Ball-o-rama

I have been oh-so-quietly knitting away on my WGS. Mainly because most of it is just giant pieces of stockinette stitch in charcoal gray and not all that interesting. I was going to post a picture of the back once I got it done, but it is huge and the scale just wouldn't come though very well in a picture, so I didn't. Right now, I have finished the back, the bottom and one side gusset. I was about to start the second gusset when I realized I needed a break from the charcoal. So, I got out my Vogue Knitting and studied up on color work. I had experimented a bit with color work on a sweater for Jenny, which is currently blocking, and had a chance to make all sorts of fun mistakes. The idea being that I would make less on the front of my WGS. Either way, the good news is that according to the lady at my LYS, felting will hide many of my inperfections - which is very, very good.

What I didn't realize before I started is that color work takes a bit of planning. I had looked at the chart and not processed how many bobbins I would really need. Since I am not an expert at estimating how much yarn I will need for each section, I attached the whole ball (except in a couple places where I made bobbins) and pulled my two strands from the center and outside at the same time. So far, it is working out really well and doesn't get too tangled as I work. So, here is a picture of the first dozen or so rows. I included the tape measure so you could see how big this thing really is!

And here's a close up:


Overall, I give color work a thumbs up. It's fun to see the picture form as you go and working with the different colors breaks up each row as you knit. So far, I haven't made any holes (which is not the case with Jenny's sweater - sorry, little girl) and my tension is fairly even accross the whole thing. I'm also weaving in my ends as I go, so there will be very little finishing once I'm done. This will probably take me a while, since I need to follow a chart (something else I've never had to do before), so it doesn't exactly lend itself to tv knitting - at least not at my level. Anyhoo, I'll post more progress pictures as I go.