The search continues

More hits on my blog yesterday relating to Eleanor of Toledo and her famous gown. Again, for folks making these searches, I've gathered some information that might be helpful. You can find it in my entry for March 26.

(If this keeps happening, I shall have to put this info in my sidebar!)

Vigdis tunic for moi

Firstly, I figured out where I went wrong when I first started. The instructions say to start with a wrong side and to do 9 rows of the ribbing, and then to start the main pattern. All very straightforward. However, in and among the ribbing, you are also working an 8-stitch/4-row repeat cable pattern where you are supposed to work the cables on odd-numbered rows. This means, first of all, that you have to do all the cabling on the wrong side, which, although possible, is wierd. It also means that by the time you get to the tenth row of the project, (the beginning of the main pattern), you would be starting row 2 of the cable pattern. However, the cable pattern is supposed to match up with the main pattern, which of course you are now starting at row 1. Therefore, even though you are following the instructions, the cable pattern and the main pattern are now out of sync.
 It was only after a few reads through that I realised what Lavold really wants you to do with the 9 rows of ribbing: one foundation row and 8 actual pattern rows. But she never actually says this. An inexperienced knitter might well be reduced to tears by this oversight! Moreover, I have hit two more errors/omissions like this while working through the pattern, as well as some extremely unclear instructions on what to do for the selvedge stitches. Lavold is an excruciatingly talented designer, but her ability to write instructions (at least for this pattern) kind of, well, blow.
 Nevertheless, I have now figured it all out (so far) and am moving rapidly up the front (although I had to rip a few rows out on the subway this morning after I discovered I'd screwed up a bit on the main pattern). I'm almost halfway to the neck shaping.

Snowdrop cloth for DH's aunt

Got a few more rows done last night, nothing huge.

Spanish Knight sweater for Mom

I'm now on the waist! It looks like this:

Preemie burial gown for St. Michael's Hospital

I was hoping to get this finished last night so I could cross it off my list. I did get the sleeve seams sewn together, and the sleeves sewn into the armholes. But when I went to find the pattern so I could be sure of how to finish the rest of it, I couldn't find it! And I hunted, lemme tell you. I went through many piles of paper around the house. I scoured the Internet (where I originally found the pattern), using every search term I could think of that was in this pattern. No luck. Finally this morning as DD was finishing her breakfast, I realised that in all my hunting, I hadn't found any of the other preemie patterns in my possession, either. Hmmm. Then I started to remember that a while back, I'd grouped all my preemie patterns together and put them in a new compartment in my binder of baby patterns (which, incidentally, I had already searched, in the 'dresses', 'ensembles' and 'miscellaneous' sections). Back I went to the binder, and voilà - there was a preemie section right at the front of the book, and in that section was the pattern. Triumph. I hope to finish sewing it tonight. I only hope I have some buttons that will suit.