Kimba - Color Two Finished

I finished up color two this afternoon with 1.9 grams left.  Here you can see my design solution to my yarn limitations.  You can see the middle set of eyelet lace is the light yellow.  Sometimes I am good at planning ahead, and it is fun to come up with a solution that works with the design.

Pattern:  Kimba by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Myndie - Cast On

I also cast on another Ambah O'Brien pattern last week.  This one has a lot of repeats of sections, and rows that are repeats of previous rows, so the first thing I did was make a spreadsheet with complete instructions and increases, decreases and stitch counts just to make it easier to keep track of where I'm at.  Once I finished that and pulled it in to knitCompanion I just had to cast on.  I'm using a set of yarn that Laura dyed up while waiting for Hurricane Irma to arrive.  The colorway is called Hurricane Watch and is based upon the radar picture of the Hurricane.

I really like the colors - vivid, cheerful, bright.  I've been searching for a pattern to make with the set almost since I received it.  It seems most folks are going with something that mimics the swirl of the Hurricane, but I decided to go with something completely different, and Ambah's patterns lend themselves to using color.  I am going to work through each color until it is gone and then join the next.  I thought about working the white between each color, but I think I'm going to save the white for the end.  Any thing left over I can use on my ADVENTurous KAL (Ambah's Advent calendar wrap).  The Unique Sheep offered an Advent Calendar set, which I ordered, but it only has 24 colors and Ambah's pattern calls for 25.

Pattern:  Myndie by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Rare Breed by The Unique Sheep
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Kimba - Color Three Done

I've been working pretty steadily on my Kimba and made it through the third color yesterday.  I don't think the picture quite does justice to the red, it is very red, juicy red, candy apple red.  I did a quick stitch count spread sheet last week because I was worried about running out of color two (based upon the required yardages in the pattern).  Based upon my calculations I am right to be worried.  Yesterday as I began working the final color two section a solution occurred to me.  I had about 5 grams of color one left over so I used it for rows 19 and 20 of the Chevron Chart B.  It was just the right amount - I had about two feet of yarn left over - and that should give me enough breathing room on color two so I won't lose my game of yarn chicken (having lost that game on Goldwing).  I could have waited and used color one at the end if I ran short, but then it would look like exactly what happened, I ran short and had to substitute another color.  By inserting color one in the middle of the eyelet section it looks like an intentional design choice, which it was, albeit one driven by necessity. 

Last night before I went to bed I finished the first row of color four, so I'm hoping to have it finished this weekend.  Despite the fact that the pattern is repetitious I am not finding this pattern as boring as I found Goldwing.  The color changes help, the yarn helps (Serenity 20 is a dream to work with), and you do have to pay attention to what you're doing, mostly by counting.  It is also really nice to be using up some of my voluminous stash.

Pattern:  Kimba by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Kimba - Second Color Introduced

Once I finished my Goldwing I picked up my Kimba, which I started back at the end of June.  I was close to the introduction of the second color when I put it down.  I took a quick progress picture showing the second color before I lost the light yesterday.  I powered through that section quickly and have actually done two rows with the third color.  I wasn't sure about my color choice when I went to start the third color, which is the red, but I think it will work out - it will be against the lighter green and the darker green will be the fourth color.  Originally I thought that I would use the dark green as the third color, but as I was working the pattern I realized it would look better with the red as color three and the dark green as color four.

Pattern:  Kimba by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Goldwing in Green - Finished!

Finally!  I started this back on August 9, intending it to by my third Camp Loopy Project.  Unfortunately other events intervened to prevent that from happening and once I had missed the deadline I didn't have the incentive to keep working on it, so it languished.  The finished shawl is lovely, but knitting it was, well, boring.  It is just the same 10 rows over and over again.  It wasn't challenging enough to keep me fully engaged, and it wasn't mindless enough to read while knitting.  I did have a little glitch at the end.  I ran out of yarn 3 repeats short of finishing, so my wing is a little clipped.  The two skeins did not weigh exactly the same, the skein I started out with weighed 97.5 grams, the second skein weighed 97.3 grams.  I thought I had compensated enough for what I perceived as a minor difference, but apparently not.  Lesson learned - weigh both skeins before casting on and start with the lighter skein.  This is a great pattern if you want to use up all of your yarn, and if you want to show off a special skein.

Pattern:  Goldwing by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Canon Hand Dyes William Merino Gradient in Emeralds
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Gazania Shrug - Cast On

This summer I gave away the three shrugs that I had made.  Two of them I had made as gifts, but I wasn't really planning on giving my sister Liz my Gazania Shrug, which was the first one that I had made.  I'm glad I did, though, because it took forever to get a replacement set to make another one.  The first two sets (original order and replacement sent by Biscotte) never made it.  In the end I ordered another set along with several other Paintbox sets, figuring that maybe a larger package would have a lower chance of being lost on the way.  Of course once I had finished the central panel of my Charivari Shrug I had to cast on another one to put in my work bag.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra Shrug by Carolyn Blakelock
Yarn:  Biscotte & Cie Bis-sock
Needles:  US 2.5 (3 mm) and US 4 (3.5 mm)

Charivari Shrug - Central Strip Done

It has been a while since I posted.  I've been busy with a test knit, but I got that all wrapped up last weekend.  I'm quite pleased with the tech edit that I did on the pattern.  I've been working on my Charivari Shrug.  I had the central panel in my work bag so I have been working on it here and there and also at home when I wanted something mindless to work on.  I'm almost done with the first stripe.  I have all the skeins caked up.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra Shrug by Carolyn Blakelock
Yarn:  Biscotte & Cie Bis-sock
Needles:  US 2.5 (3 mm) and US 4 (3.5 mm)