Reading the Instructions and Following Them

I decided to knit a new scarf to wear for St. Patrick’s Day this year.  A pattern named Irish Mesh Cowl in beautiful green Koigu yarn caught my eye.

Irish Mesh Cowl by Jo Strong

Ordered 2 skeins of yarn from Jimmy Beans online yarn store which were delivered in a flash.

Beautiful skein of Koigu KPM wound and ready for knitting

So of course I can’t wait to start a new project with this beautiful yarn even though I’m not quite finished with my current work in process, the Canaletto Cowl knitted in Noro Ayatori.  Also quite beautiful.

My Canaletto Cowl is in process and the end is in sight

Nevertheless, approaching midnight last night I decided to try casting on 220 stitches for the Irish Mesh Cowl.  When that proved successful after only one attempt with the long tail cast on method, I was primed to begin knitting the 5 border rows of seed stitch in the round.  You can’t beat the great feeling of estimating the correct length of yarn for the long tail cast-on!

Knitting in the round is a new technique for me, only done twice before on the Canaletto Cowls.  So I decided to search for some on-line help.  I found the ‘how-to’ instruction guide that I used previously and reviewed it again to jog my memory on how to get the stitches connected on my circular needles.

Picture with big needles shows how it's done!

Make sure to keep your stitches untwisted!

The instructions warned several times about ensuring that your stitches don't get twisted on the needle.  As I knitted my first row and then the second, I wondered how is it possible that the stitches would get twisted.  Mine look just fine. Knit, knit, knit. 

Maybe you can see where this is going.

Deep into the third round of knitting the seed stitch border, I noticed a little twist.  But no, it can’t be.  Keep knitting; it’s just my imagination.

Unfortunately, I was wrong.  There is a definite twist in the knitting no matter how many times I try to straighten out the loops on the needle!

The unfortunate twist

What's a knitter to do?  Naturally, pull the yarn off the needles and try again!