Stuff in the works

In my quest to challenge myself and master new aspects of the craft, I bought Knitting Out of Africa. The author is a Dane (I believe - or Norwegian) and her designs are inspired by various African motifs.

She uses her own yarn and I've never been able to find it anywhere except one Norwegian yarn site. I substituted to the best of my ability. using Knitpicks Palette. While I always check gauge, and did so this time, the knitted garment is not gauging correctly. But, the pattern is a huge size and I can block to fit.

The trick to this one is that it is modular knitting. The small needle size and the constant changing of direction makes it slow going, but it will be pretty cool when it's done.

The other one is a rather nondescript man's sweater. It's from Knit N Style, one of the few to which I do not subscribe. Sometimes it has useful stuff, but often the designs are just tacky. Lots of eyelash, sparkles, and some just butt-ugly designs. I don't subscribe because I don't want to pay for the ones that are going right in the trash. The yarn I'd ordered in error, and just kept. The color will not work on me at all. It would work on someone, say, blond and blue-eyed. Or someone with dark hair. Not someone like me, who tends to favor reds, yellows, browns and greens.

Why, then?

It's in the technique. This one will require a steek. Steeks are shaping techniques that require the knitter to cut the knitting. This seems counterintuitive and I'm leery of it, but this is a simple one and I'm at least willing to try. If I screw it up, well, no matter.