Almost looks like a skirt rather than a sweater. I promise it will start looking more like a sweater soon.

Notice the stitch holders. Just after casting off the extra stitches some stitches are put on hold just before starting decreases for the neck line.

On the front neck line, several inches of stitches in the center of the body are put on hold and the knitting continues in the round with decreases on either side of the extra stitches. Thanks to Anne Feitelson’s book, I learned that the decreases should slant towards the extra stitches – totally opposite of what I would have thought.

On the back neck line, about 1/3 of the stitches at center back are put on hold just a few rows before the body is complete. This small dip in the back will help the collar sit comfortably around the neck; or so I’ve read in various knitting books.

Although not shown in these photos, the shoulders were grafter together earlier this week.

Next step is to cut the extra stitches at the sides  and to pick up stitches for the sleeves. What a difficult thing to do since once done, there’s no turning back.

By the way,  this photo wasn’t taken in my yard. We tend not to water the little grass that we do have. This large lawn was well nurtured by my father for the past year.

When knitting with only one color I hold the yarn in my right hand between my thumb and forefinger, with no extra yarn wrapped around any fingers. I probably came across this method when I first started teaching myself how to knit from books but didn’t bother learning the details of how to tension the yarn around other fingers. I’ve tried the proper way of holding yarn in the right hand but always go back to my own way. I love how it gives me total control over the tension, even if it is a little slower method of knitting.

Learning to work with two colors was quite a challenge. I tried knitting with both colors in my left hand, both in my right and one in each hand. As you can see in the picture, I finally settled on holding one color in each hand. Of course,I don’t hold the yarns as shown in most books.

The yarn in my right hand is held as I do when knitting with one color. The yarn in my left hand is held between the first and second finger. To give more tension to the yarn in this hand, the working yarn is always placed in front of the object being knitted and held in place with my thumb.

While I can put lots of tension on the yarn with this method, I don’t. I always make sure that tension in both yarns is very even and not too tight or too loose. When switching between yarns I “fan out” the stitches on the right needle to make sure the yarn carried along the back isn’t too tight.

My advice on holding yarn is to practice until you find a way that achieves the best results.

Progress report:
Next week the body of Firebirds should be nearly completed. This week I started the arm steeks.

Got one repeat finished this week. I’m coping with the heat by mostly working on Firebirds in the evening and morning when it’s cool. Otherwise, I can’t concentrate and end up ripping out all that I knit.

To get out of the heat, this afternoon, I went over to Fusion Beads thinking I might pick up some beads to make some of those fancy stitch markers.

For this project, I’ve been using one to mark the back of the sweater so I don’t forget to flip the repeat (birds on the right side face right and ones on the left face left). I have no trouble keeping track of the front because the steeks are very noticeable. So, no stitch marker for the front.

Anyways, the stitch marker that I’m using came in the goodie bag give out at the  NwRA conference . Ordinarily I wouldn’t purchase such things but I work on this project I’ve grown fond of the one I have and like the feel of a metal marker. The colors even match the sweater.

So, as I was sifting through the packages of crystal beads at the store, I realized it was all quickly getting out of hand; I don’t need another hobby.  I leave the store with only a few plain sterling silver jump rings  that will work well with my new needles.

By the way, I noticed some excellent tutorials on Fusion Beads’ website, including this one on wire wrapping.

After a week of crunching numbers I finally got enough confidence to cast on. Figuring out how wide the body should be wasn’t a problem but I wasn’t sure about adjustments to the neckline. Luckily I got some help from a fellow knitter/blogger whose already tackled this pattern.

When I looked through my supply of 3.5mm circular needles I only found two 24″ and one 47″. I tried using the longer needle but quickly found it was way too large. I then tried using both 24″ needles but found the needle tips a bit troublesome to work around. I was about ready to make a trip to the yarn store for a new 40″ circular when my Knit Picks needles arrived.

A couple of weeks ago after reading all the positive comments about these needles on Knitter’s Review I decided to give them a try. I placed an order for some of the Classic Circular needles and one set of the Options Line needle tips and cords. Apparently, these needles are so popular that Knit Picks is having a hard time keeping up with orders.

So what do I think? After working several rows, I can say they’re much better than my Addi Turbo needles. The cables are wonderfully flexible and the tips are a bit sharper which makes two color knitting easier for me. I’m currently knitting with one of the needles with removable tips and so far haven’t had any trouble with them coming loose. Kudos to Knit Picks for taking knitting needle design one step further. By the way, Clara from KR has an excellent detailed review of these needles.