Kalona - Sleeves and Body Joined!

In the end, I did decide to lengthen the sleeves to full length.  I continued with the increases at the same frequency all the way up.  Yesterday I finished the second sleeve up to the joining point and joined everything together and started working the raglan decreases.  The pattern calls for decreasing 2 stitches with each decrease for 3 decrease rows before settling in to the standard of decreasing 1 stitch with each decrease.  I did not do this, instead I am just doing the standard decrease of 1 stitch at each decrease, and will work more decrease rows as I want more depth in the armhole.  I will end up with more sleeve stitches because of lengthening the sleeves and my extra increases.  When I get to the end of the called for raglan decreases I will see if I want to work additional sleeve decreases.  I do have broad shoulders and more muscular upper arms, so the extra stitches in the sleeve will not be a problem for me (and are actually needed for a better fit).

Pattern:  Kalona by Alison Green

Yarn:  Berroco Ultra Wool Fine

Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Queen Conch Shawl - Finished!

Even though I always have lots of projects going at once, when one of them gets close to being done I will often focus on it until it is finished, and that is mostly what happened with this shawl.  Once I had found a good border color and a good bead color and got the border started I ended up coming back to it and working on it to the exclusion of the other projects that are high on my “to do” list.  I am very happy with how this one turned out, and I’m also happy to be using up my old Advent sets.  The rest of this particular set is really two 9-skein gradiances, although I could have used them as a single 24-skein gradiance, if I had wanted to.

This is the Queen Conch set.

The Sea Urchins set.

The Beyond the Breakers set.

The Beyond the Breakers set flows in to the Sea Urchins set (right most skein to left most skein) and the Sea Urchins set flows in to the Queen Conch set (right most skein to right most skein).  But figuring out something that takes all 24 skeins is non-trivial.  I’ve done it twice.  For the two 9-skein sets I’m thinking about some short sleeve top-down pullovers.  I’ve been collecting patterns.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Verve and Sundara Yarn High Twist Sock

Needle:   US 4 (3.5 mm)

Queen Conch Shawl - Body Done and Border Started!

Once I had finished the border on the Cindy Shawl, I transferred this project to my Della Q Hatbox and started working the border.

Finding a good color for the border was quite a challenge.  The yarn of the shawl is The Unique Sheep Verve, which is a fairly hard sock yarn, so I knew I needed a similar yarn for the border.  I searched in my stash for all of my sturdier sock yarns and made a list of likely candidates, and where they were stashed and then just went diving.  In the end I picked Sundara Yarn - HIgh Twist Sock in “Oh, The Places You Will Go”.  The next challenge was the beads.  It took me a while, but in the end I settled on Matte/Raku Teal/Plum.  The colors were not something that I originally thought of, but I’m very happy with how it is all coming out.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Verve and Sundara Yarn High Twist Sock

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Joy to the World - Cindy - Finished!

I finished this shawl up on this past Sunday (October 27) and got it on the blocking mats that morning.  The border went very quickly and I just love how it came out.  The colors are so beautiful, and bright, and they make me happy.

With the completion of this shawl, I have used up all of the Grinch Advent Set.  Yay!  Another Advent set knitted up (I have so many!).

Pattern:  Joy to the World by Louise Robert

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

Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)