Elora - Five Colors Done

I have finished up my fifth color and have two cute little sleeve caps.  I will work the sleeves in turn, using up each of my skeins.  I have already caked up the next skein and I went ahead and divided it into two almost equal balls.  It is hard to get them exactly equal.

I picked up 90 stitches around the armhole for the sleeve.  The number of stitches is determined by how big you need the circumference of the sleeve to be at its widest.  Once you pick up the stitches, you work around exactly two-thirds of the stitches and start working the short rows, working back to the same point on the other side of the armhole, and continuing to work back and forth adding one stitch on each row until you get down to the underarm stitches.  It always takes me a couple of tries to get the pick up just right, and I went ahead and picked up the stitches for both sleeves to make sure that I could get them to match exactly.  I also put in stitch markers to mark the patterned section and where I would start turning for the short rows.  Conveniently enough, the patterned section fit perfectly into the initial row of the short rows.  I really love working set in top down sleeves this way as you get a perfectly shaped sleeve cap that you really cannot get knitting a sleeve separately from the bottom up.

Pattern:  Elora by Linda Marveng

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri in Brick & Clay Ombré 

Needle:  US 2.5 (3. 0 mm)

 

Elora - Body Done!

I finished up the body this morning, binding off the shoulders as I finished up each side.  Now I just need to figure out the stitch count for picking up the stitches around the armholes for my top down seamless sleeves.  I use Barbara Walker’s book Knitting from the Top.  It is a very straightforward method that always guarantees that I end up with sleeves that fit.  I really like how the Ombré fade is working out so far.  I haven’t decided if I will divide up the skeins into two balls, or just work both sleeves simultaneously from the same ball.  I suspect I may go with the latter.  Both approaches have their pros and cons.

Pattern:  Elora by Linda Marveng

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri in Brick & Clay Ombré 

Needle:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm)

 

Elora - Four Colors Done

I am pretty chuffed with how I divided up my fourth color as I only have about two yards left of the ball that I used for the back left, and only inches left on the fronts.  I did have 2.2 grams left of my third color after I worked the separation row where I cast off the underarm stitches.  That is the only left over yarn at this point.  When the balls started to get pretty small I pulled the one that I was sharing between the left and right fronts out and cut it in half, then I started knitting each section exclusively, ending each of them on the same pattern row.  With the fifth skein I will continue working each section separately until finished as I know that a single skein will easily work all three.  I will then join the shoulders with a three needle bind off and begin working the sleeves.

Pattern:  Elora by Linda Marveng

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri in Brick & Clay Ombré 

Needle:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm)

 

Elora - Three Colors Done

I have almost finished up my third skein and I am ready to start the armhole and neck shaping.  I have already wound my next skein, and divided it into two not quite equal balls.  The one for the back is a little bit bigger than the one that I will be using for the left and right fronts (knitting from both ends).  I spent this morning charting up all three sections - left front, right front, and back - completely so that I don’t have to think about any of the shaping or how to modify the pattern as my stitch count decreases.  I use the charting program Stitchmastery.  I started with the left front, and used my knitting to make sure that I had everything correct.  Once the left front was completed it was easy to get the right front - I just saved the file as a new file and flipped the chart vertically.  The back was easy, once I had the armhole shaping and the neck shaping charted.  I will be knitting all three parts simultaneously using two balls, one ball for the back and one ball for the fronts (working from both ends).

I received an ear burn from Linda Marveng today - she had seen my second post on this project and was chuffed about it.  She posted about it in her news thread on her forum.  I am super chuffed about the recognition.

Pattern:  Elora by Linda Marveng

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri in Brick & Clay Ombré 

Needle:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm)

Elora - Two Colors Done

You can definitely see the line between the first and second colors, but not the second and third.  Interestingly enough, there is a better blending of the colors on the stockinette sections.  It all just depends on how the colors played out in the skein while I was knitting.  It will be interesting to see how the rest of the colors blend and how it all comes out when it is blocked.  I am still moving forward with my method of just switching from one skein to the next when the one that I am working with runs out.  I have about twenty more rows to go on the body before I will be separating things for the armholes.  My third skein should get me pretty much to that point.

Pattern:  Elora by Linda Marveng

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri in Brick & Clay Ombré 

Needle:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm)

Elora - One color done

With Midnight Rose finished I grabbed the next WIP in my pile:  Elora by Linda Marveng.  I have been admiring (and buying) her patterns for a while now, but this is the first one that I have knitted.  I swatched for the pattern on January 26, 2019.  I finally cast on January 16, 2022.  Then the project was set aside while I worked some other things.  Since the swatching I have completed 95 other projects.  Since I cast on I have completed 9 other projects.  I am a strangely serial polygamous knitter.  I get a lot of projects on the needles, and then I start focusing on a single one.  Sometimes projects languish until I get them past a certain point and then I just want to see them finished.  Sometimes I just get bored or am no longer quite happy with how it is turning out and don’t know how I want to deal with it.  I currently have 19 WIPs, including this one.  The oldest is from 2010.  Besides this one, there are three others that I am actively working and they are all blankets:  Perseverance, Hearthside and the Seascair Blanket.  The first two are Mystery projects that I can only work when I get the clues and the yarn, and the third is my mindless work project.

For this pattern I am using an Ombré fade from The Unique Sheep.

I am working the body in one piece and am starting with the darkest skein, working until I use each one up and then joining the next.  I did not work any transition rows between my first color (skein 12) and the next (skein 11).  I am trusting the patterning to help break up the line that would otherwise appear if I were working straight stockinette.  When I get to the armholes I will have to divide up the balls and will go have to look at the math to determine the proportions.  I will then work the sleeves top down set in - picking up stitches around the armholes.  I will divide the balls in half for that, continuing working to the lighter colors - so the sleeves will continue the progression.  I had thought about making everything match vertically and decided I didn’t want to go through the hassle of that - even though I did put together a stitch count spreadsheet so I could.  I think that I will end up with a more visually interesting result doing it this way.

Pattern:  Elora by Linda Marveng

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri in Brick & Clay Ombré 

Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm)

Perseverance Knit Along: Clue 4 Done

I received the yarn for clue 4 of both Perseverance and Hearthside at the same time, and immediately caked them up.  I did clue 4 of Hearthside first, it took me a little while to get around to working clue 4 of Perseverance, but I finally tackled it this past weekend.  Then it took me a couple of more days to take a photo.  This was a very easy pattern and it did not take me very long to work it.  I did not have to change my needle size for this one.  My clue 5 yarn will be delivered today and the clue is already set up in knitCompanion.

Pattern:  Perseverance by Jane Vanselous

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Enduring Worsted 

Needle:  US 8 (5.0 mm)

Midnight Rose - Finished!

I finished this up Friday night and blocked it Saturday morning.  I did get a bit careless in the final Mosaic section and missed a decrease after I finished up the main patterning, which messed up my stitch count.  Unfortunately I somehow didn’t notice it until several rows later, so I had to tink back almost to the beginning of the “easy” part of the Mosaic.  I did take the opportunity to also switch to needles with a shorter cord as wrangling the longer cord was becoming just a bit annoying.  Blocking wasn’t too difficult.  It is always hard to get things perfect, but I think I did pretty well.  I always end up noticing the things that are off after I take the photo.  Sometimes I go back and fix them, sometimes I don’t.

Pattern:  Knit Love Shawl by Ambah O’Brien 

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 in Midnight Rose and Harvest Pear

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Midnight Rose - Second Lace Section Done!

Once again I pulled the stitch markers when I reached the single color rows in the Mosaic section and reinserted them when I worked the first lace patterning row.  As I was working that first lace patterning row I did discover that I had not paid enough attention to the pattern and worked decreases on the last wrong side row of the Mosaic pattern when I was not supposed to, so I had to tink back and fix that.  I cheated and just did not work decreases on the first wrong side row of the lace chart.

Pattern:  Knit Love Shawl by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 in Midnight Rose & Harvest Pear

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Midnight Rose - First Mosaic Section Done!

I do really enjoy Mosaic knitting, and I am very happy with my color choice for this one.  I am glad that I decided to change from the solids that I had picked out.  I pulled the stitch markers out at the end of the lace section and put them back in on the first row of Mosaic patterning.  I have a marker on the center stitch that I shift up periodically just to make sure I don’t lose it in all of the patterning.

Pattern:  Knit Love Shawl by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 in Midnight Rose & Harvest Pear

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm) 

Hearthside Crochet Along - Clue 4 Done!

My yarn for clue 4 arrived this past week so I immediately wound it and started work.  This one didn’t take me too long, but definitely took me longer than it should have.  First I came up short on the stitch count on one of the sides after the first row.  Turns out I had missed working a stitch on the last row for the previous clue.  Fortunately it was towards the end of the last row of that clue, so it was an easy fix.  Then I got the entire first round done and did not like the join of the first round when I came around to start the next round, so I ripped back and started over.  Then I got the first round finished again and discovered I had missed a chain one, right at the beginning, after the first two stitches.  So I ripped back again.  Sigh.  I do like the fact that ripping is so easy in crochet, because I tend to do a fair bit.  But now it is all done and I love it.  The Luster Worsted is very soft and it drapes beautifully.  Now I just have to wait for the next color and the next clue.

Pattern:  Hearthside by Jane Vanselous

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Luster Worsted

Hook:  5.0 mm (H)

Midnight Rose - First Lace Section Done!

This one has been languishing in my WIPs pile for a while now.  I cast it on back on February 23 and I only knit a few rows before I had to set it aside to focus on a test knit.  But now the test knit is done I can focus on finishing some of my WIPs (before I start casting on more!).  The first lace section actually knit up pretty easily.  I have markers to keep me on track - I rarely use markers but they are definitely useful on this pattern - and the yarn is a real joy to work with.  The yarn is Serenity 20 from Zen Yarn Garden and at one point (based on the amount in my stash) it was my favorite fingering weight yarn.  It still is one of my favorites.

As I approached the first mosaic section I realized that I did not want to use one of the Dream in Color yarns that I had picked out.  I really wanted to use another Serenity 20 yarn.  So back I went to my stash.  Actually, I just looked at my stash of Serenity 20 on Ravelry, came up with a couple of possibilities, and then went to my stash.  I ended up picking Harvest Pear.  Despite the name and color inspiration it reminds me of a rose garden.  I am a few rows in to the first mosaic section and am very happy with how the colors are playing together.

Pattern:  Knit Love Shawl by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  Serenity 20 by Zen Yarn Garden

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

 

Nature’s Cathedral Vest - Finished!

My sister Liz’s birthday was last month, and I wanted to make her something.  We don’t usually do much for birthdays in my family, but I wanted to this year.  I had this yarn in my stash and had been thinking of making her a vest for a while.  Like me she gets cold easily.  So I cast this on last month and finished it up last weekend.  I would have finished it sooner but I had to finish up a test knit.  Now I just need to box it up and get it in the mail to her.

The yarn is Vega by SpaceCadet and the colorway is Nature’s Cathedral from the Space Monster Club.  I really like how this one blocked, the fabric is very soft and drapes nicely.  I have now made 10 of these vests.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich

Yarn:  Vega by SpaceCadet Yarns

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)