Harmonize - Two Skeins Done

This was the third project that I took along on our trip south.  I finished up the body of Facets on the first day down there, so I pulled this out for day two of the visit and got through most of the second skein.

Pattern:  Harmonize Special Edition by Rosemary Hill
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Pashmi - Peacock and Amber
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Facets - Body Done

I also took this project along to work on while visiting family.  My sister-in-law and my step-daughter both knit, so the three of us spend most of the visit knitting.  I got my step-daughter into knitting several years ago and still provide technical advice when she needs it, but mostly she figures things out on her own.  We did do a little cable surgery while I was there - she had a miss-crossed cable that needed fixing - so I did a demonstration for the two of them.

Now that I've finished up my test knit I can start the border on this one.  Coincidentally it turns out that the stitches I will pick up on the sides is almost exactly the same number as the live stitches on the bottom of the front and back.  That was not planned, at all.


Pattern:  TBD
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri in Monarchy
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Bed of Roses Shrug - One Side Done

Last week we made our annual trip down to Florida to visit with Bruce's Mom.  I took this project along for knitting during the drive.  We drove down on Christmas day, which was great - light traffic, good weather and we made the trip in just under 10 hours, which is about as good as it ever gets.  When we started the trip I had done one stripe, I did two more stripes on the trip down, and finished the first side and almost got through one stripe on the second side on the drive back.  The trip back was not as easy as the trip down though.  We hit some traffic which I had to route us around, and then just as we got close to the North Carolina border we hit the rain.  It figures that we hit weather towards the end of the drive and as the sun is going down.  I spent some time monitoring the traffic and weather, giving Bruce up to the minute reports on the rain.  I have an old iPad that has cellular connectivity so I can be a proper navigator and co-pilot on these drives.  Neither one of us has a smart phone, but the iPad works great, and sure beats those tiny screens.

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

Ambah Advent - Days 23-25

Day 23 - continuing into the browns with Antique Penny.

Day 24 - Brittle.  I will confess I wasn't crazy about this color.  It looks better once the Day 25 color is added.

Day 25 - Buttered Rum.  I actually finished up the shawl Sunday morning.  It is all blocked.

Day 1 - Smoke Gray
Day 2 - Rising Fog
Day 3 - Moonraker
Day 4 - Lavandula
Day 5 - Queen Anne
Day 6 - Witch's Cloak
Day 7 - Black As A Mussel Shell
Day 8 - Basalt
Day 9 - Cattails
Day 10 - Scarecrow
Day 11 - Hay Bale
Day 12 - White Tea
Day 13 - Halfmoon
Day 14 - Tulle
Day 15 - Faded Rose
Day 16 - Fall Mums
Day 17 - Corazon
Day 18 - Cranberry Bog
Day 19 - Brickyard
Day 20 - Beetroot
Day 21 - Cocoa Powder
Day 22 - Taro
Day 23 - Antique Penny
Day 24 - Brittle
Day 25 - Buttered Rum

Pattern:  ADVENTurer Wrap by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock in Fall Harvest colorway
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Unique Sheep Advent Club - Days 16-24

I decided to wait and finish up the Unique Sheep Advent Calendar in one fell swoop.  So here is the remainder of the skeins from the Mermaid set - Days 16 to 24.

And here they are on order - Skeins 1-12

And skeins 13-24.  It is a lovely gradiance.

And here are the final days of the Dragon Set - Days 16-24.  Apologies for the slightly fuzzy picture.  I didn't realize it was fuzzy until I had put all the skeins together.

Here are Skeins 1-12.  I thought about making a Lamina Shawl out of them, using the light gray that I had ordered last year, but now I think I will make another Easy Bias Lace shawl.  I have all of these skeins caked up and weighed.

And Skeins 13-24.  These are the two Gradiance sets, Smaug and Wyvern.  I thought about doing one of my color study shawls, in which case I would have to order yarn for the knit on border, but now I'm thinking I will make a couple of Anna Victoria patterns.

Ambah Advent - Days 16-22

Day 16 continued the transition to the reds with Fall Mums.

Day 17 brought Corazon, although I was not expecting the color to resemble dried blood.  But it works in the fade.

Continuing the red-browns on Day 18 with Cranberry Bog.

 

And finishing the red-brown fade on Day 19 with Brickyard.

On Day 20 we go even darker with Beetroot.

On Day 21 we switched to brown with Cocoa Powder. 

And going to lighter shades now on Day 22 with Taro.

Day 1 - Smoke Gray
Day 2 - Rising Fog
Day 3 - Moonraker
Day 4 - Lavandula
Day 5 - Queen Anne
Day 6 - Witch's Cloak
Day 7 - Black As A Mussel Shell
Day 8 - Basalt
Day 9 - Cattails
Day 10 - Scarecrow
Day 11 - Hay Bale
Day 12 - White Tea
Day 13 - Halfmoon
Day 14 - Tulle
Day 15 - Faded Rose
Day 16 - Fall Mums
Day 17 - Corazon
Day 18 - Cranberry Bog
Day 19 - Brickyard
Day 20 - Beetroot
Day 21 - Cocoa Powder
Day 22 - Taro

Pattern:  ADVENTurer Wrap by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock in Fall Harvest colorway
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Harmonize - One Skein Done

This project has not been languishing as much as I thought it would, mostly because at this point it is pretty simple, so I took it to work with me.  Thanks to a couple of telecons and a day of online training yesterday I've managed to get a lot done.  I am almost done with Section 2 and the Chart B work.

Pattern:  Harmonize Special Edition by Rosemary Hill
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Pashmi - Peacock and Amber
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Ambah Advent - Days 13-15

The fade into the pinks and reds continues.  Day 13 is Halfmoon.  The White Tea that looked more pink before, now reveals it is peachy.

Day 14 really starts to bring in the pinks with Tulle.

Day 15 leaves no doubt with Faded Rose.  On to Day 16.

Day 1 - Smoke Gray
Day 2 - Rising Fog
Day 3 - Moonraker
Day 4 - Lavandula
Day 5 - Queen Anne
Day 6 - Witch's Cloak
Day 7 - Black As A Mussel Shell
Day 8 - Basalt
Day 9 - Cattails
Day 10 - Scarecrow
Day 11 - Hay Bale
Day 12 - White Tea
Day 13 - Halfmoon
Day 14 - Tulle
Day 15 - Faded Rose

Pattern:  ADVENTurer Wrap by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock in Fall Harvest colorway
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Unique Sheep Advent Club - Days 9-15

Here is a weeks worth of skeins from the Mermaid Advent Calendar.  And here is what we have so far in the Mermaid set.

Skeins 7 through 12.

And Skeins 16-24.

Here is a weeks worth of skeins from the Dragon Advent Calendar.  And here is what we have so far in the Dragon set.

Skeins 1 through 7.

The Smaug gradiance.

And the first 2 skeins of the Wyvern gradiance.

Ambah Advent - Days 9-12

I've been keeping up with my knitting, but not with my posting.  Here is Day 9 - the color is Cattail and has a nice olive green with an undertone of gold.

Day 10 brought in more of the gold with Scarecrow.

Day 11 went lighter with Hay Bale.

And Day 12 went paler still, with a slight pink tinge and some darker speckles.  The color is White Tea.  At first I wasn't sure you would be able to see any contrast at all, but it is there.

What is so much fun with a project like this is the way the colors interact with each other.  Compare the first picture with the last picture - the golds really bring out the purples.

Day 1 - Smoke Gray
Day 2 - Rising Fog
Day 3 - Moonraker
Day 4 - Lavandula
Day 5 - Queen Anne
Day 6 - Witch's Cloak
Day 7 - Black As A Mussel Shell
Day 8 - Basalt
Day 9 - Cattails
Day 10 - Scarecrow
Day 11 - Hay Bale
Day 12 - White Tea

Pattern:  ADVENTurer Wrap by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock in Fall Harvest colorway
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Harmonize - Cast On

I need another project on the needles about as much as I need more yarn in my stash.  But that doesn't stop me, on either front.  This is one I've been wanting to make for a while.  I have several Unique Sheep sets created for this pattern, but this is the first set that I bought.  It is on Pashmi.  The gradiance is Peacock and the main color is Amber.  I've been looking at the Harmonize pattern for a while now, trying to figure out how to translate it into something that would be easier to work from.  The pattern is densely laid out, and I'm not a big fan of how the charts are done - the shading and the colors are not so good for using in knitCompanion - and the charts are also "what you see is what you knit", which on the surface is not a bad idea, but it is not how most charts are done (always showing the right side of the pattern) so to work them requires a change in mind set.

I finally decided to tackle the pattern last week and decided to work from the written instead of the charts - the actual patterning is not that complex - so I went with my trusty Excel spreadsheet.  In the first tab I laid out every row of the pattern, all of the chart repeats, all of the color changes, the stitch counts, everything.  Then I created separate tabs to capture condensed versions of the directions.  For example, chart B is repeated 5 times with the first contrast color, so I captured that as one table, with 5 columns for the different stitch counts at the end of each row.  I did a similar thing with the next set of 5 repeats of chart B, except I added columns with the color changes.  I did that for the rest of the pattern and created tables for each section.  I pasted the tables into a Word document, turned it into a PDF and pulled it into KC.  Last night I set up the pattern and created all of my text objects and set up all of my row repeats, so I couldn't resist casting on and working through the first repeat of Chart B.

This project will probably go on a back burner for a bit while I work on some others that are further along, but with KC I can have multiple projects going and never worry about losing my place.

Pattern:  Harmonize Special Edition by Rosemary Hill
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Pashmi - Peacock and Amber
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Unique Sheep Advent Club - Days 1-8

I have not been keeping up on my Advent posting, so I'm cutting back on what I'm going to post.  I'm saving the Craftvent sets for after the holidays, but I am opening the Unique Sheep boxes every day and posting them on Ravelry in the Advent Club thread.  I've decided I'll post the pictures here once a week, instead of every day, just to manage my time and commitments a bit better.  So - first the Mermaid set.  I got this set on the Sport weight yarn, which I don't think I've ever worked with.  This set will make a full Gradiance circle when all the boxes are unwrapped.  Above are the first 3 days.

And here are days 4 and 5 of the Mermaid set.

And days 6 & 7.  There is a definitely a color theme going on here, and I like it very much.  I've already pretty much decided I'll make another capelet with the yarn.

And these are the first 3 days of the Dragon set.  The Dragon set has 2 6-skein gradiance sets plus other coordinating colors.

Days 4 & 5 introduced one of the 6-skein sets - Smaug.

Days 6 & 7 are both from the Smaug gradiance set.

And finally, Day 8 of both sets.  Mermaid is on the left and Dragon is on the right.

After opening the boxes I've been putting the skeins into two large zip-lock bags to keep them safe and clean, but thought it would be fun to lay all of the skeins out and see what we've got so far.

For the Mermaid set, we've got skeins 7-11 and 22-24.

For the Dragon set, we've got skeins 1-4, and skeins 3-6 of the Smaug gradiance set.

Ambah Advent - Day 8

Day 8 knitting done on my Advent wrap.  The colors are starting to fade to  lighter colors again.  I really liked all the purple and am curious where it is going to go next.  When I get to the next color I take the wrap, and the next color downstairs, get a picture of the wrap on my dummy and wind the next skein so I'm all set for the next days knitting.  Now I can go work on some of my other WIPs, of which I have too many.

Day 1 - Smoke Gray
Day 2 - Rising Fog
Day 3 - Moonraker
Day 4 - Lavandula
Day 5 - Queen Anne
Day 6 - Witch's Cloak
Day 7 - Black As A Mussel Shell
Day 8 - Basalt

Pattern:  ADVENTurer Wrap by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock in Fall Harvest colorway
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Facets - Skein 1 of Side 2 Done

For the past couple of days I've been focused exclusively on my Ambah Advent wrap, trying to get all caught up, which I am.  I had gotten through most of the first skein of the second side of Facets last week, and finished it up this evening.

I really need to get back to my test knit though, and I can't keep up with my other Advent calendars, so I'm thinking of saving them for the new year.

Pattern:  TBD
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri in Monarchy
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Ambah Advent - Days 3 - 7

I have not been keeping up with my Advent posting, so I'll try to catch up, at least on my Ambah Advent wrap.  Here is Day 3, above and Day 4 below.

Somewhere between Day 4 and Day 5 I decided to rip everything out and cast on more stitches to use up more of my yarn and make my wrap wider.  I calculated my yarn usage and figured I could safety cast on 222 stitches, but I only made it to 202 (and that with only about an inch of yarn to spare) before I ran out of tail in my long tail cast on.  I decided 202 was good enough and then spent the next couple of days catching up.

The purple fade is continuing in Day 5.

And getting darker with Day 6.  This is actually the back side of the work, which still looks pretty good.

Day 7 is almost black, but with some purple undertones.  The colors so far:

Day 1 - Smoke Gray
Day 2 - Rising Fog
Day 3 - Moonraker
Day 4 - Lavandula
Day 5 - Queen Anne
Day 6 - Witch's Cloak
Day 7 - Black As A Mussel Shell

I am using about 17 grams or each color, which leaves me 3-4 grams leftover.

Pattern:  ADVENTurer Wrap by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock in Fall Harvest colorway
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)