20-04-2020

I sewed this one up instead of grafting (I hadn’t done a provisional cast-on, and probably didn’t have enough of the cotton left to graft the edges anyway), but if anything the seam is even more visible, and certainly more apparent to the touch. I don’t think the cast-on helped, since the first row is visibly different from the garter stitch that follows, producing exactly the same stocking-stitch stripe effect as when I grafted. However, it doesn’t matter.

So much for being man-size; this is very slightly larger than the yellow one, unsurprising as it is, after all, only 23 stitches in radius versus 21! About right for my hand, I’d have said, though I think the yellow one may after all have grown a little with use since I made it. But I physically couldn’t have made it any larger, or at least not using this red cotton.

I bet the colour runs, but then it always does on commercial flannels anyway. I’m sure Nicholas will like it.

18-04-2020

So much for the reworked version using less wool. I think if possible I had even less spare yarn left after finishing the sixteenth point this time!

17-04-2020

Achieved a sixteen-point flannel by the skin of my teeth (about 12 inches of yarn remaining for sewing-up). I cast on on 23 stitches at the start and worked the points as eight stitches without the increase at the start of the row, i.e. slightly lopsided. Although I’ve only just noticed that I switched from seven back to eight stitches -- making larger points, and leaving more holes -- at some point in the last couple of days, which comes of not having written down the pattern you are using.

Can I bear to undo the last few points yet again? (There is always an awful lot of undoing involved in working this pattern, since you can’t tell you’ve made a mistake until you get to the end of a point and have the wrong number of stitches for starting the next one…)

Later: ripped back to eleven points. It’s definitely more lopsided when you work seven stitches before the hole, since the total number cast on is still the same and you’re still working the same number of short rows (3,6,9,12,15,18,21 stitches left before the turn). But at least the lacework is consistent. And theoretically it ought to use slightly less yarn, since those first stitches before the hole are the only ones that get worked in every single row….

14-04-2020

I managed thirteen and a half points - producing a nine-inch diameter - before running out of red. I might possibly complete an entire flannel using a 23-stitch cast-on (8.5”?)

12-04-2020

Using a 25-stitch cast-on this time in the hopes of producing a larger size. Working eight stitches for each point, i.e. Kfb followed by six more stitches and a hole.
I’m using a remnant of red 4ply cotton in the hopes of producing a more ‘manly’ result - the alternative is peach orange or denim, which says it shrinks and runs.