the right neutral for organizing colour.

This is my working legend for colour. I fold a trimmed strip of graph paper in thirds and use a large hole punch, then write in the letters from the pattern. I'm starting out with a pair of straight needles because of the small amount of stitches and the frequent turns. I'll switch to my trusty 60 cm circulars when I have about 100 stitches.

 

Ready, Steady keep the Katcha Katcha clicking...

I'm really looking forward to seeing what other knitters in the group make. I think oddments of sock yarn would be perfect for this pattern. You could switch up the colours on various rows, depending on the amounts you have. When I complete this one, I'm going to give it a go. I'll try a 3.5 mm needle for the finer yarn.