Hedgerow Shawl MKAL - Clue 1 Done!

A couple of weeks ago, I was poking around some of the yarn stash in my piano room (don’t ask) and came across three skeins that I had gotten in a club back in 2020.  The club was the Guigemar Yarn Club, and the yarn was Camelot (80% merino/10% cashmere/10% nylon), fingering weight (I have an insane amount of fingering weight yarn in my stash) from Round Table Yarns.  They were each in their own canvas bag, hanging on the door handle, and when I pulled them out and held them together I thought that they would make a nice shawl.

And wasn’t it convenient that Helen Stewart of Curious Handmade was doing a mystery knitalong of a three-color shawl.  I haven’t done a mystery knitalong in a while, although I will often buy the patterns and even a kit (usually from Miss Babs, because I have a hard time resisting those kits!), and then wait until all the clues come out and then maybe cast on at some undetermined point in the future.  Please don’t ask me how many kits I have in my stash.  Those are all project embryos waiting to be born.

Anyway, I felt like knitting something with some brighter colors, and as addictive as colorwork knitting can be, sometimes your brain just isn’t up for it but you still feel like knitting, so I cast on when the first clue came out and actually finished the first clue the day the second clue came out.  The pattern called for a US 6 (4.0 mm) needle, but looking back at the other shawls from her that I’ve knit I typically go down a needle size, so I used a US 5 (3.75 mm) needle.

Pattern:  Hedgerow Shawl MKAL

Yarn:  Round Table Yarns Camelot

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Bunny Wishes Sweater - Yoke Increases Done!

I have finished the yoke increases, although I still have about twenty rounds to go to finish the colorwork on the yoke.  I did end up ripping back to the neck band and starting over with a larger needle.  I had gone down a needle size from what the pattern recommended (3.00 mm vs 3.25 mm) because I was worried about it being too loose, but instead it was too tight.  So, now I’m using the recommended needles sizes (2.75 mm and 3.25 mm), and am very happy with the result.  My gauge looks to be spot on, which is always nice, but not always what happens.  I did do a colorwork gauge swatch, but not at first, because I was being lazy.  I did knit regular gauge swatches (not in the round) just to get a feel for the yarn, and based on those swatches I thought the 3.25 mm needle would be too loose.

The gauge swatch on the right was knit on 3.25 mm needles (US 3) and the one on the left was knit on 3.0 mm (US 2.5) needles, and I definitely like the fabric of the one on the left - for stockinette, knitted flat.  But neither swatch gave me gauge on both stitches and rows, and you really need to get gauge on both, if you want to get gauge.

But once I got knitting on the colorwork, I realized that it was definitely going to be too tight, so I knit a colorwork gauge swatch in the round.  I used the cuff pattern, and essentially I just knit a cuff, which I may turn into a lavender sachet.

I like the fabric, and more importantly, I got gauge.

Pattern:  Bunny Wishes Sweater by Sarah L. Kelly

Yarn:  Fleece & Harmony Wildwinds

Needles:  US 2 (2.75 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Bunny Wishes Sweater - Cast On!

Once I had finished my Seascair Cushions and Blanket I swatched for the Bunny Wishes Sweater, and cast on last Sunday.  This is one of the projects for the Fleece & Harmony Canadian Collaboration series.  There will be four this year.  The designer is Canadian, the yarn is Canadian, and if you get in on the kits, you get a Firefly Notions set of stitch markers in a matching tin, and she is also Canadian.

The designer is Sarah L. Kelly of Grey Owl Knits and I just love her color work patterns.  I have several in my library, but this is the first one that I have knit.  The yarn is Wildwinds and it is absolutely lovely to work with.

I really do enjoy color work knitting, there is something addictive about it, but it does require my attention - it is definitely not mindless television knitting.  Still, I’m making pretty good progress.

The pattern is extremely well written, with instructions for all the techniques used as well as links to videos, and color as well as black and white charts.  I’m using colors that are very close to the original design, so I’m using the color charts.  I have everything set up in my knitCompanion.  There is short row shaping at the back of the neck for a better fit.  The pattern calls for wrap and turn, but I used German short rows, my preferred method, and did an extra round after resolving all the double stitches before starting the color work.

I am almost done with the increases on the yoke.

Pattern:  Bunny Wishes Sweater by Sarah L. Kelly

Yarn:  Fleece & Harmony Wildwinds 

Needles:  US 2 (2.75 mm, for collar and cuffs), US 2.5 (3.0 mm)

Simplified Seascair Blanket - Finished!

I finished up the I-cord bind-off last night and wove in the last of my ends and it is all done!  I love how it came out and I used up most of the yarn that came in this club.

This is all that I have left.  I started this blanket back in May of 2021, and it is very nice to finally get it finished.  Now I can go set up the Bunny Wishes Sweater in knitCompanion and cast on!

Pattern:  Seascair Blanket by Carol Feller

Yarn:  Blasta

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Simplified Seascair Blanket - Edging Done!

I finished up the edging this morning while watching the latest Fleece & Harmony Woolcast, and immediately started working the blue mitered square corners.  That was a little bit fiddly, what with the extra needles poking out from the edges, but it wasn’t too bad.

Jezebel immediately laid down on the blanket when I laid it out.  I am very happy with how this is all turning out.  Now I just need to work the I-cord bind-off and it will be done and I can cast on something new.

Pattern:  Seascair Blanket by Carol Feller

Yarn:  Blasta

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Simplified Seascair Blanket Border - Two Edges Done!

When I was pondering how I wanted to work the border on the blanket my first thought was to mimic the border on the cushion covers, I did the math and figured out how many rows of the Marl I could work and how many rows of the Mustard I could work, but when I started picking up stitches around the edge I decided that I really didn’t want to work those long rounds on multiple needles.  So, I ripped out what I had picked up and decided to go with something simpler.  Based upon my yarn amounts I knew that I would have to use the Marl yarn for the shorter edges, and based upon my yarn usage it looked like I could get 14 rows on each edge.  Perfect!  It would match what I had done on the cushions at least in that respect.  My original plan for the Mustard was to pick up stitches along the edge of the Marl, but as I was working the Marl it occurred to me that I might have enough of the blue to work a mitered square in each corner.  I did some quick math and determined that I could do that, so that is the plan.  I’ll pick up along the long edges with the Mustard and work 14 rows on each edge.  I’m leaving all the stitches live because when I am all done working the edges and the mitered corner squares I will pick up stitches along the mitered corner square edges (using the yarn tails from the borders) and work an I-cord bind-off with the Mustard.

Jezebel is performing her inspection of the blanket, as is her right and duty.

Pattern:  Seascair Blanket (Simplified) by Carol Feller

Yarn:  Blasta

Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Seascair Cushions - Done!

I used up all of the gray yarn working the 14 rounds on each of the four squares that I had knit - but no real yarn chicken worries.  Working the I-cord, 3-needle bind-off on the second cushion didn’t take long at all.  Getting the zippers in was a bit fiddly.  I put the pillow forms in, and pinned the zippers into place, then I pulled the pillow forms out and basted the zippers into place by hand.  Then I back-stitched the zippers, also by hand.  I tried using the sewing machine but didn’t get very far at all (thankfully) before realizing that was not going to work.  Picking out what I had done was a pain, but I managed it without damaging anything.

Now that the cushions are done I can finish up the edging on the blanket.  I ended up with 16-inch pillows - the pattern called for a single 18-inch pillow.  I couldn’t find any instructions for the I-cord, 3-needle bind-off, so the way I ended up working it was:  cast on the 3 stitches using a long-tail cast on, work one round (because I was starting at a corner), then start working the bind-off:  knit two stitches of the I-cord, slip the third, knit two stitches together from the two pillow covers (the bind-off part), pass the slipped I-cord stitch over the new stitch.  When I got to the side that was going to have the zipper I did the standard I-cord bind-off on one cushion cover, joined the beginning and ending of the I-cord using the tail from the cast-on, and used the still attached yarn to work a normal bind-off of on the other the cushion cover.  They came out great - very cushy.

Pattern:  Seascair Cushion Cover by Carol Feller

Yarn:  Blasta

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)