When I first tried the pattern something simply did not, would not, could not penetrate my skull about how it was supposed to be done. I ripped out my attempts and set it aside.
I pulled it back into the light this month with the retirement of a long-time friend. Life-cycle moments like births, new homes and retirements call for gifts made by hand.
This time, the pattern clicked. It starts with a circle of knitting on double points and increases four stitches a row at the same point each time. The increases create a curving line and thus the swirling effect. The pattern also calls for rows of stockinette stitch and rows of purling in addition to the changes of color.
It's totally gratifying how fast you can go -- up to about the halfway point. As the circumference grows, it takes longer and longer to create a color stripe. You move from four double-pointed needles to circular ones, to two circular ones to one long circular one. Or, at least, that's what I did to avoid having to buy extra needles. I can tell that point stoppers will be useful as the number of stitches grows.
With my renewed commitment to precision, I'll also have to figure out an efficient way to count stitches. I have a special marker for the beginning point of the row, and three additional ones for the corners where increases need to be made. It's tempting to insert more markers to signify blocks of 50 or 100 stitches so I don't have to recount everything all the time.
That would definitely require more markers than I have now and color coding. Something to chew on as I knit in circles.
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