Go With the Flow

The longer I knit, the more I learn. And sometimes too much knowledge isn't a great thing. Last night I finally cast on for New Roommate's Icosa Ball Pillow. This all I have to show for myself.

Why? Because I know too much.

For goodness sake, I know how to cast on for the round. I've done it for hats. I've done it for socks, both toe-up and cuff down. The silly instructions provided weren't necessary. Wrong. I hate working with DPNs, Magic Loop will be just fine. Wrong again. In fact every time I thought I knew better than the instructions, I ended up frogging. And frogging and frogging. My advice on this project: Go with the flow. Follow the instructions. Don't second guess. Maybe even learn something new.

As fiddly as that cast on was, the next time I cast on for something round that expands from the center, I'll be using it again. All those crazy loops have a purpose, and as clever as I think I am, pulling the tail to tighten this up and thus removing any hole in the center is pure genius.

So for those of you who don't have the pattern, here are a few pictures of this Cast On technique:

1. Make a loop and put your needle in the center.
   
2. Pull up another loop.
   
3. Now make a loop through the newest loop
   
   
4. Pull the newest loop snug, creating a stitch, but leaving the original loop.
   
   
5. Repeat steps 2-4 for each stitch
6. Once all the stitches have been cast on, distribute them over the DPNs. In this case, over three to make a triangular shape
   
   
7. Now here comes the fun part, pull the tail from the Cast On.
   

Once you've pulled that snug there is no discernible hole in the center.

However there is another hole to worry about in this pattern. There are two types of increases in this pattern: KFB for knit rows (and corresponding PFB or purl rows) and Yarn Overs. And as we know yarn overs leave holes. And I don't like the holes.Still, after playing with different options, I realized that those holes are necessary to create the triangular shape and instead of fighting them, I've decided to just make them. (BTW, I am manipulating the work to show off the hole. The real thing isn't that obvious, take a look at the top picture.) I will try to match the lining as close as I can to the Bark yarn and hope for the best.