Kalona - Cast On and Lace Done!

Back on September 21, I received an email from one of my favorite craft stores - Yarn Barn of Kansas (I purchased my floor loom from them) - and in the email was a blurb about Berroco’s Cardigan Make Along, a Cardi Party, that started on October 1.  So I went and checked it out, if you joined you got a free cardigan pattern, but you had to use Berroco yarn - which was not a hardship for me at all.  I went to their web site and checked out the possible patterns, narrowed it down to a couple, and then went looking for yarn from their list of stockists, and settled on the Kalona pattern, which uses Berroco Ultra Wool Fine.  It is a raglan cardigan with a shawl collar and lace at the hem and cuffs.  I picked the color Sour Cherry, which doesn’t look Sour, or very Cherry, more of a Burgundy.  The yarn arrived quickly and I set about knitting a swatch.

The pattern called for a US 5 (3.75 mm) needle and a gauge of 24 stitches and 32 rows in 4 inches in stockinette stitch.  Knowing that this is a fingering weight yarn I checked the ball band, and noted that the recommended needle size was a US 2-3 (2.75-3.25 mm), with a gauge of 26-30 stitches and 38-40 rows in 4 inches.  I started out on the US 5, just to see what kind of fabric that would give me, but quickly ripped that and pulled out a US 3 instead, and got gauge.

Now that I’ve finished the lace at the bottom of the body I can throw this project in my work bag as I now get to knit 68 more rows of stockinette.  Then I get to knit the sleeves and join them to the body.

Pattern:  Kalona by Alison Green

Yarn:  Berroco Ultra Wool Fine

Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Queen Conch Shawl - Body Almost Done!

This shawl has been in my work bag and I’ve been making progress on it.  At this point I am almost done with the last of the six skeins, and am contemplating border colors.  The yarn is a bit firm, being a sock yarn with a fairly tight twist, so I want a yarn for the border with similar characteristics.  I’ve been diving in my stash and have come up with four alternatives, so far.

These are all Zen Yarn Garden Superwash Sock Yarn.

I still haven’t decided if I want to pick one of these, or go stash diving some more.

I also need to think about bead color.  This morning I’m going to finish knitting the rest of skein six, and then slip the stitches on to a Knitting Barber Cord so I can spread the shawl out to really get a sense of the colors, and then I will search my stash for all possible border skeins and see if I can come to a decision.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Verve

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

 

Joy to the World - Grinch - Border One-Third Done!

This shawl has been waiting for its border for a while now - since June 18, to be exact - so a week or so ago I pulled it out and started working the border.  I am using one of my go-to borders, which I think looks a bit like the Eye of Horus.  It is pretty good TV knitting.  I have to pay some attention, but not a great deal of attention, to it.

Pattern:  Joy to the World by Louise Robert

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering and Kiri

Needle:  US 3 (3.25)

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)