Miami Deco Drape - Left Panel Done!

I finished up the left panel of my Miami Deco Drape last night while watching a football game that we had recorded, and immediately started working the right panel, because there was still more football game to watch.  I cast off the left panel 14 rows earlier than the pattern called for (for the size that I am supposedly knitting) because I needed to make sure that the panel could be knit with four balls (or less) as I only have four balls of the dark purple for the right panel.  Although I picked up the stitches on both sides of the back panel using 40 inch circulars I quickly switched to 24 inch circulars to make the knitting a bit more manageable.  It is still a lap full of knitting that I have to wrestle.  I am very glad that I am not working the collar ribbing at the same time as I would definitely have run short of yarn.  When the right panel is done I will block it (per the pattern instructions) work around the armholes, and work the mitered squares that go on the bottom edge where the stair steps are, then I will pick up stitches along the top edge and work the Ladder Stitch using up some of my leftovers.  If I still have yarn left over I may do some kind of edge treatment on the unfinished edges - crochet or I-cord - just to make the edges a bit neater.

Pattern:  JSS #76 Miami Deco Drape by Jane Slicer-Smith

Yarn:  Trendsetter Yarns Merino 6

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Miami Deco Drape - Making Progress

I have also been making progress on my Miami Deco Drape, working on it after finishing up the first clue from Joji’s Open Up Mystery KAL.  At this point it is pretty boring knitting, basketweave.  I have stitch markers in to indicate the switches between the knit and purl sections, so it is pretty mindless, but I’m making good progress, and it is good TV and even reading knitting.  Now that I’ve finished up Clue 2 of the Open Up Mystery KAL, I’ll get back to working on this.  Maybe I can get the first side done before the next clue drops.

Pattern:  JSS #76 Miami Deco Drape by Jane Slicer-Smith

Yarn:  Trendsetter Yarns Merino 6

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Miami Deco Drape - Back Panel Trim Done!

Once the back panel was dry, which didn’t take long, I picked up the stitches along the sides and worked the trim.  The pick up was made so much easier by those locking stitch markers every 2 inches.  Now, I did not work a gauge swatch, so when I blocked my panel I discovered that it was 32 inches long.  There is only one pattern set up for this mitered panel, and it appears that it should be only 30 inches long, if you have matched the pattern gauge.  If you’re making one of the larger sizes, the pattern does specify that the back panel should be 32 inches long, but I was not making one of the larger sizes.  The pattern has instructions for lengthening the panel by working the ladder stitch across the top until the correct length is achieved.  Needless to say, I did not need to do this.  I know this means that I might run short on some of my colors, but I’m not sweating it, I like improvising.

At this point the pattern has you start the collar, which is worked in two color corrugated ribbing.  You start out working the ribbing separately for where it goes across the top of the back panel, but when you start working the side panels you join the ribbing to the panel and work it along with the side panels.  I could not find anywhere in the pattern where it instructs you to join the ribbing to the top of the back panel.  Although the pattern does state that there is no seaming.  Huh.  Anyway, working the ribbing and the side panels at the same time, when you have two colors in the ribbing just doesn’t appeal to me, so I am just going to work the side panels, and then figure out the ribbing at the end when everything else is done, and I can see what my yarn situation is.  I have several ideas for how to tackle that part.  The left side panel is done in the dark green, and the right side panel is done in the purple.

Pattern:  JSS #76 Miami Deco Drape by Jane Slicer-Smith

Yarn:  Trendsetter Yarns Merino 6

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Miami Deco Drape - Back Panel Done!

I finished up the back panel last night.  After working through this part of the pattern I have to agree with one of the other knitters of this design with regards to the pattern instructions.  In their effort to minimize the amount of printing they combine instructions and leave out things that would have been helpful.  So, definitely a learning experience for me.  I did make a mistake on one of the diamonds, which I then repeated on the other two diamonds that are worked with the same colors - if you do it once it is a mistake, it you repeat it consistently it is a design feature.  Where the diamonds end with a solid color, as opposed to stripes, the pattern tells you to work the Ladder Stitch, which the pattern defines as:  Row 1,3 RS:  Knit.  Row 2:  Purl,  Row 4: Knit - garter st.  That works fine if the color you’re working the Ladder Stitch in is not your main color (the darker green), but it if is the main color you have to start with a garter ridge, not a stockinette stretch.  And being an engineer/scientist by training I tend to be literal minded, so on three of my diamonds I’m missing a garter ridge.

The pattern does tell you to block this panel before continuing, so I am blocking it.  This also allowed me to place locking stitch markers every two inches for the stitch pickup along the sides.  I need to pick up 11 stitches every two inches.  Most of my ends are already woven in, except for the ones along the sides and the top.

Pattern:  JSS #76 Miami Deco Drape by Jane Slicer-Smith

Yarn:  Trendsetter Yarns Merino 6

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Miami Deco Drape - Cast On!

Every so often, a couple of my favorite online shops offer orders for Trendsetter Yarns kits, an opportunity which I have taken advantage of on several occasions.   The latest such kit was this cool vest designed by Jane Slicer-Smith.  Now I have been admiring Jane Slicer-Smith patterns for a number of years, especially the mitered square construction, and I even have a book of her patterns, but this is the first time that I am knitting one.  The kit arrived last week, and then just a few days later, an update to the kit arrived with three balls of yarn, and an updated pattern with a post-it note that stated “updated pattern” just in case you were wondering why you had received three balls of yarn and a pattern out of the blue.  The fact that I now had three balls of yarn that were not all nicely secured with the others, and another printout of the pattern prompted me to immediately cast on.  After all, I wouldn’t want those three balls of yarn to wander off and get lost.  As I was looking over the pattern in preparation for the cast on I noticed that it stated that I was entitled to a PDF copy, so I took myself to the Trendsetter Yarns web site to see if there was an easy/obvious way to secure said PDF copy.  Spoiler alert - I did not figure that part out - but I did very nearly tumble down a rabbit hole of Jane Slicer-Smith patterns and kits.  Lots of patterns and kits.  I signed up for the Trendsetter Yarns newsletter, and then closed the browser and backed away from my iPad, took several deep breaths, and went and got a knitting needle and cast on.  But you can bet I’ll be heading back to that web site in the future, but first, I need to knit at least one of the kits that I have.

Pattern:  JSS #76 Miami Deco Drape

Yarn:  Trendsetter Yarns Merino 6

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)