Strawberry Shortcake Shrug

I have been struggling with my Strawberry Shortcake Shrug.  The picture above is of the Paintbox kit called Strawberry Shortcake.  I really want to make more of the Traveling Zebra Shrugs, so I ordered all of the Paintbox sets that Biscotte offers.  The challenge I then faced was getting self-striping yarn that goes with them.  I ordered the Strawberry Shortcake self-striping yarn, but it doesn't match the Paintbox set.

I did find a skein in my Biscotte Stash that looked like it might work.

Of course, I only need four solid skeins so I first started out with this color combination.

But when I started knitting with the darkest color it had too much berry in it and it just didn't match well with the reds in the self-striping section.  So I ripped it back and started with this color combination.

As I was picking up the stitches with the darkest skein I apparently switched which side of the central panel I was working with because I got about 2/3 of the way along the panel when I discovered a loop of yarn hanging off the work.  It was a stitch that wasn't attached.  I had dropped it and never realized it.  I undid my bind off and took it downstairs to my studio and ripped it back, winding it back into a cake on my ball-winder.  I spent the drive down to Florida re-knitting the central panel.  But when I picked up the stitches with the darkest color, it still didn't really match the reds, so I ripped it out again and put the project away for the rest of the trip.

Before I had gone on vacation I had ordered the another Paintbox set, this one a repeat - the Watermelon Colorway.  I had already knit a shawl using that Paintbox set and was tempted to frog it and re-purpose the yarn into a shrug, but then I tried the shawl on and I like the weight of it and the way it fits, so I'm keeping it.  When I ordered the Paintbox set I also ordered a skein of yellow yarn and a skein of the Watermelon self-striping yarn.  That yarn was waiting for me when I arrived home last night.

Fortunately, these colors match quite well.  When I saw the dark red I had a hunch that maybe it would work for my Strawberry Shortcake shrug.

The yellow I ordered will also work, so I think now I will be able to continue working this shrug.


Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)