Harmonize - Finished!

I finished this shawl up a week ago, exactly, on July 21, but it always takes a while to get beauty shots.  I set it aside after getting through most of skein 4 because I was coming to the end of the pattern and needed to decide how I wanted to extend it to use up the rest of my yarn.  I ended up just working stripes of the main color and the contrast color until I was almost out, then working a couple of garter stitch rows of contrast color and ending with the main color, binding off on the wrong side row.

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

Harmonize - Three Skeins Done

After finishing up my Encore shawl I didn't know what to work on next.  I have two more test knits to get done but this week at work has been so crazy and stressful that I just didn't have the mental energy to start them.  I worked for a night on my Mulberry Ombre dress, and then decided to switch to this shawl.  I don't have too much left on it, so maybe I can finish it up and get another WIP off my boards before I cast on my test knits.

I've also been thinking about what I want to do with the other two Harmonize sets that I have.

I'm thinking of working this set next, but using the gradiance as the main color and the red for the lace.  Once I see how that comes out I will decide what to do with my other set.

I may use the same shape, but do a design of my own.

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

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)

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)

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)