Hate Is Such A Strong Word

SO -let me just say that I am not nearly as enamoured with garter stitch as Elizabeth Zimmerman.

Once Waterloo was finished, my lazy self thought it would be easier to whip up a Tomten Jacket than clean up Waterloo's leftovers. The Tomten Jacket is knit in garter stitch - miles and miles of garter stitch. Garter stitch was fun when I started the jacket. All 112 stitches, fronts and back, knit flat and all together - another rug-like piece - went quite fast.

Separating the fronts and knitting them up to the shoulders wasn't too bad. Fronts are done on one-eighth of the 112 - or 14- stitches. Of course that seemed easy.

Things started to slow down when I got to the back. After working on only 14 stitches for the fronts, working on the 28 back stitches took twice as long forever.

But the real real knock out punches started coming when I began the sleeves. 56 stitches! Not to mention some varying instructions from Elizabeth's various books.

How confusing is that?

To make matters worse, I chose to do a double decrease instead of a decrease either side of a centre stitch. Faster, I thought, than having to work two decreases. But dang, it's hard to recognize the centre stitch of a double decrease in garter stitch! I can't 'see' things as easily in garter stitch as I can in stockinet - so the first sleeve torques a bit. A look I think will be precious on a little one. My story and I'm sticking to it.

All this garter stitch now leaves me wondering what EZ project I will do next. I had intended to make the Baby Surprise Jacket. Guess what? Garter stitch. Or this little kimono

discovered in an old Vogue Magazine. Guess what? Garter stitch.

Since most of Tomten's sleeve number two still needs to be knit, all those ends sewn in and a zipper installed, the decision doesn't have to be made today.