Arctic Flow Capelet - Off the Blocking mats

What a difference blocking makes.  For comparison, here is the before blocking picture on my dress maker dummy.

Pattern:  Ocean Blue Collar by Eline Oftedal, modified to be a capelet
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Super Wool Aran in Arctic Flow and Cinder
Needle:  US 9 (5.5 mm)

Arctic Flow - Finished!

Yesterday afternoon I picked this project back up after finishing up the mindless computer work that occupied me for most of the day.  I had begun to create group pages for all of The Unique Sheep Mystery Knit Alongs, and moving all the threads from the old groups to our main group.  I started that effort over a year ago and I finally finished it up yesterday in a massive push.  Once I got into the rhythm of it things went pretty quickly and it was just the right level of mindless for me yesterday.  Skein 5 of the Arctic Flow gradiance went quickly, all those stitches gobble up the yarn, and before I knew it I was working on skein 6.  My yarn usage estimate was pretty much spot on.  I had enough of the gradiance set to finish the lace pattern, but I had to use the contrast for the final rest row.

The I-cord bind off took me two hours.

I am really pleased with how this came out.  The Raspberry Blaze Capelet that I made had a circumference that was too big for the diameter, so it ruffled and I couldn't really block it the way lace should be blocked.  I love the way that one came out, but with the Aran weight yarn of this one I knew it really needed a good blocking to make it lay properly, and lo and behold, this one came out perfect.

Pattern:  Ocean Blue Collar by Eline Oftedal, modified to be a capelet
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Super Wool Aran in Arctic Flow and Cinder
Needle:  US 9 (5.5 mm)

Arctic Flow Capelet - Four Skeins Done

Skein 4 didn't take too long to work through, even if the rounds are getting pretty long.  The yarn usage seems to be pretty much on target, and I like the size.

Pattern:  Ocean Blue Collar by Eline Oftedal, modified to be a capelet
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Super Wool Aran in Arctic Flow and Cinder
Needle:  US 9 (5.5 mm)

Arctic Flow Capelet - Three Skeins Done

I finished up the third skein on this past Thursday.  I put it on two 40" cables connected together to get this shot, but ordered a set of US 9 needles with a 60" cable to continue knitting with.  My 40" cable is getting pretty crowded.  It appears that the yarn usage on this pattern works out to the second repeat taking about twice as much as the first working of the chart, and the third repeat takes about three times as much as the first.  My skein 2 is a pretty dramatic difference compared to my skein 1.  I was worried that maybe I mixed up the order of the skeins when I frogged my first attempt, but looking back at my stash pictures and pictures of other sets in other stashes online, I think I just have a bit of a mutant.  I like the look, regardless.

Pattern:  Ocean Blue Collar by Eline Oftedal, modified to be a capelet
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Super Wool Aran in Arctic Flow and Cinder
Needle:  US 9 (5.5 mm)

Arctic Flow Capelet - Two Skeins Done

I have just finished row 18 of my second repeat of the chart, and am almost done with skein 2 of the gradiance.  For the photo I have it on two 40" cables, connected, so I could spread it out.  So far, so good.

Pattern:  Ocean Blue Collar by Eline Oftedal, modified to be a capelet
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Super Wool Aran in Arctic Flow and Cinder
Needle:  US 9 (5.5 mm)

Arctic Flow Capelet - Take Two, One Skein Done

I had been working away on my Arctic Flow Capelet, getting towards the end of the second repeat of the chart when I could not longer deny the truth staring me in the face - it was going to be too big.  The number of stitches on my needle was verging upon the unmanageable.  I decided to confirm my conclusion by putting the stitches onto some waste yarn so I could lay it out and really assess the situation and determine a way forward.  I had barely gotten the stitches onto the waste yarn before I had decided that I was going to frog and start again.  Before I did that, however, I looked at the current size and determined how many repeats of the motif I really needed.  I settled on 6, which meant a cast on of 72 stitches, instead of the 108 called for in the original pattern.  I did take advantage of my previous work to calculate my yarn usage and put together a spreadsheet.  Based upon my yarn usage figures I could just do 3 repeats of the chart - the same as I did on my Raspberry Blaze Capelet - so long as I didn't want to cast on and bind off.  I went back to my stash and pulled out this skein of the same yarn base, figuring I could do a contrast I-cord cast on and bind off.

So now I've made it back through the first skein of the Arctic Flow gradiance and through the first repeat of the chart, with a little yarn to spare and I'm feeling much better about how this one is going to turn out.

Pattern:  Ocean Blue Collar by Eline Oftedal, modified to be a capelet
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Super Wool Aran in Arctic Flow and Cinder
Needle:  US 9 (5.5 mm)

Arctic Flow Capelet - One Repeat Done

Sometimes I get a bee in my bonnet and decide that there is a yarn in my stash that I just have to make something with.  Last week it was this set of yarn from The Unique Sheep.

The colorway is Artic Flow, the yarn is Super Wool Aran.  As a rule I am not much of a fan of heavier weight yarns, preferring fingering weight and lace, but I wanted to try some of the heavier weight yarns that The Unique Sheep has to offer.  This particular set was the winter offering of The Unique Sheep's Four Seasons of Lace club.  The pattern really didn't appeal to me, but I did want to make something with the yarn, and I enjoy the challenge of finding the right pattern for a given yarn, when I only have a limited amount.

At first I though that I would make the Circle Vest pattern from the book Silk Knits, which I happen to have in my library.  I even cast on this past weekend and knit a few rounds.  The construction is intriguing, but I think the pattern needs some refining.  To determine where you place the slits for the arm holes you work until the radius is half the distance across your back, but the placement of the arm slits is such that the diameter is not the correct measurement.  The line between the slits is a chord of the circle formed by the knitting, not the diameter.  I also was not sure that the pattern would use as much of my yarn as I wanted.  So I frogged and decided to cast on another capelet.

I really like my Raspberry Blaze Capelet that I made as part of Camp Loopy 2016.  The color is amazing and the pattern was fun and easy.  I've been wanting to make more capelets because they are fun and easy to wear, so I decided to cast one one with this yarn.

Yesterday I decided to come home early from work - it was a miserable day, gray and rainy, and my brain really didn't want to work.  I finished up some fairly mindless detail work and left after a half day.  It made voting much easier, and I made us hot chocolate when we got back to the house and I knitted while we watched a movie.  I made it through the first repeat and part of the second.  I should have enough yarn to do two repeats, with enough left over for the bind off without playing yarn chicken.

Pattern:  Ocean Blue Collar by Eline Oftedal, modified to be a capelet
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Super Wool Aran in Arctic Flow
Needle:  US 9 (5.5 mm)

Raspberry Blaze - Minor Modification

The weather has turned a little cooler here and I've been wearing my Raspberry Blaze to work and I must say that it is wonderful.  The length is perfect, just past my elbows, and it looks great.  The only down side that I had noticed was that the neckline seemed to be stretching and it was starting to want to slip off my shoulders.  Yikes!  So I went to my random ribbon stash and found a thin gold satin ribbon and threaded it through the eyelet holes near the top.  I then sewed the two ends together.  To do that I folded each end over about 1/2 inch, I folded one toward the wrong side and one toward the right side, and then I slipped the folds into each other so that the raw edge of each end was nestled in the fold of the other.  I carefully hand sewed the overlapping edges to join everything securely.  I will have to make more of these, and I imagine that the Beadcats will covet them so I may just preempt that by making them each one.

Pattern:  Ocean Blue Collar by Eline Oftedal, modified to be a capelet
Yarn:  Dream in Color Classy in Raspberry Blaze
Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Raspberry Blaze - Done!

After I got back from my business trip last Saturday I focused on completing my July Camp Loopy project.  I finished up the third repeat of the chart on Tuesday - had to switch to 60 inch cables to fit all the stitches - and then started the I-Cord bind off.  The bind off took me until Thursday to complete and I blocked it on Friday.

Blocking presented a bit of a challenge as the last chart repeat increased the stitches to the point where it wouldn't lay flat.  In the end I didn't even pin anything, I just laid it out and let the edge ruffle.  This morning I went back and picked up stitches and worked an I-Cord edging around the neck to give it more stability.

Pattern:  Ocean Blue Collar by Eline Oftedal, modified to be a capelet
Yarn:  Dream in Color Classy in Raspberry Blaze
Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Raspberry Blaze - Two Repeats of the Chart

I've been busy working on my Raspberry Blaze.  The above picture was taken after I had worked part of the second repeat of the chart and had just placed the project on longer cable needles.  I took another picture after I finished the second repeat.

I started out with 108 stitches.  After the first repeat I doubled that to 216 stitches.  The second repeat doubled that again to 432 stitches.  I'm working on the third repeat, which is going to get me to 864 stitches.  Yikes!  I had to join two cables from my Addi clicks to get this far.  I order some longer size 7 needles - 40 and 47 inch cables - as I don't like working something like this on interchangeables because I'm always afraid they'll come undone.  I just transferred the work to the 47 inch cables and realize that I need a longer cable.

The second repeat didn't take as much yarn as I thought it would - only about 100 grams, instead of 120 grams - which gives me more breathing room on my yarn amounts.  I did manage to score another skein from The Loopy Ewe.  I went out to their web site on Saturday to see if they still had some and they had one skein left.  I took a chance and ordered it and I received it today and it is the same dyelot.  Sometimes things just work out.

Pattern:  Ocean Blue Collar by Eline Oftedal, modified to be a capelet
Yarn:  Dream in Color Classy in Raspberry Blaze
Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Raspberry Blaze

You may recall that I wasn't very happy with my second Camp Loopy project.  I started working the second chart and just wasn't enjoying it so I decided to try and find another project in my queue.

The first project I considered was the Cabled High-Neck Tank by Kathy Zimmerman.  It looked like a fun knit, so I went searching for yarn on The Loopy Ewe.  The yarn called for in the pattern (Cascade Yarns Sierra - 80/20 Cotton/Merino) is no longer available, so I found a substitute - Universal Yarn Cotton Supreme in Orange Creme.  Same weight, but 100% cotton.

This is a lovely yarn, but as I started working the swatch I quickly realized that it was not going to work for this pattern.  I guess that 20% wool really matters for this pattern.  I went searching for other patterns that I could use this yarn for and did find one, the Planche Vest, which at least made me feel better about adding to my already extensive stash, but didn't help me solve the problem of what to knit for my second Camp Loopy project.  So, the search continued.

The next project that I considered was the Leaves of Grass Capelet by Sydney Crabaugh.  So I went back to The Loopy Ewe and looked for yarn and decided on Dream in Color Classy in Raspberry Blaze.

As I was waiting for my yarn to arrive I bought the pattern and started to look it over.  The first thing I found was that the Leaves of Grass pattern that adorns the front was not charted.  Ugh.  So I started to chart it.  I also looked at the construction and wasn't crazy about the shaping.  Not looking good for a successful project.

So, back to my queue I went and found the Ocean Blue Collar by Eline Oftedal.  There were a few challenges, the yardage was one, and the original pattern calls for a heavier weight yarn.  I did the math on the gauge and decided that I could cast on the same number of stitches that the pattern called for and I would still be okay.  The pattern has a gauge of 14 stitches per 4 inches, and has you cast on 108 stitches, which gives you a collar opening of 30 inches.  That seemed a bit large to me.  Classy has a gauge of 4.5 stitches per inch, which gives an opening of 24 inches.  I pulled out my tape measure and determined that it was enough.  The only other challenges were the fact that the chart did not use standard lace symbols and I needed to determine how to repeat the chart to expand the collar into a capelet.

Re-charting was easy, and the nice thing about my charting software is that it tells me how many stitches I have in the repeat for each row.  The first row of the motif that I wanted to repeat has 14 stitches, so I know that I want 28 stitches in my last pattern row to set myself up for repeating the motif.

The last row as given is:  k1, yo, ktbl, yo, k1, yo, CDD, yo, k3, yo, CDD, yo, k3, yo, CDD, yo, k3, yo, CDD, yo

I replaced that last row with:  k1, yo, ktbl, yo, k4, yo, CDD, yo, k4, yo, ktbl, yo, k4, yo, CDD, yo, k3
This is essentially a repeat of row 3 of the pattern, and the only thing I needed to do to set myself up for working row 5 was shift my end of round marker 3 stitches to the right.  So far I've done one repeat of the chart, which took about 60 grams.  The second repeat should take about 120 grams and a third repeat would take about 240 grams, which is more yarn than I have.  Unless I can get another skein of the same dyelot I'll have to figure out a way to finish off the capelet by modifying the lace pattern.  But I'll worry about that when I get there, right now I'm just enjoying the knitting, which really is the whole point, isn't it?

Pattern:  Ocean Blue Collar by Eline Oftedal, modified to be a capelet
Yarn:  Dream in Color Classy in Raspberry Blaze
Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)