Wallflowers - Daisy Chain Done!

Once I had given my elbow a rest, and finished a couple of other knitting projects, I got back to my Wallflowers.  For the next step I had to make 50 popcorns using two of my leaf colors.  Once again I did them in production fashion, Working all 50 of the first round, and then working the second round.  Working the last two rounds and joining them to the blanket took a couple of nights.  I printed out the schematic that showed their placement and crossed them off as I joined them.  As you can see, Jezebel approves.

Here they are in progress.  You can see the first round rings on the right, and the second round popcorns on the left.

And here they are all finished, neatly lined up in five columns of ten.

It is so hard to get a good photo of the blanket.

The next step are the dark flowers that go in the corners.  I am making good progress on those, working them once again in a production fashion.  There are only 12 of these, 4 in one colorway and 8 in another colorway.  I did not get a picture until I had already started on the fourth round.

But you can see the two different colorways.

And here I have finished the fourth round on the 4 to the right, and have started the fourth round on the 8 to the left.

And here they all are with their fifth rounds completed.  They use the same colors, but in different order.  At this point I have woven in all of the ends except the ones for the fifth round.  I like to wait until I have worked at least the next round just in case I made a mistake.  I did actually make a mistake on the third round on one of them and had to rip back and fix it.  Fortunately I leave a pretty good tail and it was just one double crochet that I was missing.

Pattern:  Wallflowers by Sue Maton

Yarn:  Rowan Felted Tweed DK

Hook: 3.75 mm (F)

Queen Conch Shawl - Cast On!

After finishing up my Lock, Shock & Barrel Shawl I immediately caked up this set of yarn from another Unique Sheep Advent Calendar set.  This gradiance is called Queen Conch, and the rest of the skeins are also similarly themed.  This set is a bit different in that the other two gradiances are both 9 skeins.

The top photo is Sea Urchin, and the bottom photo is Exploring the Breakers.  All together they actually form a single gradiance, so the rightmost skein in the bottom photo is the transition to Sea Urchin, and the right most skein in the top photo is the transition to Queen Conch.  This was one of the 2020 Advent sets.  I am considering making tops out of the other two sets.  I have some good candidates in my Ravelry library.  Since casting on I have made a great deal of progress - lots of knitting at work while reading documents plus some car knitting on the way to and from my step daughter’s wedding last weekend, and I am on the 6th skein.  I will have to pick a border color and beads soon.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Verve

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Lock, Shock & Barrel Shawl - Finished!

I actually finished this shawl up back on September 8.  I was making rapid progress on my Joy to the World - Cindy shawl, and new I had to clear some of the knit on border backlog, so after finishing up the Canby Cardi I decided to focus on this project.  I also had some tendinitis in my elbow from intense crocheting on my Wallflowers and knew I needed to give things a rest.

Blocking these shawls is pretty straight forward, it just takes a little bit of time to pin out all of those points.  The choice of color for the border and the beads was a bit challenging, but I’m happy with how it all turned out.

I really do love these shawls as they are so easy to wear.  They stay in place and they provide just the right amount of coverage without getting in your way.  I have knitted 11 of them so far, and have a 12th one on my needles.  With the completion of this shawl I have used up all of the Nightmare Before Christmas Advent Calendar set.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering & Sundara Yarn Extra Fingering Merino

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Canby Cardi - Finished!

I finished up the Canby Cardi back on September 1, which was my deadline, as it is a gift for my step-daughter, Amy, who is getting married on September 14.  I offered to knit her a wedding shawl, but she wanted a cardigan.  I have tried it on (we are basically the same size) and it fits beautifully.  The yarn is Knitting for Olive Heavy Merino held together with Soft Silk Mohair, and it was my first time doing that, and I really like the result.  The pattern calls for an Aran weight, but the two yarns held together gave me gauge on the called for needle, and it has lovely drape.  For the closure I used a button from my stash, Czech pressed glass.

For the collar I did a knit 2 purl 2 rib, instead of the twisted knit 1 purl 1 rib that the pattern called for.  I just thought it would look better.

Pattern:  Canby Cardi by Robin Melanson

Yarn:  Knitting for Olive Heavy Merino and Soft Silk Mohair in Bordeaux

Needle:  US 8 (5.0 mm), US 7 (4.5 mm)