Starting the Back

I have begun the back (doesn't that sound like some old serialized novel - what's the story that begins "Chapter 1, I am born."? And the only reason I know it is because of the scene from Gone With the Wind where Melanie reads from that book while they wait for the men to come back from raiding the shantytown. Wow. I haven't read that book or watched that movie in at least seven years, but I can still picture that scene in great detail. Clearly I absorbed way too much of that story in my early years...)

Anyway, I have started up the back of the sweater.



It may be hard to see the progress from yesterday, but in fact I finished knitting the sideways trim, picked up stitches across the top and have knit about an inch of the back. (And yes, it is draped across the back of the high chair. I don't yet have a good handle on the blog photography after dark, and since the tablecloth is blue, it's not a great backdrop for photographing this project.)

I have mixed feelings about the way the pattern is written so far. On one hand, the way the trim is knit and stitches picked up is nice and there are some clever details. On the other hand, the abbreviations used are really strange; there are about five different ways they have abbreviated yarn over - yf for yarn forward, yo for yarn over needle, yrn for yarn round needle, and yft for yarn to front. Way, way too much detail.

For the sake of the first time experience, I am going to photograph and document this project in excruciating detail just to see what it's like. I promise I won't be this tedious with all future projects, I just feel like doing it this way the first time through.