Jars and knitting theory

The Spring Cleaning Bug has bitten. I'm not sure if it is due to the ( comparatively ) mild weather, or from nearly three months of inactivity. Whatever the reason, I found myself sorting through the rows of herbs and spices in the larder, throwing some away and putting others into clean jars. After that, I dug out every jar I could find, and washed it. Now this part is purely down to finding some spare jars for Alchemoonist, who is a great chutney maker, and has run out of jars. It all fits together nicely, though, and helps propel me towards my goal of emptying the garage in 2015! There is so much ''stuff'' stored in there, and it's been there too long.

I really must remember to replace the spices I threw out.

 

Work on the Vicarage Fete Aran has continued. It is a slower knit than it might have been, as I am designing 'on the needle', as it were. I have found that knitting swatches, doing the maths, sketching, and writing only get me so far. I am better at doing it rather more by instinct, with some of the theory as guidance. My first attempt, using purely theory, based on maths and tension square, saw me cast on a certain number of stitches for the back, and having knitted six inches, found that it would have fitted a Rhino! So, after that I used a lot of guesstimates, using paper mainly to work out the placement of cable stitches. There has been a lot of casting on, knitting so far, measuring, possibly unravelling, and doing it again. But I don't mind. I am enjoying the process, and hope that this cardigan will fit nicely.
At the moment, I have the back knitted up to the armhole, one front, also up to the armhole, and a sleeve, almost at the point of starting the raglan. My intent is to work them to the neck, a row at a time each, to preserve the evenness of the pattern. If I mark the decreases, then I should be able to copy the method onto the remaining pieces. That is the theory!