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)