Xanthe - Finished!

I finally finished up my Xanthe over the long weekend.  Blocking it was a little trying.  The lace wants to do one thing and the garter stitch another and trying to get them to compromise was a little bit of a challenge.  It came out very drapy, and it is generously sized.

I wore my Compassion Celadon to work on Tuesday and snapped a quick picture of it when I got home.

Patterns:  Xanthe and Celadon by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri Autumn Trio and Bright & Bold ombre
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Compassion Celadon - Finished!

I have been working steadily on my Compassion Celadon and finished up the colored skeins yesterday and the gray today.  It is upstairs blocking.

Pattern:  Celadon by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep  Rare Breed
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Compassion Celadon - Three Skeins Done!

I had to go on travel for work the first half of this week so I took this project along with me.  I didn't get much knitting done during the stay itself, but there was a four hour drive each way, and I wasn't driving, so I got plenty of knitting done anyway.

Pattern:  Celadon by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep  Rare Breed
 Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Compassion Celadon - Skein 12 Started

I have mostly been working on my test knit (I am almost finished!) but when I want to actually watch what is no TV (lately it has been Blue Planet II, which is mesmerizing - I just wish they gave us more information) I pull this one out.  Today I finally finished up the first section of gray and started the first skein of the gradient.  You might recall that this set is from my Advent Calendar - skeins 6-12 of that set to be exact.  I'm starting with the darkest one, which is skein 12.

Pattern:  Celadon by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep  Rare Breed
 Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Compassion Celadon - Cast On

I received the darker gray skein that I ordered for my Compassion Celadon and I couldn't resist caking it up and casting on even though I have other knitting I need to be working on.  Unfortunately I can't spend too much more time on it right now.  I wore both of my Celadon shawls this past week.  I really like them, they are very wearable.

Pattern:  Celadon by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep  Rare Breed
 Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Nature's Gem Celadon - Done!

I finished up my Nature's Gem Celadon on New Year's Eve, but it has been a real challenge getting a good picture of it between the cold and the wind.  The shot above is before blocking.

And this is the blocking shot.  I screwed up my calculation on where to start the mini-skeins.  I was using the yarn usage numbers for a different yarn that is a little finer than this one.  I do like the effect though, and it allowed me to give the speckled yarn an opportunity to shine as well.  I have frogged the other Advent Calendar projects that I started, having had second thoughts on them.  I will make another Celadon using the Compassion Ombre, but I may get a different neutral to go with it.  I did order a skein to do the knit on border for my Bright & Bold shawl.

Pattern:  Celadon by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep  Kiri
 Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Nature's Gem Celadon - Skeins 6 & 5 Done

I spent most of yesterday knitting and reading.  This shawl pattern goes pretty fast, although it isn't quite perfect reading knitting and I did make a couple of mistakes (typically working a kfb when I wasn't supposed to), but I counted my stitches on a fairly regular basis so was able to catch and correct them.  I have enough left overs of the mini-skeins that I might work a couple of rows of each color in the reverse order after I finish with skein 1, just cause.

Pattern:  Celadon by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep  Kiri
 Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Tea Party Celadon - Done!

I also finished up my Tea Party Celadon before Christmas, but never got around to posting.  Getting a good picture was a bit of a challenge - the shawl is 8 feet long.

Pattern:  Celadon by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep  Rare Breed and Sparkle
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Nature's Gem Celadon - Skeins 8 & 7 Done

For the second day of visiting in Florida I pulled this project out of my "backup" project bag.  I was having second thoughts on the other projects that I had started using the Unique Sheep Advent Calendar yarn so put those aside.  This is why I bring plenty of knitting with me.  When I ran the numbers on the quantity of yarn in the contrast skeins I determined that I should make the switch at row 89 of the Second increase section.  This would give me roughly equal amounts of the speckled yarn at both ends of the shawl.  But as I was working the pattern I noticed that the second increase section only goes to 104 rows, which isn't very far when you're working garter stitch, so I decided to wait and start the contrast skeins with the decrease, as the pattern actually calls for.  I am also working the skeins from 8 to 1 instead of from 1 to 8.  This is my first time using Kiri in any quantity and I really love it.  It has a great feel.

Pattern:  Celadon by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep  Kiri
 Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Tea Party Celadon - Skeins 4, 5 & 6 Done

Fortunately I never have to worry about colors going together with the Unique Sheep.  Having finished up the Craftvent shawl I've been able to devote myself to my Tea Party Celadon, pretty much finishing a skein each night.  I am now ready to go back to skein 1.  I'm looking forward to finishing this one and starting my Nature's Gem Celadon.  These are fun to knit, and fun to wear.

Pattern:  Celadon by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep  Rare Breed and Sparkle
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Tea Party Celadon - Skein 3 Done

Being all caught up with my Craftvent knitting meant that I could work on another project, so I finished up skein 3 on my Tea Party Celadon shawl.  I like these shawls because they really show off the yarns.  I wore my Hurricane Watch Myndie this past Friday to work as a scarf/shawl and I really like the colors.  At one point I had it around my shoulders and I just knotted the ends together to keep it in place and the color combination of the knot was just lovely.  I may end up doing more of these kinds of shawls for my Unique Sheep Advent Calendar skeins, just because they are super easy to knit and they let the yarn be the star.

Pattern:  Celadon by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep  Rare Breed and Sparkle
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Tea Party Celadon - Skein 2 Done

I spent some time yesterday working on my Tea Party Celadon, finishing up skein 2 and starting skein 3.  It was nice to get back to a predictable project that I have planned out and simply have to execute.

Pattern:  Celadon by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep  Rare Breed and Sparkle
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Tea Party Celadon - Skein 1

After I finished up my Turkey Trot Kallara I started working on my Tea Party Celadon.  I had created a spreadsheet for Celadon and realized that I had enough yarn in the Tea Party set to make Celadon instead of Kallara.

Pattern:  Celadon by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep  Rare Breed and Sparkle
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)
 
I have several more Ambah projects lined up.  After I finish this Celadon I'll make another one using the 10th Anniversary set.

But before I get to that project I'll be using the neutral speckle skein as my Color 1 for Ambah's Adventurous Wrap.  I ordered an Advent kit from The Unique Sheep, but it only has 24 colors and the design calls for 25.  Well, actually there are two versions of the design, the B version uses 12 contrast skeins and 600 yards of the main color, which tempted me to try to figure out how to do two shawls with my 24 skeins.  But I resisted.  I will have enough going on next month as it is.  Here is the Advent Kit.

I also recently purchased three of the Autumn Trio sets and the Santa Rosa set, and three of the four sets are earmarked for Ambah patterns.

This first one I'm going to use to make another Liken by Sivia Harding.  I love that shawl, as I've modified it to be a cape.

This set will become Xanthe, by Ambah O'Brien.  I'll use the speckle and the red for the stripes and the green for the lace.

This set I will split up.  I'll use the green and purple skeins for Marinna by Ambah O'Brien.

The gold skein I'll use for the pop skein with the Santa Rosa trio in another Bambara Wrap, also by Ambah O'Brien.