Rapunzel & Rapunzel Redux - Finished!

Rapunzel I finished up back on May 27, as part of the test knit.

Rapunzel Redux was finished on September 8, but it took me a while to get beauty shots.

Pattern:  Rapunzel Shawl by Janine Le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Rapunzel and Rapunzel Redux - Clue 9

The penultimate clue, clue 9, came out this past Friday so here is a picture of my clue 9 from the test knit.

And here is Rapunzel Redux.

For clues 7-10 the modifications are really pretty minor.  For the right side wings, all I have to do is delete the first stitch after the k2, yo at the beginning of the row, and the last stitch before the final yo at the end of the row.  Similarly, for the left side wings, all I have to do is delete the first stitch after the initial yo, and the last stitch before the final yo, k2.  It is fun and easy with charts, but equally doable from the written.  After deleting the stitches in question I then looked at the stitches next door to make sure that I didn't mess up a lace pattern.  There are only 2 rows where I need to make additional modifications, rows 239 and 249.

Right hand wing - chart 9 modifications:
Row 239: the stitch I deleted at the start of the row after the (k2, yo) is a k2tog, so I will knit the yo that goes with it.
Row 249: deleting a stitch at the end of the row before the final yo results in two yarn overs next to each other, so I will replace the final k2tog, yo with k2.
Left hand wing - chart 9 modifications:
Row 239: the stitch I deleted at the end of the row before the final yo is a ssk, so I will knit the yo that goes with it.
Row 249: deleting a stitch at the start of the row after the (k2, yo) results in two yarn overs next to each other, so I will replace that first yo, ssk with k2.


Pattern:  Rapunzel Shawl by Janine Le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Rapunzel and Rapunzel Redux - Clue 8

Clue 8 came out this morning, so first up a picture of my test knit.

And my Redux version.

I'm working the final 4 clues (7-10) without skipping anything because of the way the motifs play out.  The only modification I have to make at this point is getting rid of one stitch after the first yarn over and one stitch before the last yarn over on the wing charts.  In knitCompanion I color those stitches gray, and use the row number to search on to set up the new stitch in magic markers, then I can just pick what I want, and not have to screw up any of my other magic markers.  Once I color those stitches gray I de-select the original stitches and make any other modifications necessary to make everything work out.

Right wing chart 8 modifications:
Row 219: the removal of the stitch before the last yarn over results in 2 yarn overs next to each other, so I replaced the final k2tog, yo with k2.
Row 225: the removal of the stitch before the last yarn over results in the removal of a ssk, so I replaced the yo that goes with that ssk with k1.
Row 229: the removal of the stitch after the first yarn over results in 2 yarn overs next to each other, so I replaced that first yo, ssk with k2.
Row 231: the removal of the stitch after the first yarn over results in 2 yarn overs next to each other, so I replaced that first yo, ssk with k2.
Row 233: the removal of the stitch after the first yarn over results in 2 yarn overs next to each other, so I replaced both of the yo, ssk with k4. I didn’t want that lone yo, ssk hanging out there. This also makes the starting and ending motifs more symmetrical.

Left wing chart 8 modifications:
Row 219: the removal of the stitch after the first yarn over results in 2 yarn overs next to each other, so I replaced the first yo, ssk with k2.
Row 225: the removal of the stitch after the first yarn over results in the removal of a k2tog, so I replaced the yo that goes with that k2tog with k1.
Row 229: the removal of the stitch before the last yarn over results in 2 yarn overs next to each other, so I replaced that last k2tog, yo with k2.
Row 231: the removal of the stitch before the last yarn over results in 2 yarn overs next to each other, so I replaced that last k2tog, yo with k2.
Row 233: the removal of the stitch before the last yarn over results in 2 yarn overs next to each other, so I replaced both of the k2tog, yo with k4. I didn’t want that lone k2tog, yo hanging out there. This also makes the starting and ending motifs more symmetrical.

Pattern:  Rapunzel Shawl by Janine Le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Rapunzel Redux - Clue 7

Apparently I forgot to take a picture of clue 7 when I was working my test knit.  The pictures in my folder go from Rapunzel 6 to Rapunzel 8.  No Rapunzel 7.  Fortunately, there is not much difference between the original and my Redux version.  Now, on to the modifications.

I only knit 4 rows of the clue 6 wing charts, so now I have to line things up for the clue 7 wing charts.

To get the motifs to line up correctly it is important to note that, on the right side wing, the yarn over of the first (k2tog, yo) lines up with the center of the 3 stitches between the (k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk) of the previous row, and that the k2tog uses the first 2 stitches of that k3. If you count that out on your knitting you will find that you have 1 fewer stitch than the original pattern calls for at the beginning of the row. If you go to the end of the wing and count you will find that you also have 1 fewer stitch at the end of the row.

The easiest thing to do to make the modification is to just get rid of one stitch at the beginning (after the k2, yo) and one stitch at the end (before the final yo) of each wing chart row. I just colored those stitches gray in knitCompanion, as a “no stitch”.  If you're working from paper charts, you can just color those stitches in with a pencil.  If you’re working from the written, you can simply reduce the number of knit stitches at the beginning and end of the wing charts by 1.  Simple edits.

Once you do that, you need to look at the pattern and see if you need to change anything else. For this chart, the only thing that needs changing is at the end of row 115 on the right side wing chart, and the beginning of row 115 on the left side wing chart. When you delete that knit stitch you end up with 2 yarn overs right next to each other - which I just do not want to deal with. But, if I don’t work that yarn over, I also have to not work the decrease that goes with it. I will just knit those stitches.
That means that for row 115 I will end the right side wing chart k4, yo and begin the left side wing chart yo, k4.

Don’t forget to keep working the center charts without skipping any rows or charts. The modifications only apply to the wing charts.

Pattern:  Rapunzel Shawl by Janine Le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Rapunzel and Rapunzel Redux - Clue 6

Clue 6 of Rapunzel came out this past Friday.  Above is a picture of my test knit.  For my Rapunzel Redux version I wanted to skip most of clue 6, but I couldn't skip all of it because I needed to make sure I was set up for working clue 7.  If you look at the wing charts for clue 6, you can see that rows 173 and 195 have the same motif, so I worked rows 171-174 of the wing charts, along with the first 2 rows of the center chart from clue 5.  The modifications to the wing charts were very straight forward. I still have 2 extra stitches at the beginning and end of each of the wing chart rows, so I just inserted those 2 stitches into the pattern.

Right wing chart 6 modifications:
Row 171: k2, yo, k4, continue pattern as established, end k5, yo
Row 173: k2, yo, k6, continue pattern as established, end k7, yo

Left wing chart 6 modifications:
Row 171: yo, k5, continue pattern as established, end k4, yo, k2
Row 173: yo, k7, continue pattern as established, end k6, yo, k2

Pattern:  Rapunzel Shawl by Janine Le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Rapunzel and Rapunzel Redux - Clue 5

First a shot of the unmodified pattern.

Now, on to Rapunzel Redux.
When you are modifying a lace pattern there are two very important aspects to understand - there are horizontal repeats, dictated by how many stitches you have in your piece and how many stitches the motif requires and there are vertical repeats, dictated by how many rows the motif requires.  In modifying Rapunzel into Rapunzel Redux I am, obviously, affecting both.

As you may recall, I worked chart 1 and half of chart 2 before switching to chart 3.  This left me with only 5 repeats of the flower instead of 6 and only 103 stitches in each wing, instead of 121.  I already know that I'm going to have to shift the motif in the chart 5 wings in order to make everything line up.  I have two more stitches at the beginning and end of each row when I compare the last row of the chart 3 wings with the last row of the chart 4 wings.  If you look at row 147-153 of the chart 5 right side wing you will see that the final repeat of the motif butts up against the edge of the chart, similarly, on the chart 5 left side wing the first repeat of the motif butts up against the edge of the chart.  And, if you look at rows 155-169 the end of the chart 5 right side wing and the beginning of the chart 5 left side wing deviates from the established motif because there are not enough stitches in the original pattern to finish out that last repeat.  In fact, you would need two more stitches at that point in order to finish out that last repeat, which is exactly how many extra stitches I have.

There is one other slight adjustment I'm going to make.  On rows 149 and 163 the right side chart 5 wing starts out with k2, yo, k2, yo ssk and the left side chart 5 wing ends with k2tog, yo, k2, yo, k2. Because I have two extra stitches at the beginning and end I am going to extend that motif down into rows 147 and 161.

So here is how it works out when I make all of my modifications:
Chart 5 right side wing modifications:
Row 147: k2, yo, k2, ssk, yo, k7 - work pattern as set to last 4 stitches - end k3, yo
Row 149: k2, yo, k4 - work pattern as set to last 4 stitches - end k3, yo
Row 151: k2, yo, k6 - work pattern as set to last 4 stitches - end k3, yo
Row 153: k2, yo, k8 - work pattern as set to last 4 stitches - end k3, yo
Row 155: k2, yo, k10 - work pattern as set to last 5 stitches - end yo, sk2p, yo, k2, yo
Row 157: k2, yo, k9 - work pattern as set to last 5 stitches - end k2, yo, ssk, k1, yo
Row 159: k2, yo, k9 - work pattern as set to last 5 stitches - end k2, yo, ssk, k1, yo
Row 161: k2, yo, k2, yo, ssk, k5 - work pattern as set to last 5 stitches - end k2, yo, ssk, k1, yo
Row 163: k2, yo, k4 - work pattern as set to last 5 stitches - end k2, yo, ssk, k1, yo
Row 165: k2, yo, k6 - work pattern as set to last 5 stitches - end k2, yo, ssk, k1, yo
Row 169: k2, yo, k8 - work pattern as set to last 5 stitches - end k2tog, yo, k3, yo

Chart 5 left side wing modifications:
Row 147: yo, k3 - work pattern as set - end k7, k2tog, yo, k2, yo, k2
Row 149: yo, k3 - work pattern as set - end k4, yo, k2
Row 151: yo, k3 - work pattern as set - end k6, yo, k2
Row 153: yo, k3 - work pattern as set - end k8, yo, k2
Row 155: yo, k2, yo, sk2p, yo instead of yo, k2, k2tog, yo - work pattern as set - end k10, yo, k2
Row 157: yo, k1, k2tog, yo, k3, instead of yo, k1, k2tog, yo - continue pattern as set - end k9, yo, k2
Row 159: yo, k1, k2tog, k5 instead of yo, k1, k2tog, k3 - continue pattern as set - k9, yo, k2
Row 161: yo, k1, k2tog, k3, instead of yo, k1, k2tog, yo, k1 -continue pattern as set - end k5, yo, k2tog, k2, yo, k2
Row 163: yo, k1, k2tog, k3, instead of yo, k1, k2tog, yo, k1 - continue pattern as set - end k4, yo, k2
Row 165: yo, k1, k2tog, k3, instead of yo, k1, k2tog, yo, k1 - continue pattern as set - end k6, yo, k2
Row 167: yo, k1, k2tog, k3, instead of yo, k1, k2tog, yo, k1 - continue pattern as set - end k8, yo, k2
Row 169: yo, k3, yo, ssk, instead of yo, k1, k2tog, yo, k1 - continue pattern as set - end k8, yo, k2

And here is how it looks :
Right side wing:

Left side wing:

Pattern:  Rapunzel Shawl by Janine Le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Rapunzel - Clue 4

Here is clue 4 of Rapunzel.  I'm skipping clue 4 on my Rapunzel Redux, picking things up again when I get to clue 5.

If you compare the last rows of the wing charts of clue 3 and clue 4 you will notice that they are almost identical. They both have the same lace motif of k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk, k9. Where they differ is how many knit stitches they have at the beginning and end of the rows, and how many times the motif is repeated.

For the right side, clue 3 starts out with k11 and ends with k3 while clue 4 starts out with k9 and ends with a k1.

For the left side, clue 3 starts out with the k3 and ends with the k11 while clue 4 starts out with the k1 and ends with the k9.

Two things are going on here - the start of the motif shifts over 2 stitches to the right, that is it starts earlier, and there are more repeats of the motif.  At the end of clue 3 on my Redux version there are 103 stitches in each of the wings, while in the original version there are 121 stitches in each of the wings.  And at the end of clue 4 in the original version there are 149 stitches in each of the wings.

So this is where we get to have some fun and get a little creative. All we have to do when we start up again with clue 5 is make sure that our motifs line up by adjusting the number of stitches we knit at the beginning, and then making sure that we mirror those adjustments when we work the left side. We will also have to make some adjustments at the end of the row for the right side wing and the beginning of the row for the left side wing, but I’ll leave that discussion till next time.

Pattern:  Rapunzel Shawl by Janine Le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Rapunzel and Rapunzel Redux - Clue 3

Here is the third clue of Rapunzel.

And here is my Rapunzel Redux.

I only have 6 plaits of the braid, instead of 7, and only 5 repeats of the flower, instead of 6.  I only worked about half of clue 2 and all of clue 3.  Not a whole lot smaller, yet.  I'll be skipping clue 4 on my Redux version.

Pattern:  Rapunzel Shawl by Janine Le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Rapunzel and Rapunzel Redux - Clue 2

First, a picture of Rapunzel clue 2.  As I was working clue 1 of my Rapunzel Redux I went back and forth on how many rows of clue 2 I wanted to knit.  In deciding how to modify the shawl and make it smaller it really helps to read charts.  Looking at the clue 2 wings you can see that the motif in the final row (row 85) is the same as the motifs in rows 53, 61, 69 and 77, so I should be able to stop after working any of those rows (plus the wrong side return row).  Originally I was going to stop after row 53, then I thought about just working the entire clue, and then I decided to split the difference and stop after row 69 (plus the wrong side return row).

Pattern:  Rapunzel Shawl by Janine Le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Rapunzel and Rapunzel Redux - Clue 1

The latest Unique Sheep Mystery Knit Along started yesterday - Rapunzel.  Above is the first clue from my test knit.  I am also knitting along doing a live hack to make a smaller version of the shawl.  The original is big.  Instead of a 4-skein shawl set (1260 yards), it uses a 5-skein shawl set (1575 yards).

I picked Black Day Lily on Eos for my test knit.  Eos is a silk/wool blend, but the wool dominates and it is one of my favorite lace weight yarns.  I've been wanting to knit something with this colorway for a while.  I used gold iridescent beads from my stash.

For my Rapunzel Redux I pulled a 4-skein set of Eos from voluminous stash - Sunset Road.

I decided to add extra beads on my second version.

I added beads to all of the double decreases in the wings.  I am again using beads from my stash - silver lined gold.  They are a little hard to pick out because they blend with the color of this skein - but wait until I get to the dark skein...

Pattern:  Rapunzel Shawl by Janine Le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

La Belle et La Bete - Unique Sheep MKAL

Last summer we did La Belle et La Bete - inspired by Beauty and the Beast.  As it was summer, the shawl is in lace weight.  This was a fun knit.  The construction is a little unusual, and caused a fair bit of consternation in the group.  We started out working the central medallion (the rose) in the round, and then we worked wings off the top two sides of the diamond.  I used US 4 needles when working in the round, and switched to US 3 needles once I started working back and forth.

When I saw the design and the charts I knew that it could take bolder colors so I picked Tulip Festival on Eos (my favorite Unique Sheep lace weight base).

There was an option to save one color for the border, but I decided to use my yarn more evenly, so my wing tips are darker and match my border.

The colors of my finished shawl reminded me of India, so I dubbed her "Bollywood Belle".

Pattern:  La Belle et La Bete by Janine Le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Tulip Festival
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm) and US 4 (3.5 mm)

The Unique Sheep Mystery Knit Alongs

It has been a long time since I've posted about The Unique Sheep Mystery Knit Alongs.  I started test knitting for the MKALs back in the fall of 2014, and it just seemed kind of strange to blog about the project so long after it was done.  After The Once and Future King, in the summer of 2015, we did Wrinkle in Time in the Fall of 2015.  The colorway is Silverlode on Luxe, with a little bit of gold for the bind off because I ran short of yarn.

And then Heidi in the Spring of 2016.  This shawl ended up going home with my sister Virginia.  She put it on with this elegant black dress and it just looked so great on her with her white hair.  The colorway is Wild Blue Lupine on Selene.

Next we did The Velveteen Rabbit in the Fall of 2016.  This was the first time I used a 12 skein set.  These are pretty cool because the colors wrap - they are a circle and you can start anywhere in the circle and go in either direction.  The colorway is Enchanted Garden on Luxe.

Here is the yarn in skeins.

Our most recent MKAL was The House at Pooh Corner.  I used another 12 skein set - Realm of the Faeries on Nimbus.

Our next MKAL is Beauty and the Beast.  It begins on August 25.  I have my yarn and will soon begin the test knit.  I'm using Tulip Festival on Eos.  I think the bold colorway will work well with the pattern construction.

All the Colors of Fall - Finished at last!

I started this shawl on June 28, 2014 and it has been languishing, rather stylishly, in an Atenti knitting bag underneath my coffee table.  I had to set my Elizabeth Woodville aside this weekend while I wait for buttons to arrive so I pulled out this project, determined to finish.  I had gotten just past the halfway point of the second border when I put it aside.  I pulled it out Friday night and finished it up late Saturday afternoon, blocking it before dinner.

I love this blocking picture because my cat Jasmine got her tail in the picture.

I used size 6 beads on the spine and in the second border - they were leftover from my Maid Marian shawl and are a wonderful plum color.  The label says Metallic Amethyst Gunmetal.  For inside the hearts on the first border I used size 8 beads from my stash.  The Beadcats stock no. is 2-08-280-91 - and the catalog description is dark red transparent lined with black iridescent.  They remind me of maple leaves in fall.  I also had some Small Curved Leaves in my stash in a color that was just perfect, which I used on the points of the border - threading them before knitting (royal pain, but oh the results!).  The Beadcats stock no. is N-L7-523-00 - and the catalog description is olive transparent.

Here is a close up of the leaves.

Pattern:  Watership Down by Janine le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Moulin Huet
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Evenstar Cape - Finished!

I finished up my Evenstar Cape last weekend, blocked it Tuesday morning and had Bruce take a picture Tuesday afternoon.  According to knitCompanion it took me 101.5 hours.  Not too bad.  I have never used the project time before, but decided to check it out after seeing some posts about it on the knitCompanion forum on Ravelry.  My modifications are available as a free Ravelry download - Evenstar Cape.  At the time I am writing this post it has been downloaded 116 times.

Pattern:  Evenstar Shawl by Susan Pandorf, converted into a cape
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Midnight Delight
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Evenstar Cape - Border Progress

I have been working away on the border of my Evenstar Cape.  I did modify the original border pattern a fair bit, adding a two-stitch garter stitch edge, which helps the dagger beads lay better.  I also slip the first stitch of the wrong side rows, changed the slant of the decreases after the point and only have two rows of beads.  The down side of having those dagger beads pre-strung on the yarn is that you have to pause regularly to slide them further along the yarn.  I have to be careful when sliding the beads to minimize the stress that I put on the yarn, so I slide them in groups of 5 or 6.  The up side of having those dagger beads pre-strung is you have a ready made progress indicator.  I am almost half-way done with the border and last night I shifted everything to a shorter circular needle.  I had been working on a 40 inch, but it was starting to get a little annoying.  Now I am working on a 24 inch.  It bunches up the shawl stitches, but makes things easier to handle.

Pattern:  Evenstar Shawl by Susan Pandorf, converted into a cape
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Midnight Delight
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Evenstar Cape - Chart 3 Done!

It is amazing to me how quickly this shawl is working up compared to how long it took me to make my first Evenstar.  I suppose a lot of that has to do with experience.  When I knit the Evenstar shawl as part of the Mystery Knit Along (back in 2010!) I had only knit 5 other shawls and it was my first time using pure silk lace weight yarn.  It took me almost 4 1/2 months to complete.  This time around it will probably take me less than 2 months.  In other big news, today I published all of my modifications to Ravelry as a free download, with the permission of the original designer.  There is not enough detail in my modifications file to knit the pattern without the original pattern as I don't include all of the charts.  I do include my modified Chart 2 that shifts the start of that chart to make it symmetrical and I also include a modified Border chart.

Pattern:  Evenstar Shawl by Susan Pandorf, converted into a cape
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Midnight Delight
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Evenstar Cape - Chart 3 - 48 Rows Done

Twenty-four rows, of 567 stitches each, in two days must be some kind of record, at least for me.  The nice thing is that I've made it through all of the twisted rib rows, so now my wrong side rows are just easy purls.

Pattern:  Evenstar Shawl by Susan Pandorf, converted into a cape
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Midnight Delight
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Evenstar Cape - Chart 3 - 24 rows Done

I finished up the first 24 rows of Chart 3 today.  When this was done as a mystery knit along this chart was broken up into 3, with this being the first part.  I thought it would be a long horrible slog repeating those same 4 rows 6 times, but it really wasn't that bad.  I started Chart 3 on the 29th of August, so it only took me one week.  Every evening I would work a couple of rows, although I usually didn't make it through a complete repeat.  When you look at a pattern like this you think that it must take forever, but it really doesn't, especially if you break it up into reasonable chunks and just focus on making steady progress.

Pattern:  Evenstar Shawl by Susan Pandorf, converted into a cape
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Midnight Delight
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Evenstar Cape - Chart 2 Done

I finished up Chart 2 yesterday afternoon and figured out the increase for Chart 3.  The beauty of my modification to Chart 2 meant that I didn't have to shift Chart 3 to get things to line up (in the original pattern the beginning of round marker is shifted 10 stitches before beginning Chart 3).  It really makes me wonder about the original design process.  At this point there really isn't any more figuring to do until I get to the border, but at 567 stitches per row, that is going to take a little while.

Once again, I have an extra stitch at the end of the row because there are seven rows where the motif wraps across the beginning of the round.  On the other rows I work the last stitch the same as I work the first stitch to maintain the symmetry.  The increase row was a little bit different - I knit 3, then (k1, yo) to the last 4 stitches, knit 4.

I switched to my second skein towards the end of this chart, using up all of my first skein before switching.

Chart 3 is a long slog, so I'm breaking it up by working on some of my other works in progress.

Pattern:  Evenstar Shawl by Susan Pandorf, converted into a cape
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Midnight Delight
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Once and Future King - Finished!

The final clue came out this past Friday so the finished shawls are starting to appear on Ravelry.  This is the part that I love the most - seeing the same pattern knit up in all the different colorways.  That is something that I think is unique to our Mystery Knit Alongs.

This shawl was my first time grafting lace weight yarn.  I did okay, although I need to work on the consistency of my tension - it was a little loose, but that is probably better than being too tight.

Here is a blocking picture.

And another beauty shot.

You could add length by repeating the motif in the center, and I think it would be interesting to knit it from the center out using a provisional cast on.  I have created reversed charts, just in case I feel like doing that sometime.


Pattern:  The Once and Future King by Janine le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Roi Soleil
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)