Masters Monday - 2.28

Bobbin Management

Oooooo, this argyle sock has been a struggle! I've knit this far on the sock twice now....I lost the first attempt, all the way back to the ribbing, after trying to rip back a mistake. Never, NEVER try to rip "a few rows" of argyle. Pick it back one stitch at a time if you have to, but never pull out your needle and attempt to rip the whole row. None of the colours go all the way across the row. Yes, I wish I had remembered that.

The work is going much faster now that I have worked out this nifty system for handling the multiple bobbins and keeping them in order and untangled while I work. I have secured each bobbin to a peg in the raddle for my table loom. Once in place the top of the raddle snaps back on and the bobbins are able to move enough to unwind, but they are held in place and can't get out of order.

This technique might only work with this particular type of argyle where each purl side row is identical to the knit row that proceeded it. I always pick up the new colour from under the old one, and on the knit row they become entwined, but on the purl side they untangle on their own. At the end of each row I lay the knitting on top of the loaded raddle, facing the same direction it was when I was knitting, then I pick up the whole shebang and turn it around. Now the other side of the knitting faces me and the bobbins are all in the correct order for the return trip.

Much better!