Shells are knitted in short row style: first the base layer then the lowest center point, followed by filling in the area with stitches. The curve of the shells is made by the coordinated tensions of the stitches, and the volume of the strands making the pattern. Before washing, the cloth is heavily corrugated and the pattern is as much physical as it is visual. Even the backside is nice.
The simplest things can be the most difficult to perform. Once I memorized the pattern it was just a matter of keeping all the stitches on the needles. Every shell has a point where three stitches are being knit. Those stitches are the hardest to keep on the needles. As the carriage goes in one direction then another, one needle opposite the carriage is put into work. These edge stitches are just waiting to drop off if your attention wanders.
Short row knitting on a machine involves moving selected needles into the work position, while all the others lie undisturbed; the carriage has levers that need to be in the correct position (Hold). The finishing row for each complete set of shells is supposed to be fully knitted. [This only works if you’ve moved the levers from Hold to Knit.] You would think after tearing out that last row a couple of times would have cured me of this mistake. The only way I could do it was to say out loud, “Everybody knit...”, check the levers, “...now!” and then move the carriage across the needles.
I like the look of the two-color cloth, but it's a management nightmare trying to keep the non-working yarn from bothering the working yarn.The single color cloths only took about 20 minutes each to make.
Cables are starting to look interesting...and easy.
OK folks, your turn. What are you working on?