Advertence - Finished!

I finished this on December 17.  Blocking was easy, I just laid it out on the blocking mats and smoothed it into shape.  The garter stitch edges do ruffle, the edge at the end of the right side rows ruffles much worse than the edge at the start of the right side rows.  The edge that is in the picture is the one at the start of the right side rows.

Here is a shot of clue 11, which I didn’t blog about, I finished it on November 26 and snapped a quick shot of it on my daybed.

And clue 12 before blocking.  I thought about doing the last 20 rows in the Purple Chive (the light color), but decided not to.

You can definitely see the edges ruffle in this before blocking picture, and blocking only helped a little.  It also appears that the needle size I was using was a US 5 (3.75 mm), which I didn’t discover until I was all done with the cast off and was putting the needle away.  I have found a few instances where the wrong size needle was put away in the zip lock bag (I mostly use Addi’s, and keep the zip lock bag they come in to store them in), so I checked the size before putting it away and was surprised to discover it sized as a US 5, not a US 4 (3.5 mm).  I like the fabric, so it’s all good, and it explains why I didn’t find a US 4 needle zip lock bag with a 32 inch length in my little stack of empty needle zip lock bags.  Who knows how it all happened, given that this project has been going on for almost a full year.

Pattern:  Advertence by Janica York Carter

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Mirage Sport

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Advertence - Clue 10 Done!

I finished up Clue 10 this morning.  I actually finished it up yesterday in the early afternoon, but when I took a photo of it I noticed a mistake about half way through the clue, so I ripped it back and reknit it.  I would start on Clue 11, but my cat Jezebel has just settled herself on it.

She often photo bombs my knitting, but this time she arrived just a little too late.  I had taken the photo and folded the piece up and had just gathered it up when I heard a little “mrr” behind me.  She looked a little disappointed, so when she saw an opportunity to curl up on it on the daybed she took it.  She does like my knitted, and crocheted, objects, and all folded up like this it is especially cushy.

Pattern:  Advertence by Janica York Carter

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Mirage Sport

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Advertence - Clue 9 Done!

I finally finished up Clue 9 yesterday, but not in time for the drawings for clues 7, 8 and 9.  But that’s okay.  I am a tad behind.  Clue 10 dropped last month, and Clue 11 will be dropping this week.  The biggest challenge on the knitting at this point is that the colors on the charts are the reverse of mine - the light color is my dark yarn and the dark color is my light yarn - and the human brain just has a hard time with that.  It does make a very nice lap blanket while I’m working on it.  The multi-color ones are very pretty, but I really like my two tone one.  The dark color is actually a very subtle gradient, which will be seen when it is all laid out.

Pattern:  Advertence by Janica York Carter

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Mirage Sport in Dramatic Hues and Purple Chive

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Advertence - Clue 8 Done!

Clue 8 was pretty easy, and basically a repeat of clue 6, although the pattern is shifted.  You can see it if you study the charts.  I also got a picture of the entire project so far, with kitty bomb.

You can see that the second skein of my Dramatic Hues set is more purple.  It is wonderfully soft, and Jezebel really likes it.

Pattern: Advertence by Janica York Carter

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Mirage Sport

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)
 

Advertence - Clue 7 Done

I finished up clue 7 last night, just in time as clue 8 will drop soon.  I have given up worrying about my wavy left edge, maybe it will block out, maybe it won’t.  I’ve seen wavy edges on other projects so it may just be a thing with this pattern.

Pattern:  Advertence by Janica York Carter

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Mirage Sport

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Advertence - Clue 6 Done

I am now caught up on my Advertence, just in time, as Clue 7 will probably drop next week.  Now I need to focus on catching up on my Multivalence.  I did have a slight challenge getting a picture of this clue - as soon as I laid it out my cat Jezebel happily settled on it.

And disturbing happy kitties is definitely not done.

Fortunately she soon arose of her own accord and went to investigate my knitting needle (top photo).

I did take the opportunity to get some measurements (which elicited more interest from Jezebel).  The width is 25 inches and the length is 30 inches.  If we assume that we are at the half-way point (from a length perspective), the finished size will be just perfect for a shawl.  The pattern calls for a US 8 (5.0 mm) for the mosaic, but I’m knitting the entire shawl on a US 4 (3.5 mm).  The finished size given in the pattern is 92” long and 40” wide, a good deal larger than mine will turn out.  I knew this going in and deliberately chose to knit at a tighter gauge (I don’t really like knitting at loose gauges - I think it just looks sloppy) wanting a shawl rather than a blanket.  I love the fabric, and so does Jezebel, seizing any opportunity she can to lay on it, even when I’m knitting on it.

Obviously mine will also use less yarn.  I purchased a 4-skein Dramatic Hues set and 3 skeins of an oops Purple Chive and will probably use a little over 2 skeins of each, based on my usage so far - I just started using my second skeins of both colors back in clue 5.

Pattern:  Advertence by Janica York Carter

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Mirage Sport

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Advertence - Clue 5 Done

It has been a while since I pulled out my Advertence (April).  Clues 5 and 6 have both dropped (May and June), and I imagine Clue 7 will drop soon.  I did spend some time this week working on it though, and have completed Clue 5, and am just past a third of the way through Clue 6.  I have joined my second ball of the dark color.  I joined them the same way that I do fingering weight yarns and it seems to be fine even though this is a sport weight.  I am enjoying the feel of the yarn and the fabric, it is very cushy.  My cat Jezebel likes it too, curling up on it when she has the opportunity.  I am thinking of working a line of crochet stitches in a contrast color to set off the patterning from the edging.  I think it will give a nice finishing touch.

Pattern:  Advertence by Janica York Carter

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Mirage Sport

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Advertence - Clue 4 Done

I finished this up yesterday.  It took me a couple of days.  I did add extra slipped stitches on the edges again.  I started out trying to maintain the edge pattern from the second clue, and then about halfway through this clue I realized that I could complete the pattern on the edge and get a similar effect.  I am a bit perturbed with the tension issues on the left edge.  I’m not sure what is going on there.  I’m trying to be mindful when I work those stitches, but I’m not sure that it is helping.  I do like the mosaic pattern for this clue, it is my favorite so far.

Pattern:  Advertence by Janica York Carter

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Mirage Sport

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Advertence - Clue 3 Done

I finally put aside my Holly Sweater long enough to work Clue 3 of Advertence.  I actually knit about half of this clue twice.  The change in mosaic pattern resulted in the garter stripes on the edges getting longer, and I just didn’t like the look of that, so I ripped back and added extra slipped stitches along the edge where appropriate when I could without disturbing the new mosaic pattern.  It doesn’t completely preserve the edge pattern from clue 2, but I think it does enough to fool the eye, without making the new mosaic pattern look strange.  My left edge appears to be a bit looser than the right edge, I will have to keep an eye on that.  Hopefully it won’t be too noticeable once it is blocked.

Pattern:  Advertence by Janica York Carter

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Mirage Sport

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

 

Advertence - Clue 2 Done

This was a little bit of a slog, 32 rows of slipped stitches, with 32 rows of garter - alternating.  I did not adjust my needle size at all, as I had gone down 2 needle sizes on the main needle, and 4 needle sizes on the one called out for the slip stitch sections.  In the pattern notes it stated that the width grew 11 inches during blocking.  That just tells me it was knitted at too loose of a gauge, and I’m not going there.  It also explains why you need to go up the needle size for the slipped stitch sections, so that the gauge doesn’t end up changing on you.  I’m knitting on a needle size that is in the recommended range, and my fabric is lovely - not loose, but not too firm either - and I had no problem with a gauge change when I worked the slipped stitch section.  If you want a finished object that drapes, use a yarn that gives you that drape, don’t be fooled into thinking that knitting at a looser gauge is going to get you drape.  It does, sort of, but only at the cost of stitches that are loose and won’t hold their shape, which means that the finished object will not hold its shape.

Pattern:  Advertence by Janica York Carter

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Mirage Sport

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Advertence - Clue 1 Done

The Expression Fiber Arts 2023 Mystery Knit Along started last Sunday.  I wasn’t planning on participating, but changed my mind.  I was going to knit from stash, but was out on there web site checking something else out and saw the Dramatic Hues set, right next too an Oopsy Purple Chive and they found their way into my cart.  So, I’m basically going with a two color version in purples.  I also went down on the needle size - the recommended needle for the pattern is bigger than the actual needle size recommended for the yarn itself, and I am not a fan of loose gauge knitting.  The yarn itself is dreamy to knit with.  It is 70% Merino, 10% Camel, 10% Cashmere Goat, 10% Bombyx.

The first clue is seed stitch, which I have not been a fan of, but the last Anna Dalvi Advent pattern had a lot of seed stitch in it, so I think I have gotten over that.

Pattern:  Advertence by Janica York Carter

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Mirage Sport

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)