Brilliantine Socks - Finished!

The second sock went very quickly, and I'm happy to say that my tension control is back to normal, so they are the same gauge.  I didn't quite manage to start the second sock at exactly the same place in the color cycle, so the stripes are a little off, but not much.

The whole thing got me thinking about gauge and how we control it.  I am always seeing people comment on Ravelry that "they are a loose knitter" or "tight knitter" as if they have no control over it, when, in fact, they do.  I used to be a loose knitter because I didn't control my yarn.  I let it hang loose between stitches, which of course led to loose tension in my knitting.  Now I tension it by wrapping it around the fingers of my right hand - over the index finger, under the middle finger, over the ring finger and then once around the pinkie.  Since I've been doing that I get very consistent tension, and with main line patterns can usually get gauge.  I don't always get gauge with the independent designers, but I think that is due more to the vagaries of their knitting, rather than mine.

Tight knitters might have more of a challenge, but I know that when I consciously tried to loosen my knitting on the second sock I succeeded, and ended up with a bigger sock.  I have also always thought that tight knitters must be stressing their hands.  Perhaps the best advice is what I learned when I took fencing in college.  You want to hold the hilt of the sword gently and in a relaxed manner, as if you're holding a little bird.  Too loose and the bird will fly away, too tight and you will strangle it.  I think the same can be said of knitting needles, or crochet hooks for that matter.  In fact, I even hold both knitting needles and crochet hooks in the same basic manner that I used to hold a fencing sword.

Oh, and remember that little twirly flick of the blade that you see in movies that disarms your opponent?  It works.  I did it during my fencing final.  Quite by accident.  Or maybe I was just channeling my inner swashbuckler.

Pattern:  Basic Toe-Up Sock from Custom Socks by Kate Atherley
Yarn:  Biscotte & Cie Felix in Brilliantine
Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

Brilliantine Socks - One Sock Finished

I finished up most of the first sock on the drive down to Florida (St. Augustine) on the 23rd.  It was a horrible drive down, raining until we were half-way through South Caroline (or Slow Carolina, as we took to calling it, because of the traffic).  I finished up the ribbing Christmas Eve, and then went back to working on my test knit, which I also finished on Christmas Eve, except for the bind off.

The second sock, however, has been giving me fits.  I am now on my third go at it.  The first go my gauge was too tight.  Bruce attributed it to my migraine, I thought maybe the stress of travel and visiting may have been responsible, but now I think it was the extreme humidity making my hands stickier.  I finished the foot and laid it next to the completed sock and was shocked to find that it was noticeably smaller, so I ripped it back.  I worked on it on the drive back up (far more pleasant than the drive down - although the south bound traffic was heavy for most of the way back) consciously trying to be more relaxed in my knitting and loosen up my gauge, only to find when I go to the ribbing that I had loosened up too much.  The second sock was a good quarter-inch longer!  I ripped back to the ankle to redo the leg and when I picked my stitches back up and counted to make sure I had the right number on each needle I discovered, much to my chagrin, that I had 29 stitches on the top of the foot, one stitch more than I needed or wanted.  So I sighed a sigh, pulled the needles back out and ripped all the way back to the beginning, again.  On the bright side, I do have the pattern memorized.  I am hoping that third time will be a charm.

Pattern:  Basic Toe-Up Sock from Custom Socks by Kate Atherley
Yarn:  Biscotte & Cie Felix in Brilliantine
Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

Brilliantine Socks - One Foot Finished

I cast on another pair of socks after finishing up the Carousel Socks.  I have 8 skeins of the Felix Self-Striping yarn in my stash and have decided to knit them all up into basic socks.  I work on them when I don't feel like working on anything else.  They make a great car project.  I have a project bag just for my socks that Carol Perrenoud makes.  The strap hangs perfectly on the door handle of my Element.  As a safety precaution I do lock the door just in case the bag gets tugged so I can't accidentally open the door as we're going down the road.

Here is a not so good shot of the first foot.  It is a dreary day here.

And here is a shot of the other skeins of my self-striping Felix, all caked up and ready to be turned into socks.

I went ahead and made project pages for all of them so all I have to do is update them when I start working each one.  Unlike my other two skeins these ones have no color names on them.

Pattern:  Basic Toe-Up Sock from Custom Socks by Kate Atherley
Yarn:  Biscotte & Cie Felix in Brilliantine
Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

Lothlorien Cape - Finished!

Kelly of The Unique Sheep dyed me an extra skein so I could finish my cape.  I sent her a length of yarn from my last skein so she could match the colors.  I think she did a phenomenal job.  I, however, underestimated the amount of yarn that I needed to finish, but not by much.  I ran out just after finishing the turning row on the collar.  Fortunately I had some Tinsel Toes in a similar color.  I held it double and was able to finish the collar.  If I knit it again (and I have another set of yarn for the pattern) I may go down a needle size.  I like the drape, but the reverse stockinette sections seem a little loose, and I am not a loose knitter.  I don't know if that is the influence of the silk.  I did go down a needle size when I knit the collar.

I haven't decided what I'm going to do for a closure yet.  The pattern suggests a frog closure, but I might use a necklace clasp instead.  I need to look at what I have in my stash, and also online, and see if something speaks to me.

Pattern:  Lothlorien Cape by Susan Pandorf
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Wild Thing in Summer's End
Needles:  US 6 (4 mm), US 5 (3.75 mm)

Carousel Socks - Finished!

I finished the first sock the weekend before my father died, and knit most of the second sock on the drive to Yellow Springs and back.  Simple socks were really the only thing that I could manage at the time.  I've cast on another pair in another skein of Biscotte self-striping yarn.

Pattern:  Basic Toe-Up Sock from Custom Socks by Kate Atherley
Yarn:  Biscotte & Cie Felix in Carousel
Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

Col. John Hazen Blakelock (1922-2015)

A week ago yesterday we laid my father to rest in the Glen Forest Cemetery in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  It was a nice ceremony.  The weather was chilly and rainy, which seemed fitting.  The only family member missing was my oldest sister, unable to travel on such short notice.  My father died on Tuesday, November 24.  I was at work when my Mom called, she couldn't really speak, but no words are really needed at those moments.   We sang Amazing Grace, and my sister Liz played "The Gary Owen Jig" on her piccolo and there was an Honor Guard (he was in the Air Force), and the Air Attache from the Pakistani Embassy and a Lt. Col. stationed at Wright Patterson.  Both were graduates of the Pakistani Air Force College of Aeronautical Engineering, which my father established during our time in Pakistan.  It was founded in 1965 and he was the first Dean.  We were there long enough to see the first class graduate.  They just celebrated their 50th anniversary and I'm proud to say that they maintained the standards that my father established.  It is one of the finest schools in the area.  The Chief Air Marshall of the Pakistani Air Force sent a beautiful wreath, and later called my Mom to make sure that everything had gone as he had directed.

This is me and my Dad in the surf at Hawk's Bay in Karachi, where we had a beach house.  We went there a lot on the weekends, and I loved falling asleep listening to the sound of the surf.  We would watch the sea turtles come in and make their nests and lay their eggs, and when their eggs hatched we would help the baby turtles make it to the sea.

As I grew older my Dad and I remained close - I was always a "Daddy's Girl".  He helped me with my homework and we went to movies together.  When we went to see "Raiders of the Lost Ark" he dropped popcorn down his shirt during the spider scene and almost threw the entire bucket into the air.

The other thing that we did was build bookshelves.  I was always a reader, especially in high school and college, devouring science fiction books.  We started out making regular bookshelves.

These hold science fiction books in the bedroom.  But at some point Mom recommended that we make book boxes, which we did, cannibalizing a number of shelves in the process.  This wall display is all book boxes made from cannibalized book shelves, again holding science fiction, and on the bottom shelves mysteries.  The boxes are backed, and have lids, so when I moved I would simply pack the books into the book boxes.

My non-fiction library needed bigger book boxes.  We made them in two sizes - 12" x 12" and 12" x 18" and I stacked them like bricks in book towers two boxes wide.  When my husband and I combined our libraries I set them up in an expanded configuration, to obtain as much shelf space as possible.

And yes, my books have labels on their spines just like the library, and just like the library are shelved according to the Library of Congress card catalog.

My Dad was a good man, who lived a good life and led by example.  He taught me to be a good engineer and that if you're going to do something, you should do it right.  He was a simple man with a gentle soul.  After he retired he would feed the critters in our back yard and all the animals learned his routine and would be waiting for him, unafraid.  When a leopard frog moved into my Mom's greenhouse and ate its way through all of the bugs they got a cricket house and raised crickets for it.  It would take cricket's from his fingers, resting a front foot on his hand as it ate.

When I got my MS degree he came to the graduation breakfast and we got this picture, the last picture of the two of us together.  He taught me that character and reputation are really all that you have, and how to live my life with honesty and integrity.  I know that I will always miss him, but I feel so blessed that he was my father.

Glwth Shawl - Finished!

Part 2 went quickly and got me into the next to the last skein.

Part 3 got me into the beaded section.  I used hot pink lined crystal AB beads.  Here is a close up.

And here is the finished shawl blocking.

My yarn amounts came out perfectly.  The dark pink skein from my Tinkerbell set was just the right amount to do the first ruffle.  The 3 yellow ruffles are from the remains of my Lemon Drops set, and the light pink ruffle is remains from Tea Rose.

The main body of the shawl took 384 yards, which includes the dark pink ruffle.  The other ruffles are picked up on garter stitch ridges, so you can use other leftovers and play with colors.  They took another 144 yards.  The pattern is mostly mindless knitting, although the instructions are a bit terse.  The ruffles take some time and are a bit of a pain to work.  I did mine a bit differently than called for in the pattern because I found trying to do it the way the pattern called for too much of a pain.  I did not increase my needle size, I picked up and knit stitches in the garter stitch ridge, then purled back, then did the increase 7 in the k3tog stitches, purled back again, then did the bind off, beading clusters on the bind off in a periodic pattern.  I can see making more shawls using this pattern - it is a quick knit and a great way to use up leftovers and play with color.


Pattern:  Glwth Shawl by Abigail Phelps
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Tinkerbell, Lemon Drops and Tea Rose
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Glwth Shawl - Part 1 Done

Earth Faire is running a little knit along  on Ravelry for the pattern Glwth Shawl by Abigail Phelps and I decided to join in because I like the pattern and it gives me the opportunity to use up some leftovers.  I am starting with the leftovers from my Peter Pan shawl, but will end with some leftovers from some other projects.  This is a photo of Part 1 taken with the last of the daylight.  I like the asymmetrical construction - starting with a single stitch and decreasing on one edge while increasing on the other.  Spirals are just cool.

Pattern:  Glwth Shawl by Abigail Phelps
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Tinkerbell
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Vendange - One Skein Down

I've been mostly working on my cabled sweater.  After working my gauge swatch and doing some math I determined that I needed 230 stitches to get the width called for in the smallest size.  One of the challenges of making adjustments with this pattern is the placement of the side panels and the width of the stockinette sections between them.  I played around with the math for a bit, but then decided to take the easy way out.  I looked at the cast on stitches for the other sizes to see where my 230 stitches fell.  Turns out, it fell between two sizes, the third size at 222 cast on stitches and the fourth size at 238 cast on stitches.  Given my size in relation to the finished measurements I decided to go with the lower number and cast on 222 stitches.  Based on the yarn requirements, this should still give me enough to do the longer coat.

The yarn is okay to work with, not as refined as most of the other yarns that I use.  I suppose you could describe it as rustic, which I think is appropriate for the pattern.  It does have some vegetative matter in it, but not too much, and there are some inconsistencies in the spinning, but overall it is good to work with.  It is odd to be working with size 8 needles.  I am so used to working with the smaller needles that these feel huge.

I'm using knitCompanion on my iPad, but I did manage to crash my app.  I was using smart counters and decided to put in the decrease rows.  I had gotten everything entered and was getting the count back to where I was and when I hit my first decrease row the app crashed and due to the fact that when you go back in it will usually try to go back to your current project I couldn't get back into the app.  So I went to my settings and clicked on the app there and there was an option to bypass the last project, which I clicked, and then I was able to get back in to the app.  It still crashed when I tried to go into the project so I ended up deleting the project and setting it back up again.  A bit of a pain, and it means I lost my cumulative project time (the app keeps track of how long you work on a project), but at least I was able to recover.  Maybe I need to upgrade my tech.  I have an iPad 2.  About a month ago I tried to upgrade to iOS 9 and my iPad locked up.  I was really afraid that I had bricked it, but I left it on until the battery died and when I plugged it back in it rebooted and was fine.  I haven't tried to upgrade my iOS since.  There is a new iPad out, the iPad Pro, that is larger, which I think might be nice for those larger knitting charts...maybe for Christmas...

Pattern:  Vendange by Anne Hanson
Yarn:  Bare Naked Wools Confection Worsted
Needle:  US 8 (5.0 mm)

Eden - Collar started

Back in August I had to travel to California for business and I wanted to take along a knitting project so the weekend before the trip I quickly cast this on and got as far as getting the collar established.  In the end I decided not to take it.  I'm not sure I took any knitting with me, as the trip was a quick one, what I refer to as a Blitzkrieg trip, fly in the night before, go to the morning meeting and take a red-eye back home.  I threw this project into an empty project bag, which quickly became buried in other yarn acquisitions.  This weekend I did some stash cataloging and unearthed it and decided to at least give it the dignity of a project page and a blog post.  It may have to wait a little while before I pick it back up again, but at least it won't get forgotten again.

The yarn is madelinetosh Pashmina Worsted in the color Kilim.  I saw it and fell in love with the color and bought enough to make a sweater.

The actual name of the pattern is Edin, by Bonne Marie Burns, but when I was setting the pattern up in knitCompanion I misspelled the name and never bothered to fix it, because the yarn feels like paradise.  It features my favorite construction techniques - top down, raglan, collar/front band knitted as you go.

Pattern:  Edin by Bonne Marie Burns
Yarn:  madelintosh Pashmina Worsted in Kilim
Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Vendange Gauge Swatch

I did my gauge swatch for my Vendange sweater.  The pattern calls for a gauge of 15 stitches and 21 rows over 4 inches on US size 10.5 (6.5 mm) needles, unblocked and 14 stitches and 22 rows over 4 inches blocked.  This gauge seemed a bit off to me, so I went to a web site that generates graph paper at any gauge you want to confirm my suspicion.  The graph paper had squat, fat, gravity defying stitches.  I also checked the yarn label, which states 3.75 - 4.5 stitches/inch, and recommends US size 8 - 10 needles (5.0 - 6.0 mm).  I decided to use US 8 needles for my gauge swatch.  It seemed to me that with a sweater this substantial a loose gauge was the last thing that I wanted.

I pulled out a tail and started casting on stitches.  I don't bother counting when I do this, I just make sure to get a good number of stitches on the needle and use the length of the tail to help limit the number of stitches.  I knit a couple of rows of garter to keep the edge from curling and work a few stitches of garter at both edges.  At some point when I'm working a wrong side (purl) row I knit the same number of stitches as the needle size.  It is easier and quicker than a tag or label.  To figure out when to cast off I periodically fold one of the bottom corners up towards the opposite top corner, when the swatch is almost square I work a couple more garter and bind off.  My gauge came out at 17 stitches and 24 rows over 4 inches.  I like the fabric, it has good drape, and holds its shape well, so that is what I will go with.

I no longer sweat about matching gauge.  I knit a swatch, get a fabric that I like and if I need to, do the math to adjust the pattern.  In this case, there is math to do, but it really isn't that hard.  To adjust the number of stitches I just take the number called for in the pattern for my size (small) and multiple by my stitch gauge and then divide by the pattern's stitch gauge.  The lengths are given in inches, so I just multiply the number of inches called for in the pattern by the number of rows per inch of my gauge.  Easy as pie.

Pattern:  Vendange by Anne Hanson
Yarn:  Bare Naked Wools Confection Worsted
Needle:  US 8 (5.0 mm)

Carousel Socks

A couple of years ago I caught the sock bug and joined several sock clubs and accumulated a lot of sock yarns.  One of sock yarn producers that I became enamored of is Biscotte & Cie.  Honestly, how could I resist the black cat with the green eyes playing with the yarn?  And the colors!  I recently completely revamped my wardrobe, replacing slacks and plain knit pullover shirts with tunics and leggings, and color, lots and lots of color.  I have long been known for my fun store-bought novelty socks but I decided that I needed some fun hand knit socks.  I also decided that I needed to start bringing a small, portable project to work with me so I would have something to do while on telecons, or rebooting my computer, or uploading files, or reviewing documents.  And so, in a perfect storm of creative possibility, I pulled out some colorful sock yarn and caked it up.

But what kind of sock to knit?  I knew that I wanted to work toe up so I went to my crafting library and looked for a good technique book.  I started with Wendy Johnson's "Toe Up Socks" but it didn't quite go into depth enough for me, so I picked up Kate Atherley's "Custom Socks".  This is a fantastic book for a science type like me.  I read through the front matter quickly, flipped to the Basic Toe-Up Sock pattern, did some measurements, figured out my gauge and got started.

It fits pretty well so far.  I haven't decided how tall they should be yet, I would like to use up as much of my skein as possible, so I weighed the skein before I started and I'll probably just keep knitting the leg until I've used up about half, increasing the number of leg stitches as needed.

Pattern:  Basic Toe-Up Sock from Custom Socks by Kate Atherley
Yarn:  Biscotte & Cie Felix in Carousel
Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

Lothlorien Cape - Chart 1 Done

I finished up Chart 1 this morning, with 10 grams left of skein 2 (you can see the remains sitting on the shoulder of the dress maker dummy).  I'll switch to skein 1 soon.  I'm not sure when I'll get my additional yarn to finish this, but I already have my next project picked out.  The yarn came last week.

This is Bare Naked Wools Confection Worsted.  Bruce was surprised when I pulled it out of the bag because it is natural (the color is Nougat) and I usually go for color.  I ran across the quintessential over-size cabled sweater - what I think of as a "car coat" - on Ravelry and simply had to make it.  The pattern is Vendange by Anne Hanson and it is just a classic.  I thought about doing it in a Spirit Trail Fiber Works yarn so I could make it in a color, but I think it needs to be done in a natural wool color.

I haven't forsaken color completely.  I also received my yarn for my next test knit.

Pacific Sunset on Tinsel Toes.  But I think I'm going to use this to make another Open Eye Tunic - using the 2 left-most skeins for the panel inserts and the other 4 for the body.  I have a set of Silverlode on Luxe that I think I will use for the test knit.

Pattern:  Lothlorien Cape by Susan Pandorf
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Wild Thing in Summer's End
Needles:  US 6 (4 mm)

Lothlorien Cape - Skeins 4 and 3 Done

I've been working steadily away on this, enjoying each decrease that means 16 fewer stitches to work.  I started this on 47 inch circulars, but now have it on 32 inch circulars, which makes it a little easier to handle.  With the shorter days it is harder to get good photos during the week.  I took this one on the floor of my studio which has natural daylight LED lights.  The only challenge there is making sure I don't get any shadows in the picture.  I really love this colorway.  It is a perfect gradiance set with each skein blending beautifully with the previous skein with no need at all for transition rows.  I have been using up each skein before switching to the next.  With the heavier yarns I actually splice the skeins when I join.  This yarn has four plies, so I unply them in pairs and then re-ply a pair from each skein.  I have not been worried about matching the colors exactly when I join the skeins, I just work until I have about 12 inches of yarn left, unply the same amount on each skein and reply leaving enough tail to weave in.  You end up with four 2 ply tails, two long ones and two short ones and when you weave them in they disappear because they are only 2 plies.  If you do this right you can't even see where you've joined on the wrong side and your piece looks seamless.

I weighed each skein after I caked them and based upon my stitch count and yarn usage I have determined that I won't have enough yarn to complete the cape, but I've already contacted The Unique Sheep and I'll be able to get more.  I'm going to send Kelly a sample of my first skein to help with the color matching.  I bought this set back in 2011, and it has 500 grams.  According to the skein labels each skein is supposed to have 83 grams, which would be 498 grams.  I have another set that I bought before this one, when the pattern first came out and the labels on that set have 85 grams as the weight, which would give you 510 grams.  I haven't caked up those skeins and weighed them, so I don't know exactly how much yarn I actually have in that set.  When I checked the kit page on The Unique Sheep website yesterday it stated that the kit contains 675 grams, so obviously something happened since I purchased my yarn over 4 years ago.  I have noticed issues with yarn amount requirements on patterns before, especially with independent designers, because not everyone weighs each skein and keeps track of their yarn usage.  Even with commercial yarns you can't assume that the weight on the label is the weight of the skein.  I had a set of commercial yarn I was using for a vest and every single skein was short, so I ended up running out of yarn and having to make the vest in another yarn from my stash.  It worked out because I actually like the other yarn I used better than the yarn called for in the pattern, but it just goes to show that you can't make any assumptions about yarn amounts.  When I first started knitting I didn't track my yarn usage, but now I almost always do, and post it on my project page.  I'll even update the stash amount when I know exactly how much yarn I have, and then record the exact amount I used in my project.

Pattern:  Lothlorien Cape by Susan Pandorf
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Wild Thing in Summer's End
Needles:  US 6 (4 mm)

Lothlorien Cape - Skeins 6 and 5 Done

I've had this set in my stash for a little while and I pulled it out recently inspired by another Raveler's Lothlorien Cape.  It was sitting in a corner of my living room for when I was looking for a project to take with me to Ohio.  I have almost finished one test knit - just the bind off and the tech editing left - and I haven't jumped into my next test knit (although I have the yarn).  I didn't feel like working yet another shawl and I wasn't feeling up to working on an actual garment that requires me to check gauge and potentially modify the pattern, so I pulled this out.  I figured the cables would keep it interesting so I wound all of the skeins into cakes, dug out some needles, and set up the pattern in knitCompanion.

This is another pattern from Susan Pandorf's Fellowship of the Ring set.  Her first set in her Tolkien inspired designs.

I cast on in the Element on the way to Yellow Springs, Ohio, to visit family, finishing up Skein 6 while we were there and starting Skein 5.  I finished Skein 5 this morning and have just started working with Skein 4.

Pattern:  Lothlorien Cape by Susan Pandorf
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Wild Thing in Summer's End
Needles:  US 6 (4 mm)

Peter Pan - Finished!

I finished up Peter Pan over a week ago, and have even worn it to work a time or two, but it has taken a while to get some decent pictures.

I like the way the shawl emerges from the shadows.

Here's a blocking picture.  As you can tell, it is a long shawl.  I couldn't get the whole thing in the picture.

Pattern:  Peter Pan by Janine le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Tinkerbell
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm) and US 6 (4 mm)

Karamagara Shawl - One Repeat of Chart 2 Done

This week I've mostly been working on a test knit, but I finally got a decent picture of my progress on my Karamagara shawl.  I am a few rows in to the second repeat of Chart 2 and am on my third skein already.  Based upon my stitch count/yarn usage spread sheet the shawl should use up almost all of the yarn.

Pattern: Karamagara Shawl by Chrissy Prange
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Tinsel Toes in Mermaid Bouquet
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Karamagara Shawl - Chart 1 Done

I finished up Peter Pan last Sunday but haven't been able to get good photos, other than blocking shots.  I messed around with a couple of other projects but really didn't find anything that caught my interest so I grabbed this kit from my stash.  I bought it some time ago from Earthfaire.

I am not using the beads that came with the kit, instead I am using green-lined chartreuse.  I have also changed the bead placement.  The pattern has beads going up the spines of the yarn over, knit 1, yarn over lines, but they don't really lay very well when you stack them like that for any length.  Instead I am outlining the lace motif, placing the beads after working the k2tog and ssk stitches.  The original pattern also had the wings on either side of the central lace panel worked in garter stitch, but I'm working them in stockinette.  I just think they will block out better that way.

I did get a wonderful bundle of yarny goodness from The Unique Sheep on Friday, including yarn for a test knit, so I will have to get started on that this weekend.

Pattern: Karamagara Shawl by Chrissy Prange
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Tinsel Toes in Mermaid Bouquet
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Peter Pan - One Edge Finished

I have been very remiss about posting my progress on this shawl.  After I finished up my Evenstar Cape I picked this back up.  I haven't taken any progress pictures as I finished up charts, nor did I keep track of my yarn usage per chart.  I did keep track of my total yarn usage for each skein, but that is pretty trivial.  I finished up one side on Monday, and the second side by Thursday.  Friday night I figured out the knit on border and started working on that, and finished up the first edge this morning.  I am amazed at how quick this one is knitting up.  I have already picked up the stitches for the second edge, which is why I draped it around the neck of my dress make dummy.  I just haven't been up to pinning it out for photos.


Pattern:  Peter Pan by Janine le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Tinkerbell
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm) and US 6 (4 mm)

Evenstar Cape - Finished!

I finished up my Evenstar Cape last weekend, blocked it Tuesday morning and had Bruce take a picture Tuesday afternoon.  According to knitCompanion it took me 101.5 hours.  Not too bad.  I have never used the project time before, but decided to check it out after seeing some posts about it on the knitCompanion forum on Ravelry.  My modifications are available as a free Ravelry download - Evenstar Cape.  At the time I am writing this post it has been downloaded 116 times.

Pattern:  Evenstar Shawl by Susan Pandorf, converted into a cape
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Midnight Delight
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

The Lady in the Lake

I have seventeen more repeats of the border chart and then I will be done with my Evenstar Cape.  I took a break from my knitting yesterday to work on my modification of The Once and Future King to knit it from the center out.  I had already taken each chart and reversed the rows and changed the stitches that needed changing to maintain symmetry but yesterday I went through the entire pattern and adjusted it to make it even more strongly symmetrical. I decided to call it The Lady of the Lake.  As I was working on the charts I remembered this skein of yarn - Velvet Teal on Ling - that I had spotted stashed in a plastic bin of sewing patterns (don't ask).  I had originally gotten it for a mystery crochet along that The Unique Sheep ran several years ago.  My crocheting skills were not up to working lace weight so I never did the MCAL.  The skein is 90 grams, which should give me enough yarn to work the pattern.  I'll wind it into two 45-gram skeins so I can work it from the middle to the ends without cutting it.  I still have to decide on bead color, although I might go with the iridescent gold beads again, with gold daggers.  I've already used them on my Once and Future King and my Evenstar Cape, but I have plenty left.

Evenstar Cape - Border Progress

I have been working away on the border of my Evenstar Cape.  I did modify the original border pattern a fair bit, adding a two-stitch garter stitch edge, which helps the dagger beads lay better.  I also slip the first stitch of the wrong side rows, changed the slant of the decreases after the point and only have two rows of beads.  The down side of having those dagger beads pre-strung on the yarn is that you have to pause regularly to slide them further along the yarn.  I have to be careful when sliding the beads to minimize the stress that I put on the yarn, so I slide them in groups of 5 or 6.  The up side of having those dagger beads pre-strung is you have a ready made progress indicator.  I am almost half-way done with the border and last night I shifted everything to a shorter circular needle.  I had been working on a 40 inch, but it was starting to get a little annoying.  Now I am working on a 24 inch.  It bunches up the shawl stitches, but makes things easier to handle.

Pattern:  Evenstar Shawl by Susan Pandorf, converted into a cape
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Midnight Delight
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Evenstar Cape - Chart 3 Done!

It is amazing to me how quickly this shawl is working up compared to how long it took me to make my first Evenstar.  I suppose a lot of that has to do with experience.  When I knit the Evenstar shawl as part of the Mystery Knit Along (back in 2010!) I had only knit 5 other shawls and it was my first time using pure silk lace weight yarn.  It took me almost 4 1/2 months to complete.  This time around it will probably take me less than 2 months.  In other big news, today I published all of my modifications to Ravelry as a free download, with the permission of the original designer.  There is not enough detail in my modifications file to knit the pattern without the original pattern as I don't include all of the charts.  I do include my modified Chart 2 that shifts the start of that chart to make it symmetrical and I also include a modified Border chart.

Pattern:  Evenstar Shawl by Susan Pandorf, converted into a cape
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Midnight Delight
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Evenstar Cape - Chart 3 - 48 Rows Done

Twenty-four rows, of 567 stitches each, in two days must be some kind of record, at least for me.  The nice thing is that I've made it through all of the twisted rib rows, so now my wrong side rows are just easy purls.

Pattern:  Evenstar Shawl by Susan Pandorf, converted into a cape
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Midnight Delight
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Evenstar Cape - Chart 3 - 24 rows Done

I finished up the first 24 rows of Chart 3 today.  When this was done as a mystery knit along this chart was broken up into 3, with this being the first part.  I thought it would be a long horrible slog repeating those same 4 rows 6 times, but it really wasn't that bad.  I started Chart 3 on the 29th of August, so it only took me one week.  Every evening I would work a couple of rows, although I usually didn't make it through a complete repeat.  When you look at a pattern like this you think that it must take forever, but it really doesn't, especially if you break it up into reasonable chunks and just focus on making steady progress.

Pattern:  Evenstar Shawl by Susan Pandorf, converted into a cape
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Midnight Delight
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Peter Pan - Chart 3 / Skein 2 Done - Side 1

As I mentioned, I'm breaking up my work on the Evenstar Cape with a couple of other projects, including this one.  This is actually Chart 3 and the first 13 rows of Chart 4, which is where I am switching to the next skein.   Now I'm trying to decide if I want to work the other side and finish off skein 2 or continue working side one.

Pattern:  Peter Pan by Janine le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Tinkerbell
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm) and US 6 (4 mm)

Evenstar Cape - Chart 2 Done

I finished up Chart 2 yesterday afternoon and figured out the increase for Chart 3.  The beauty of my modification to Chart 2 meant that I didn't have to shift Chart 3 to get things to line up (in the original pattern the beginning of round marker is shifted 10 stitches before beginning Chart 3).  It really makes me wonder about the original design process.  At this point there really isn't any more figuring to do until I get to the border, but at 567 stitches per row, that is going to take a little while.

Once again, I have an extra stitch at the end of the row because there are seven rows where the motif wraps across the beginning of the round.  On the other rows I work the last stitch the same as I work the first stitch to maintain the symmetry.  The increase row was a little bit different - I knit 3, then (k1, yo) to the last 4 stitches, knit 4.

I switched to my second skein towards the end of this chart, using up all of my first skein before switching.

Chart 3 is a long slog, so I'm breaking it up by working on some of my other works in progress.

Pattern:  Evenstar Shawl by Susan Pandorf, converted into a cape
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Midnight Delight
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Once and Future King - Finished!

The final clue came out this past Friday so the finished shawls are starting to appear on Ravelry.  This is the part that I love the most - seeing the same pattern knit up in all the different colorways.  That is something that I think is unique to our Mystery Knit Alongs.

This shawl was my first time grafting lace weight yarn.  I did okay, although I need to work on the consistency of my tension - it was a little loose, but that is probably better than being too tight.

Here is a blocking picture.

And another beauty shot.

You could add length by repeating the motif in the center, and I think it would be interesting to knit it from the center out using a provisional cast on.  I have created reversed charts, just in case I feel like doing that sometime.


Pattern:  The Once and Future King by Janine le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Roi Soleil
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)