Mastering the Tubular Cast-On (While on the Bus To Work)
I’ve been meaning to make myself a pair of Endpaper Mitts (pattern by Eunny Jang), but life kept getting in the way. First I couldn’t get hold of the yarn that I wanted (Louet Gems). Then I bought it in sport weight instead of fingering weight (i.e. yarn way too thicker than what the pattern calls for) by mistake. After I’m finally able to get my hands on some of the Louet Gems Fingering Weight yarn in colors that I liked, I realized I didn’t have the right size DPNs. So I couldn’t start the project until pay day, when I could lay out some cash for two pairs of DPNs (size 0 and 2).
Somehow I persevered through a tight budget, silly mistakes, and general laziness; and I’m ready to start the project. For some reason I decide to start my dreary Friday morning with the unfamiliar tubular cast-on method on frail, size 0 bamboo DPNs, while balancing a hot tea between my knees on the CT2 bus from my apartment in Somerville to the Fenway area of Boston, where I work. It’s slow going at first, but I was able to cast-on the requisite 56 stitches and complete two rows of 1×1x rib by the time the bus arrives at my destination. During lunch I complete a few more rows, and am able to successfully complete the final step of the tubular cast-on method, removing the yarn from the inside of the “tube”. Please excuse the kinda bad iphone picture. I’m hoping to replace it later on with a better photo with my digital camera.
