Continental knitting...

I've finally figured out how to purl using the Continental Method. So far, Continental has proven to involve less hand/wrist movement for me. However, it's also way awkward and fairly slow-going. I think I have a severe lack of coordination in my left hand or something. I'll stick to the English Method for the most part, but it's good to know Continental for the times my right wrist goes wonky. Ahh, childhood injuries. At least my tension is pretty good either way, so far.

The Sirdar sweater is more than halfway done. The front and back are finished. Just need to do the sleeves and seam. I'm a tad worried, though. My first sleeve so far looks HUGE. I checked the pattern and it doesn't look like it'd be a big deal if I made the sleeves for the smaller size instead. Would just need to smoothly switch back to this side when shaping the raglan.

So just when I thought yarn shopping in London was going to be a lost cause (I swear, everything is Rowan or Jaeger in this country) I found my way to Loop in Islington. Not as big as what I'm used to but the variety is there. Frog Tree, Blue Sky, K1C2, Colinette, Laines du Nord, and more. I found some Colinette Graffiti in moss but they only had one hank left. Not quite enough to make a scarf, so the lady there suggested I find another color and do either a stripe patter or a border with the contrasting color. This resulted in me getting a hand of the same yarn in Peaches & Cream. They look nice together side by side so far but we'll see how they knit up together. The best part was they were reasonably priced. £5.50 per 100g hank of hand-dyed 100% wool. Rowan and Jaeger, I believe, sell their 100% wools for more (although I still want to get my hands on some Rowan Big Wool Fusion--those colors are awesome but pricey).