Meris - Upper Fronts Done

This weekend I finished both fronts and joined all the pieces so now I am knitting the body.  I don't have a needle (in the right size) with a long enough cable, so the front is a bit scrunched, which is why I took a photo of the back.

Pattern:  Meris by Elizabeth Doherty
Yarn:  Finch by Quince & Co
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm)

Wavelettes Shawl

Janine le Cras has had a couple of patterns published in some of the major venues recently.  This pattern was published in Twist Collective, an online magazine that is one of my favorites.  I always buy several patterns from each issue.  The Spring 2013 issue came out while we were working on the Treasure Island Mystery Knit Along so some of us decided to do this shawl as a knit along while waiting for the next Unique Sheep Mystery Knit Along - Watership Down (as if we need any more projects).  Janine mentioned that she thought the shawl would be lovely in Pashmi and I thought it would look lovely in pastels so I picked the colorway above - White Queen's Castle.  I've been wanting to do something in this colorway for a while now.

The shawl is knit from the center out starting with a provisional cast on and at first I was going to knit it symmetrically, starting with the pink and working to the green.  Yesterday I wound the first skein into a ball and did a swatch, and while I was working with the yarn I decided that I wanted to knit it asymmetrically.  I am starting with skein 4 and will work the first half with skeins 4, 5 and 6 (in that order), then pick up the stitches from the provisional cast on using skein 3 and work the second half with skeins 3, 2 and 1 (in that order).  After deciding my course of action, I unraveled my swatch and used it to create the crochet chain for the provisional cast on.  Aren't the colors lovely?

Because I am not using the recommended yarn, and the 6 skein shawl set only comes with 1200 yards, I don't have the same amount of yarn that the pattern calls for.  Fortunately it is easy to adjust the pattern by doing fewer repeats of the body chart.  Before beginning I weighed my ball of yarn - 52 grams.  After working one repeat of the body chart I weighed my ball again - 44 grams.  So one repeat, for me, took 8 grams.  I then set up a spreadsheet to calculate how many stitches per gram I was getting and try to get an estimate for the yarn usage of the border chart.  I had to do some adjusting because the body chart has slipped stitches, which reduces the amount of yarn used.  I ended up coming up with 16 grams as an estimated yarn usage for one repeat of the border chart.

It them occurred to me this morning that I should wind all of my skeins into balls and weigh them as there is usually some variation in weight between skeins and I wanted to maximize my usage of the yarn.  It turns out that for my set, the skeins all weigh the same, so I don't have to do anything fancy, like use part of skein 3 for the first half of the shawl.  Based upon my calculations I am going to do 11 repeats of the body chart on each half (as opposed to the 12 called for in the pattern) and the 4 repeats of the body chart.

Pattern:  Wavelettes Shawl by Janine le Cras published in Twist Collective Spring 2013
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Pashmi in White Queen's Castle
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Meris - Upper Back Done - Really

This time the upper back is really done, all the way through the armhole increases.  I pinned it out on my gridded blocking board using the schematics to check the size.  So far it is looking okay.  Now I get to pick up stitches for the front.  The armhole increases were done with directional lifted increases, which I've always liked and use a lot.  The underarm stitches were cast on using the cable cast on.  This photo was taken with the flash.

Pattern:  Meris by Elizabeth Doherty
Yarn:  Finch by Quince & Co
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm)

Meris - Upper Back Done

Because I did not get the row gauge I did not do as many rows for the upper back as the pattern called for.  I did 48 rows instead of 52.  With the gauge specified, 52 rows will get you 4.9 inches (52*4/42).  My row gauge is about 1 stitch short per inch so I only did 48 rows.  Pinned out the measurements look okay, but I will try it on once I get the front knitted down to the armholes.  This one may take several tries to get right.

Pattern:  Meris by Elizabeth Doherty
Yarn:  Finch by Quince & Co
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm)

Meris - Cast On!

It doesn't look like much, but this is the beginning of a top-down cardigan with set in sleeves.  I've knit top-down raglans, but this is my first time knitting one with set in sleeves.  That is one of the reasons that I wanted to try this pattern - an opportunity to learn some new techniques.  You start out working the shoulders separately, using short rows to get the shape, and cable cast on to get the extra stitches.  I did shadow wraps for my short rows.  Then you join the shoulders and start knitting the back.  There will be some armhole shaping in there as well.

I ended up going with a US 2.5 needle (3.0 mm).  That got me the correct stitch gauge.  When I tried going with a smaller needle the fabric became too dense.  The pattern is very well written, with everything clearly laid out.  I'm not sure how long I will keep the stitch markers.  I so very rarely use them.

Pattern:  Meris by Elizabeth Doherty
Yarn:  Finch by Quince & Co
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm)

Meris - Swatching

I seem to have caught the swatching bug.  I used to hate swatching, but I seem to have become a process knitter and I credit (or blame, depending on your perspective) lace knitting, and maybe age.  I seem to be moving into a mind set of happiness and contentment and peace.  It is nice.  But back to swatching.  Sometime in the past year or so I picked up the yarn for a cardigan with lace inserts called Meris by Elizabeth Doherty.  The yarn is Finch by Quince & Co in the color Crocus.  The yarn tag states 9 stitches/inch on size US 1 and 7 stitches/inch on size US 3.  The pattern calls for a gauge of 26 stitches and 42 rows in 4 inches, presumably on the largest needles called out for in the pattern - US 3.  This works out to 6.5 stitches/inch.

I did the first swatch on size 3 needles.  I like the look of the fabric, the stitch density looks pretty good.  But the gauge is off.  Not enough stitches per inch.  And the hand feels to loose.  I think the cardigan needs a crisper hand.  So, tonight I did another swatch on size 2 needles.  The stitch gauge looks pretty good, but the row gauge is off.  The pattern calls for 10.5 rows/inch, and I'm getting about 9.3 rows/inch.  Frankly, the gauge of the pattern has me a bit flummoxed.  The ratio of stitches to rows just doesn't seem right to me.  I just don't see how you can get that gauge.  At this point all I am going to go for is stitch gauge.  I've never used this yarn before and I wasn't sure I was going to like  working with it, but I find it is growing on me.  It is definitely a fingering weight yarn.

Mariposa Tee - Done!

Once I got past clue 3 this top went very quickly.  I did have to make a couple of more adjustments to the pattern because of the changes that I had already made.  I had to recalculate where to do the yoke decreases, which was easy thanks to an app on my iPad.  Once I did the initial 3 sets of decreases that were common between the scoop neck and the high neck I tried it on to see how it was fitting.  I really liked the neckline so I decided to stay with the scoop neck, but I really didn't feel like figuring out how to do the short rows with my pattern adjustments, so I just skipped them.  Instead I did another set of decreases and then started the neck edge, working another set of decreases into the neck edging.

Pattern:  Maripos Tee by Michelle Miller
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Worsted in Carnival
Needle:  US 8 (5 mm)

And the sun was out yesterday, so I got some beauty shots of my latest shawls.  First up, my Treasure Island Cape, front view.

 And my Ardent Spring Shawl

Have you heard?  It's time for Camp Loopy.  Camp week - the week you can get discounts on the yarn used in the camp challenge is this week.  I wasn't going to do it again this year, but I caved.  The first challenge is easy.  Knit or crochet something that uses only 1 skein (at least 375 yards), but it has to be a yarn that you haven't used before.  Well, that might be a bit of a challenge, but there is no harm in looking.  So I went to the Camp Loopy site and checked out the yarns, just looking, and found Dragonfly Fibers Djinni Sock, a yarn that I have never used before.  The first color that caught my eye was Queen of Tarts.  How can you resist that name.  Then I spotted Blue Morpho Butteryfly.  You have to understand, I have been haunted by the Blue Morpho ever since I listened to the ZBS radio play Dreams of the Blue Morpho.  I have been wanting to make something inspired by that radio play ever since I heard it.  Actually, I thought it would be cool to design a whole series inspired by the Adventures of Jack Flanders radio plays, starting with Blue Morpho.  And here is the yarn.  It was meant to be.

I'll use the Queen of Tarts for the challenge, and find a nice one skein shawl.  I have tons of patterns, and there are lots more on Ravelry if I don't have one in my library that suits.