Tristan - Finished!

 

It has been a while.  I did finish my August Camp Loopy project with a couple of days to spare, but I wasn’t sure that I was going to make it.  After more than a year of working from home, I started going back into the office a couple of days a week on June 22 and the keyboard that I left there is not a good one and using it, even for a few days a week, gave me a repetitive stress injury in my left elbow, which was aggravated by knitting.  So I had to take some time off from knitting and when I did knit I limited the duration of my knitting sessions.  Thankfully with Delta we are not required to go in to the office anymore so my elbow has recovered.  I also have an ergonomic keyboard and a track ball for when I have to go back.  To complicate knitting matters I also had a test knit start up at the end of July competing for my limited knitting time.

The pattern called for a ribbed border by I didn’t want to knit the ribbing.  It pulls in the rest of the shrug and foils the drape so I replaced it with a simple lace pattern (yo, k2tog) and used a contrast color - Safran.

Pattern:  Conic by Cookie A

Yarn:  Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Pure in Tristan and Safran

Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm)

Tristan - Cast On

 

I finally cast on for the August Camp Loopy project this past week.  The theme this month is “Showstopper”.  I had a terrible time settling on a pattern.  I was going to make “Leaf Lettuce” by Ursa Major Knits, but changed my mind.  I spent several evenings perusing Ravelry without finding anything that really grabbed me, until I decided to look up the yarn I had bought - Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Pure (colorway Tristan) on Ravelry and look at the pattern ideas.  The pattern I ended up settling on is “Conic” by Cookie A.  I have several of her books and have been in several of her sock clubs, but she vanished from the knitting scene back in 2016 and I don’t think we’ve heard from her since.  The pattern is not without its errors, starting with the mismatch between US needle size and the metric equivalent - I went with the metric equivalent.  Then when I tried the first row of the cable pattern the chart was two stitches short.  I ended up charting the entire back with the decreases, the straight section and the increases (the pattern only had the decreases charted).  The chart is simple, so you could work it without everything, but why make yourself keep track of extra stuff?

When I restarted I cast on 68 stitches and purled one row.  The pattern had you cast on 58 stitches, and do a set up row where you increased to 68 stitches by working several purl-front-back-front stitches.  I didn’t much care for that, and figured picking up stitches for the ribbing at the end would be easier if I just cast on all of the stitches at the start.

Pattern:  Conic by Cookie A

Yarn:  Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Pure in Tristan

Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm)

Cheri Chevron - Finished!

 

I actually finished up this shawl a week ago yesterday, on July 16.  This is my July Camp Loopy Project.  The requirement was stripes, and 600 yards.  I used 193 grams and 688 yards.  Blocking was relatively straight forward.

Pattern:  Cheri Chevron Shawl by Ambah O’Brien 

Yarn:  Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere 

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Cheri Chevron - Half Way Point

 

I reached the half way point back on July 10.  I actually finished up the shawl last night.  From cast on to finished shawl in 14 days.  Amazing what monogamous knitting can accomplish.  I used a total of 194.4 grams.  I forgot to weight my skeins before I started knitting, so I had to weigh the shawl after I cast off to determine how much yarn I used and make sure that I had met the yardage requirements for the July Camp Loopy project.  I used 688 yards, so I easily made the requirement.

Pattern:  Cheri Chevron by Ambah O’Brien 

Yarn:  Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere 

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Cheri Chevron - Cast On!

 

It is July, which means there is another Camp Loopy project to cast on.  The theme this month is stripes, so I’m knitting the Cheri Chevron Shawl by Ambah O’Brien.  I’ve actually made a fair bit of progress since this photo was taken.  The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere - positively Dreamy to knit with - in Gold Experience and Summer Sunrise.

Pattern:  Cheri Chevron Shawl by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Aqueous Shawl - Finished!

I finished this up last weekend.  I used up all by 1.5 grams of the Nightrain, and all but 4.1 grams of the Tupelo Honey.  The colors really glow in the natural light.  Now I need to update the pattern and test it with my other two colors so I can send it back to the designer and hope that she accepts it in the spirit it is intended.  It is a fun pattern.

Blocking was pretty straight forward.  With slip stitch edges I sometimes worry about the edges being too tight, but this one blocked pretty easily and without distortion.  I pinned out the top edge first and then the left edge (the bound off edge) and then worked may way back to the starting point.  I did have to do some adjustments, but not too much.

Pattern:  Aqueous Depths in Motion Shawl by Crystal Lee Day 

Yarn:  Magpie Fibers Swanky DK

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

 

Aqueous Shawl - Broken Arrow Section 2 Done

 

So, now I have worked through Garter Section 4, Broken Arrow Section 2 and Garter Section 5.  Starting with Garter Section 4 the stitch count of the shawl remains essentially constant (134 stitches on right side rows, 135 stitches on wrong side rows), with increases only on the section before the marker.  I have Dainty Chevrons Section 2 and Garter Section 6 left.  I was getting very nervous about having enough yarn, so I weighed my skeins to get yarn usage data during Garter Section 5 and I should just barely make it.  Remember how I have an extra stitch?  And how that extra stitch was on the section after the marker?  Well, when I worked the first pattern row in Broken Arrow Section 2 it worked.  No extra stitch.  Although there was an error in the pattern at the end of the row - it stated “repeat to 3 sts left, sl2 wyib, k2”.  It should have been sl1 wyib, k2 if you only have 3 stitches left.  I was fully expecting to have 4 stitches based upon where my extra stitch was, and was surprised when I didn’t.  So then I worked the wrong side row and discovered that my extra stitch was now in the section before the marker.  I have no idea how that could have happened as I have been extremely careful in the garter sections on where the increases occur.  I’ll be sending all of my notes as well as my charts to the designer when I’m done, so she can update the pattern.  I have charted the Dainty Chevrons Section 2 - much easier than charting the first one now that I know that lace pattern - and it is all set up in knitCompanion.

Pattern:  Aqueous Depths in Motion Shawl by Crystal Lee Day 

Yarn:  Magpie Fibers Swanky DK

Needle: US 7 (4.5 mm) 

Aqueous Shawl - Garter Section 3 and Art Deco Leaf Section Done

 

I have now reached the maximum stitch count to the left of the marker, from now on that side will be decreasing.  Once again I charted the pattern from the written instructions.  Once I understood how the pattern worked it was pretty straight forward knitting.  I did learn the hard way to check my right side row before I worked the wrong side row.  Fortunately I made the mistake early on and only had to frog back 8 rows or so.  Trying to drop back stitches and fix it without tinking did not work.

Pattern:  Aqueous Depths in Motion Shawl by Crystal Lee Day 

Yarn:  Magpie Fibers Swanky DK

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Aqueous Shawl - Broken Arrow Mosaic Section 1 Done

 

I have finished Garter Section 2, Broken Arrow Section 1, and part of Garter Section 3.  I figured out that my extra stitch was on the second part, after the marker, which made working the mosaic section easy, I just had to take the extra stitch into account at the end of the right side rows and the beginning of the wrong side rows.  I marked up the pattern as I worked it.  I also figured out that the extra stitch is probably a pattern error, not mine.  I have the correct stitch count at row 16, and rows 18 and 20 both have 2 increases, so that gives you 72 stitches, which is what I have.  I’m making notes of all the errors I find and will pass them on to the designer.  I think I am the first person to knit this, other than the designer, as there are only 2 projects on Ravelry, including mine.

Pattern:  Aqueous Depths in Motion Shawl by Crystal Lee Day 

Yarn:  Magpie Fibers Swanky DK

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Aqueous Shawl - Dainty Chevron Section 1 Done

And the first lace section is completed.  So much easier with a chart, but not without a little challenge.  I had a mistake right near the end when I finished it last night.  I spotted it when I took a picture this morning.

See how the pattern is not quite symmetric on the spine at the top?  This is why having charts and being able to read your knitting is so important.  First I checked the chart to make sure I hadn’t messed something up there.  Nope, it wasn’t the chart that was wrong.  The stitch patterns were symmetric all along the spine.  So then I looked at my knitting and compared it to the chart.  It was pretty easy to see where I had gone wrong.  A yarn over in the wrong spot.  I tinked back two rows, which also allowed me to fix a weird yarn over on one of my CDD-P on the last row, fixed the yarn over and reknit.  All better.

Pattern:  Aqueous Depths in Motion Shawl by Crystal Lee Day 

Yarn:  Magpie Fibers Swanky DK

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Aqueous Shawl - Cast On & Garter Section 1 Done

 

It is time for Camp Loopy!  This year the theme is Circus Camp, and keeping with the three ring theme the project has to have three of something.  I went with three different stitch patterns.  This pattern has four different stitch patterns.  These are the original colors that I had picked:

Unfortunately there wasn’t enough contrast between the Nightrain (on the left) and Sarah’s Violet (on the right) so I ordered a skein of Tupelo Honey and it came in record time, so I was able to cast on last night.

The garter stitch section was pretty easy.  I got into the rhythm of the increases and didn’t count until the end and was delighted to find I had the correct stitch count.  After taking a picture I started on the next section, the Dainty Chevron section.  Lace.  Worked on both sides.  And no chart.  Ugh.  I struggled with the written directions last night and got about half way through when I set it aside after finding a couple of errors. This morning I put in one of my after-thought lifelines and ripped back.  Then I spent most of today charting the section.  It was pretty challenging at first, but once I figured out the pattern it went well.  I was even able to compress the chart with repeats and make everything line up.  The knitting went quickly, although I did find a couple of minor mistakes in my charting.  I did end up with one more stitch than the pattern.  But I’m not going to worry about it.

Pattern:  Aqueous Depths in Motion Shawl by Crystal Lee Day

Yarn:  Magpie Fibers Swanky DK

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)