Gazania Zebra - Finished!

I finished my Gazania Zebra this past Saturday while waiting up for Bruce to get back from Tennessee.  I had some second thoughts while I was finishing it up and the first time I did the bind off I did a regular bind off, which was too tight, so I undid it and worked a lace bind off.  The real unknown was how far I should join the edges to make the sleeves.  I wanted the shawl to open up in the back so you could see all the colors.

I had already divided the solid colors of yarn into two cakes so I wouldn't have to worry about weighing while working each side. I then divided the remains from each side equally and joined them.  When I got to the yellow section I left the yarn attached, but cut half off.  I worked short rows, knitting to just shy of the center of the shawl and then working 10 less stitches on each consecutive short row until I almost ran out of yarn.  When I got to the blue I worked across all of the short rows in the section back to where I had started.  Once I had finished one side, I placed all of those stitches onto a spare needle and secured the tips so the stitches wouldn't get away.

After I finished the second side I joined the edges for 60 stitches. Instead of working a 3-needle bind off I wove the loops together by picking up the first loop on one needle, then the first loop on the second needle and pulling it through the first loop I picked up.  I kept doing this, alternating between the two needles until I got to the last stitch.  I placed this last stitch on the knitting needle to be worked with the rest of the stitches when I worked the opening.

Here are the sleeves.

I used the leftover Gazania yarn to work a few knit rounds on the opening and then bound off using a lace bind off to keep things loose.

I think it looks a bit like a deflated seed pod, but in really crazy colors.  I didn't do anything special when I blocked it, just lay it out.  I didn't want a crease in the striped section, so I laid it out so the fold would be where there was a color change.


Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)