Knitting the First Sleeve on the 1940's Short Sleeved Sweater

 Over the weekend I got some more knitting done on this 1940's vintage sweater. It's something that I need to work on at home, since it requires careful counting and concentration. I had some trouble understanding the instructions yesterday. It's a British pattern, so it's written differently than the  American patterns are. I believe it's a vintage design from The Australian Women's Weekly Magazine. I love imagining those women, back in that time, knitting their own sweaters at home. Life was so different then than it is now. I just love the styles.

I posted some questions about what was written for the decreases on Ravelry. I received some helpful replies, but  still didn't comprehend how to achieve the right stitch count. My intuition told me to do a knit front back increase. One woman on line told me not to do that, or I would get a bump. It was confusing to me, because I had never increased while ribbing.

I decided to book a half hour private lesson with my knitting teacher, Yuko Frederick. She is so easy for me to understand, and we worked it out quickly. She explained that the increases were all done in one row. I had always done them at the beginning and end over several rows. When it came to deciding which increase to use, my intuition had been right. The knit front back increase gave me the correct stitch count. Doing make ones gave me ten extra stitches. It's such a good feeling when you finally understand something in knitting. I had been avoiding working on this sweater for quite a while. I subconsciously was worried about it. Now that I'm over the hump, it's feeling much more fun and doable.

Here are some more photos from our hike on Friday. The clouds were so beautiful. The garden is doing well, and it's much easier to care for this time of year. The navel oranges are good sized, and I am excited for the outsides of them to turn from green to orange. They look delicious. The leaves on the strawberry plants are a glossy shade of green, and  they are healthy, too. The bees have been pollinating the white flowers. It's interesting to grow different sizes of fruit. There's a much longer wait for a lemon or orange than for a strawberry or choke berry. It takes time and patience to grow your own food. I will be making a salad with the garden lettuce this afternoon. How was your weekend?