Saltwater Taffy Myndie - Four Skeins Done

Yesterday I made it through four of my six skeins, well almost.  I am one row shy on my fourth skein.  I am switching skeins at the beginning of a repeat, after the eyelet row.

The colors used so far are:
Saltwater Bananas
Saltwater Mangoes
Saltwater Key Lime
Saltwater Blueberries

Next up is Saltwater Huckleberries and then Saltwater Strawberries.

When I was switching between the Saltwater Mangoes and Key Lime I tried it in the middle of a repeat and decided it really didn't look as nice, so I ripped back.  I really like the colors of this one, they are cheerful and fun.

Pattern:  Myndie by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Rare Breed, Bright & Bold Advent Calendar 2018
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Saltwater Taffy Myndie - Skein 1 Done

I have been making progress on my enlarged Myndie, finishing up the first skein - Saltwater Bananas - last night and getting a good start on the second skein - Saltwater Mangoes.  I really wanted to get this one to a point where I felt confident that it was going to work and that I was going to be happy with it, and I am pleased to say that I have reached that point.  I'm doing the skein switches at the end of a repeat instead of in the middle.  I think this just gives it a cleaner look.  I will do another shawl like this using the Bright and Bold solid colors from my Advent Kit, which will use up all of the skeins from that set.

Pattern:  Myndie by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Rare Breed, Bright & Bold Advent Calendar 2018
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Saltwater Taffy - Myndie / Kallara Mashup

Earlier this month I restarted the Saltwater Taffy using the Myndie pattern, but as I neared the first switch I knew I would have more yarn left over than I wanted to, and I wanted to end up with a shawl bigger than Myndie.  So this past weekend I restarted it using the Kallara pattern, but I'm not really happy with that one either.

I like the look of the eyelets from Myndie, but I want the size of Kallara so I decided to do a bit of a mashup.  I've modified the Myndie pattern to work more increases.  These shawls are pretty simple in their construction.  There are two increase sections and two decrease sections.  The first increase section has increases on both sides of the central double decrease.  The second increase section has increases only on one side of the central double decrease.  The first decrease section has decreases only one side of the central double decrease and the second decrease has decreases on both sides until you run out of stitches.  To make Myndie larger I will work more increase sections and more decrease sections, using the stitch counts from Kallara as a guide.

So, instead of working 8 repeats of increase section 1, I will work 10 repeats, which will give me 70 stitches at that point instead of 58.  I will then work 14 repeats of increase section 2 instead of 10, which will give me 117 stitches instead of 97.  On the other side, I will work 24 repeats of decrease section 1, instead of 20 and 18 repeats of decrease section 2 instead of 16.

Pattern:  Myndie / Kallara mashup
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Bright & Bold Advent Calendar
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Violet Valentine - Violet Speckle Eyelets

I finished up the first eyelet section with my Violet Speckle yarn and am about to start the second slip stitch transition section.  I wasn't super careful making my spreadsheet, so I have some errors, not on the stitch count, but on the eyelet instruction row.  Fortunately it is a minor error, and I also printed out a copy of the pattern to refer to, just in case, but there are no page numbers, which is just crazy.

Pattern:  Zarya by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Xanthe - Finished!

I finally finished up my Xanthe over the long weekend.  Blocking it was a little trying.  The lace wants to do one thing and the garter stitch another and trying to get them to compromise was a little bit of a challenge.  It came out very drapy, and it is generously sized.

I wore my Compassion Celadon to work on Tuesday and snapped a quick picture of it when I got home.

Patterns:  Xanthe and Celadon by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri Autumn Trio and Bright & Bold ombre
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Violet Valentine - Cast On

Even though I still need to finish my Xanthe for Ambah's "It's a Wrap" KAL I couldn't resist casting on Zarya for the "Valentine KAL".  The yarn is Superfine Fingering by Zen Yarn Garden and it came as a pair - Violet and Violet Speckle.  I didn't even have to stash dive (more like stash surfing) as this is a recent acquisition that hadn't been put away yet.  The purple is very much the Moon Purple that I have used on several other projects, and is a color I really love.

Now I really need to get back to my Xanthe.  I am just over half-way through the second set of stripes - perfect knitting for reading - so I'm hoping I can finish it up this weekend.  I have far too many WIPs right now and really need to get some finished.

Pattern:  Zarya by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Saltwater Taffy Myndie - Cast On

After casting off my latest Celadon I immediately cast on a Myndie for the Saltwater colors from my Unique Sheep Bright & Bold Advent Calendar set.  I've gone back and forth over what to knit with this yarn.  At one point I started an Adventurous Wrap Option B, but I really want to display the fun speckles on the yarn, and they will get lost in the Adventurous Wrap.  I'm going to modify Myndie to use up as much yarn as I can by making it bigger.  I have my spreadsheet and I'll get yarn usage figures as I go and figure out how much larger I can make it.

Pattern:  Myndie by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Rare Breed, Bright & Bold Advent Calendar 2018
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Compassion Celadon - Finished!

I have been working steadily on my Compassion Celadon and finished up the colored skeins yesterday and the gray today.  It is upstairs blocking.

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

Compassion Celadon - Three Skeins Done!

I had to go on travel for work the first half of this week so I took this project along with me.  I didn't get much knitting done during the stay itself, but there was a four hour drive each way, and I wasn't driving, so I got plenty of knitting done anyway.

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

Compassion Celadon - Skein 12 Started

I have mostly been working on my test knit (I am almost finished!) but when I want to actually watch what is no TV (lately it has been Blue Planet II, which is mesmerizing - I just wish they gave us more information) I pull this one out.  Today I finally finished up the first section of gray and started the first skein of the gradient.  You might recall that this set is from my Advent Calendar - skeins 6-12 of that set to be exact.  I'm starting with the darkest one, which is skein 12.

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