Imagine my horror Wednesday when I was knitting along and noticed my skein of “old gold” (one of the main colors in Autumn Rose) was getting low.  I rummaged around in my bag for another and came up with nothing.  Then I went to the plastic bag in my office with all the extra (at least for the time being) skeins from my kit to look for the gold…not there either.  Hmmm.  Gauge is on (at least last time I checked) and I didn’t do any extra repeats (actually left out that one little bit with the gold at the bottom) so what’s the problem?  Looked at the pattern… there should have been THREE skeins of old gold in my kit, not just two.  One email to customer service later and the wonderful ladies at Nestucca Bay Yarn 1 have another skein on the way.  What I am most pleased about at the moment is that I had just enough (and I mean JUST…see the little yarn ball at the top of the picture…that is all I have left) old gold to finish the last repeat that includes that color in the body.  Thirteen more rows and I’ll be cutting the steek.

Speaking of the steek, I was confounded when I came to the directions to cast on for the steek stitches.  I had a vague idea of what the steek does but I had really only seen it used for sleeves before.  I couldn’t seem to wrap my mind around how that was going to work for a neckline.  I wasn’t until I saw the photo at  the chappysmom blog that I really understood how it would work.  In my head, I had pictured the middle stitches put on a holder sitting beside the steek…I kept think the middle was going to be off if I put the middle stitches on a holder and then cast on for the steek.  The stitches on a holder actually sit UNDER the steek stitches and on a piece of waste yarn rather than a holder (so it can fold) which makes much more sense.  Obvious to experienced fair isle knitters I’m sure but it was quite perplexing for a newbie.

I plan to finish the body and cut the steek this weekend.  While I’m waiting for the final skein of old gold to cast on for the neckline, I’ll be weaving in the eleventy nine hundred ends and checking the fit.  I hope I don’t end up with the same problems Deb and Cate have!2

Oh and by the way…are y’all participating in my contest or what?  I haven’t heard a peep.  I can only assume you are waiting for the most clear and beautiful night to take pictures for me!  Don’t procrastinate!  :angel: 

1. Does anyone think it’s weird that having a yarn store myself that I link to another yarn store?  I have no problem with that!  Good service can be hard to find and after all not every store can be everything to everyone. [↩]
2. Deb’s fix for the neckline is an interesting read.  Might give you some tips for future reference when fit is off…a sewing machine can be a knitter’s best friend in this situation. [↩]