Dress It Up - Section 3 Done!

Section 3 was quick and easy, just some more garter stitch rows in the variegated skein, but it sets off the dark purple band nicely.  Now on to Section 4, which is the longest, and is the lace section.  I did find some beads in my stash that should work with the dark purple, although I haven’t decided where I am going to place them.  

The shawl is finished off with another band of garter stitch in the variegated skein, and a picot bind off.  I have been carrying the other skein up along the edge so that I don’t have as many ends to weave in.  The pattern tells you to cut the yarn at the end of each section, but I just work both colors together on the second stitch on the right side rows and that secures it nicely.

Pattern:  Dress It Up by Lisa K. Ross

Yarn:  Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Dress It Up - Section 2 Done!

I finished Section 2 last night.  It is a simple section, a band of eyelets, about an inch of 1x1 rib with the knit stitches twisted and another band of eyelets.  The only real challenge was the darkness of the yarn, which made the stitches a little harder to read on the ribbing.  The colors are beautiful, and able to be seen, and appreciated.

And yes, that is another skein of yarn hanging out in my project box - wet spun Belgian Linen.  Isn’t it a gorgeous color?  I’ve not knit with linen before, tending to avoid the plant fibers, but Jennifer Beale released a pattern in May that uses this yarn.  The pattern is a summer tee and I thought I would try it as I really like the tee.  I’m still swatching.  I know that I don’t want to use the needle size that she did as that was way too lose, but I went down a little too far and though I like the fabric, my gauge is tighter, so I thought I would do one more swatch to see if I can match the gauge and still get a fabric that I like, or if I will have to do the math.

Pattern:  Dress It Up by Lisa K. Ross

Yarn:  Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Dress It Up - Section 1 Done!

I finished Section 1 today and you can see how it lets the colors of the skein shine.  With the stripes you just get lines, but here you get to see the glory.  Much better, and it doesn’t make my eyes hurt.  Lots of increases to give it the crescent shape - 10 increases for every 4 rows (4 sts, 2 sts, 2 sts, 2 sts) - and that pattern of increases will continue.

Pattern:  Dress It Up by Lisa K. Ross

Yarn:  Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Way Ahead MKAL - Frogged, Dress It Up - Cast On!

I finished Clue 3 (the picture above), and Clue 4 (sorry no picture, but more of the mosaic with the colors switched) and was working more stripes to use up my yarn when I decided that I just wasn’t happy with the shawl.  The design is cool, but the striping of the colors was not working for me - the stripes seemed to vibrate in a most annoying way and I just couldn’t see myself wearing it.  I also felt that this pattern was not showcasing the yarns very well.  So, last night I frogged it and cast on a different shawl - Dress It Up, by Lisa K. Ross.  Even while I was working on this shawl, I had my doubts, so I had been looking for an alternative and I had a couple of potential patterns I could knit instead.

This shawl is crescent shaped, and features swaths of garter stitch with the variegated yarn, alternating with the dark purple worked in a section of twisted rib, and another section of lace.  I might add beads to the lace.

Pattern:  Dress It Up by Lisa K. Ross

Yarn:  Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)