Watership Down - Clue 7 - Half way done

I spent most of yesterday working on my Watership Down mystery shawl and managed to get through half of Clue 7.  Clue 8, the final clue, came out this past Friday and one of the test knitters has posted a picture of her shawl on the spoiler thread, so it is no longer a mystery.  Clue 8 is another knitted on border, so after I finish this one, I get to pick up all of the slipped stitches on this border and then knit into the front and back of each one and do another border using skein 4 (on the left).

That will get me more into the browns.  This is an interesting shawl design and you could have a lot of fun playing with colors.

I have been using Knit Companion on my iPad while knitting the border (I also used Knit Companion while knitting my Open Eye Tunic).  I have found that the app is very useful if you are repeating a chart multiple times.  If you use the smart counter you can even set the number of repeats that you are supposed to do and it will keep track of them for you, which makes knit on borders (also know as never ending borders or NEBs) more bearable.  I did not use it when I was knitting the body of the shawl because there were three charts, and we were only going through each one once.  Plus they all fit onto a single page.

Project:  Watership Down by Janine le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Selene in Insecta
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Caribbean Blue - Top of the top done

This is a project from the latest edition of Knitter's Magazine (K112), called Cables & saddles by Julie Gaddy.  It has a very interesting construction.  You knit the two saddles first, then pick up stitches along the edges of the saddles to shape the shoulders and neckline, then join the shoulders to knit the back and then the front, finally joining the front and the back to knit the body in the round.  The sleeves are picked up and knit out from the front and the back, and are sewn to the underarm to form a sort of gusset.  I was very intrigued by how all of this would work, so when I got to the end of a skein on the body I decided to go back and do the finish work on the top.  Besides which, there were a number of yarn tails and stitches on holders and the whole thing was just a little too chaotic and messy for me.

So, when I got to the end of a skein, I wound the rest of my skeins up and started on a sleeve.  The sleeves use live stitches on the saddle and picks up stitches from the body.  Then you knit back and forth, keeping the cable pattern going along the top of the sleeve until the sleeve measures 4 inches.  After you cast off you sew the sleeve to the underarm stitches to form a sort of gusset and sew the rest of the sleeve seam together.  Of course I had to modify things.  Once the sleeve was long enough to sew to the underarm I joined the sleeve and knit the rest in the round.  After I cast off the sleeve stitches I sewed the gusset.  Once I had finished the sleeves I tackled the neck band.

I was supposed to do a provisional cast on when I knit the saddles so I could use those stitches as part of the neck band.  Of course, if you do this, your stitches are off by half a stitch, but don't worry, the photo caption asserts, it is virtually undetectable.  Wrong!  I looked at the photo and all I could see was that mismatch.  So I didn't do a provisional cast on, instead I picked up stitches and it is barely detectable.  When I did the bind off on the neckband I did not bind off in pattern, I did a knitted bind off.  I just thought it would lay better.

The sample in the magazine was knit in Claudia Hand Painted Yarns Short Sport in Rubies Playing and Silk Lace in Chocolate Cherry, with the yarns held together.  The fact that they were two different colors didn't really register so when I ordered I looked for matching colors, which limited my selection somewhat.  Fortunately I found the Caribbean Blue in both yarn weights and I love the colors.  Once I got the yarn and started working the pattern I realized that the point was to create a subtle variegated effect.  Well, given the color that I had order I didn't need two different colors of yarn for that, so I just used the short sport, which means I have the same color in a lovely lace weight just waiting for the perfect shawl pattern.

Pattern:   Cables & saddles by Julie Gaddy, Knitter's Magazine K112
Yarn:  Claudia Hand Painted Yarns Short Sport in Caribbean Blue
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Open Eye Tunic - Finished!

Finally finished.  I sewed one of the inserts in yesterday and sewed the other one in this morning.  It is hard to get a good photo.  The seaming was a lot easier than I thought it would be.  For the inserts I sewed one side and the cast off edge to the body.  I was going to sew one side and the cast on edge, but the cast on edge didn't really provide a good basis for the seam.

This is the first time I've used a Unique Sheep Gradiance set for clothing rather than a shawl, but I don't think it will be the last.  I have a silk charmeuse outfit that will go perfectly under this - a sleeveless top and matching pants that should match the darker colors, but with my gimpy knee I didn't really feel like modeling today.

Pattern:  Open Eye Tunic by Deborah Helmke (Interweave Knits, Summer 2013)
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Tinsel Toes in Electric Blue Flame
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Open Eye Tunic - Second Insert Done

I have finally finished the second insert for my Open Eye Tunic.  Now I can assemble it and move on to another project.  I have plenty waiting in the wings.  I have been on a sweater kick and have been buying yarn for several sweater projects, some fairly simple, others full of lace.  Blocking this was made a lot more difficult by the fact that I had surgery on my left knee yesterday (to remove an icky skin thing) and can only bend it a little bit.  It makes getting up and down awkward, and I am slow moving around the house and especially going up and down stairs.  But it just gives me another excuse to stay on the day bed knitting all weekend (as if I need any).

Pattern:  Open Eye Tunic by Deborah Helmke (Interweave Knits, Summer 2013)
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Tinsel Toes in Electric Blue Flame
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Watership Down - Clue 6 Done

Clue 6 came out on Friday, but I didn't even start it until this morning.  I've been focusing on my Open Eye Tunic, trying to get that done.  This was a very short clue and worked up very quickly.

Project:  Watership Down by Janine le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Selene in Insecta
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Fred Update

I'm happy to report that Fred is doing well.  I have him on wet food (Jasmine prefers dry) and he is putting on weight, slowly but surely.  He is also taking better care of his fur.  This past week I've been taking him outside on supervised walks around the yard.  Being deaf I think he gets very bored in the house.  When he goes outside he is transformed - alert and curious, sniffing and looking at everything.  Here he is taking a nap after a walk in the yard and a bath.  That is his catnip rat that he has his paws on.

Open Eye Tunic - One Side Insert Done

After a couple of false starts, I've finally finished one of the side inserts.  I used some of each skein of the set - obviously skeins 5 and 6 dominate as I didn't use those skeins in the body.  When I sew the inserts to the body I'll sew the cast on edge (the bottom edge in the picture) to the front and one of the side edges to the back.  I ended up doing 21 repeats of the Cane Stitch chart and used 66 grams of yarn.


Pattern:  Open Eye Tunic by Deborah Helmke (Interweave Knits, Summer 2013)
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Tinsel Toes in Electric Blue Flame
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Open Eye Tunic - Front and Back Done and Joined

I actually finished up the front and joined the front to the back at the beginning of September and then I started on the side inserts.  I was knitting away on the inserts on size 5 needles (I had done them both on size 7 but had ripped them out when I started the tunic over on size 5) and had gotten one almost finished when I realized that I was not going to make it.  It wasn't that I was going to run out of yarn, I just hadn't been using it up the way I needed to.  I figured out that I used 2 grams of yarn for every 3 rows of the Cane Stitch chart and that I needed to do 20 repeats of the chart.  Some quick math revealed that I basically needed to use up all of skeins 5 and 6, as well as all of my leftover yarn from the body, so I ripped back.  Then as I was knitting away, carefully weighing and counting I suddenly remembered that I needed to use some of skein 4 to do the armhole and neck edging.  Fortunately I realized this while I was still working with skein 5.  I took a quick break from the inserts and took care of the neck and armhole edges.  Fortuitously, it took exactly the amount of yarn that I had previously used when I was working the insert that I had almost finished - 6 grams.  So, here is the front and back joined and with the edging worked.  I did sew a little bit of the side seams, just enough so I could pick up the stitches around the armhole.  I am currently working repeat 18 on my first insert, and it looks like my yarn usage estimate is a little conservative (I try to always err on the conservative side) as I am only on skein 4.

Pattern:  Open Eye Tunic by Deborah Helmke (Interweave Knits, Summer 2013)
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Tinsel Toes in Electric Blue Flame
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Watership Down - Clue 5 Done

I finally finished up Clue 5 this afternoon.  I almost ripped the whole thing out this morning.  I was working on it yesterday when I discovered a mistake as I was working the second to last row.  I put the shawl in a time out for the rest of day.  This morning I tried lace surgery.  I thought I had found the mistake, but was mistaken, so I ended up ripping out 4 rows.  As I was working the pattern I finally discovered my mistake.  I hadn't ripped back far enough, but the mistake was a missed yarn over, which is pretty easy to fix.  So now the mistake is fixed and the clue is done.


Project:  Watership Down by Janine le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Selene in Insecta
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Open Eye Tunic - Front Done and Blocking

I finished up the front this afternoon.  As on the back, I repeated the eyelet chart twice in the shoulder straps.  Once it is dry I'll join the front and the back using a three-needle bind-off, then I'll start sewing the side seams and figure out how big the side inserts need to be.


Pattern:  Open Eye Tunic by Deborah Helmke (Interweave Knits, Summer 2013)
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Tinsel Toes in Electric Blue Flame
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)