Mountain knitting!

I've been  in mountain for a few dais and there I've been knitting some projects....



The first is a two crafts project made of:
the Worsted Capelet (by Abuelita n Ravelry)

and the Quick Cable Slouch Hat (by Azure)

I had this yarn from last year in mountain and it was very "wild"... to tell you the truth it smells of goat scent!
But the nice thing is that it's really warm and a beautiful dark grey colour. I wanted to do something with a country touch and I thought about cables. I had already done the Quick Cable Slouch Hat for a present and really liked the way it came out, so I decided for a two objects match with cables and the use of even a contrasting colour to make the dark grey a bit more lively and feminine.

I have to tell that the main cable (front of capelet) has some little mistakes. But I'm very happy of how it came and it's very useful!

The other project is the BoHo Blouse by Stefanie Japel.
I really love almost everything I've seen from Stefanie Japel creations and I fell in love with this blouse the minute I saw it!

From last winter I had this white soft angora that was the right size for the project so I decided that my first BoHo Blouse would be white (In my intentions it's not my last BoHo Blouse!).

I've read all the comments on Ravelry of people that already had done it and I decided to do it a small size to make it fit fine and it worked well! As I'm not so skinny as the model in the photo I had to add some extra stitches after the waist line for my hips. I added total 12 stitches in 12 rows divided in 3 additions of 4  (two each side with a kfb stitch).

Miss Bennet, it is the end!

What to tell if not just that finally I've finished Miss Bennet! I loved it and I started it some months ago, but I had to stop in the summer as it was too hot to work with wool. I could not wait to see it finished and now that the end finally came I'm soooooooooooo proud of my lilac sweater!

First I casted on 220 stitches, but it was too much, so I started again with 180 stitches and it seems better.I divided them in 31-28-62-28-31. When at the wrap and turn point I made it on 8 stitches base instead than 10 stitches. On marker C I increased 6 times instead of 5.

Then I went of 'till I tried it on and I thought it was the right size for me (I have not taken note of how many rows or increases I did, but surely more than the ones of the original pattern as I'm not a teenager like the beautiful girl in the photos!).

When arrived to the bust I made more decreases 'till I arrived at my waist, always trying the sweater on.

Then started to increase. when  I was near the finishing length I decided not to do the 28 seed stitch rows, but to stop the seed stitch at 14. Then I made a bigger garter stitch part, increasing the needle from 2,50mm to 3,00mm and at the end to 3,50mm so to have a loose bind off. It worked nicely!

Almost forgetting to say that when alternating seed stitch rows and stockinette stitches rows I made them 14 and 14, same number, even if the pattern suggested a 15 and 14 division.

Knitting Theory: wrap and turn and short rows!

I'm making progressions in the Miss Bennet Puffed sleeves sweater and I've passed the most critical point of the pattern, the wrap and turn part.

At the beginning I could not understand why that technique was used and how to do it, but now that I've been going trought it I can say that not only it's quite easy, but is even quite useful to shape the knitting projects and make them fit better.

Wrap and turn is used in two cases: to change direction to your knitting or to make short rows.

In example, I'm knitting my row, but I don't want ( for any reason) arrive at the end of the row, what I have to do is turn the work and start knitting in the other direction. Simply turn it!

Now, if I'm knitting, after turning it,  probably I would start purling and vice versa.
As I'm in the middle of my work and not at the edge, it's not nice to simply turn, it would make a little hole.
What should I do to avoid the hole? I arrive at the point where I want to turn and I pass the yarn wrapping the next stitch in raw waiting to be knitted.
How can I do it in an easy way? I have to pay attention to the position of the yarn while I'm knitting, that is in the back of the work, and to the final position of the yarn when I've turned it and I have to start working again in purl stitch, that is in the front of the turned work.
So, to do it without the hole I have to pass a round of yarn around the stitch not worked.

I don't know if my explanation is clear, anyway I've found this video on you tube by Cotton and Cloud that is very clear:

It teaches  even how to pick up the wrapped stitch when working again that stitch.

But while learning wrap and turn, another question came in my mind, and it is, why inserting short rows in my work? The answer I could find is that short rows add turns to the work and make it fit better.  They make knitted triangles. In example you make short rows in the back of a sock to make room for the heel of the foot; in a sweater you can make room for a breast or a gluteus that needs it. It makes the difference between wearing a sack form clothe and a shaped one.

In my humble opinion, the best explanation on the use of short rows is the following, by knitpics: