Falling Leaves Shrug - Pattern Released!

The pattern is now live on Ravelry.  You can find it here:  Falling Leaves Shrug.

Falling Leaves Shrug - Finished!

 

I finished up my Falling Leaves Shrug this week and finally got some beauty shots this afternoon.

Now I just have to finish writing up the pattern and release it!

Pattern:  Falling Leaves Shrug by Carolyn Blakelock
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Verve in Verdandi
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Falling Leaves Shrug - Knitting Done (mostly)

I finished up the knitting and the shrug is blocking before I join the edges and then bind off the rest.  I used up all of my yarn and the remains of skein 6 from my Verdandi test knit.  I'll scale things back a little when I finish writing up the pattern, but also put in some instructions for adjusting the size.  Now I have to get back to my sample knit and pattern write up for Biscotte.

Pattern:  Falling Leaves Shrug by Carolyn Blakelock
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Verve in Verdandi
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Falling Leaves Shrug - Skein 3 Side 1

I finished up skein 3 on the first side this week and have just started skein 4.  I'm getting some interesting pooling instead of the more typical striping that occurs when knitting a narrower piece.  It is a real challenge getting a good picture, the knitting tends to scrunch and I can't stretch it out too much for fear of the stitches coming off the needles.  This was the best that I could do today.

Pattern:  Falling Leaves Shrug by Carolyn Blakelock
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Verve in Verdandi
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Falling Leaves Shrug - Central Panel Done

I finished up the central panel tonight.  Not the best picture, but I had to use flash.  I did 26 repeats of the Lattice Lace chart, which equates to 313 rows.  When I did the first pick-up in the side loops I picked up 157 stitches.  I still have a few feet of skein 1 left.  I'll join the second skein and work the increase row, and then figure out the numbers for the Falling Leaves chart.  I'm going to have to modify the chart to be adaptable depending upon the number of stitches picked up.

Pattern:  Falling Leaves Shrug by Carolyn Blakelock
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Verve in Verdandi
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Falling Leaves Shrug - Central Panel Started

After swatching on Friday I cast on the central panel on Saturday.  The lace pattern is from a stitch library, but it was only given as written directions, so the first thing I had to do was chart it.  This wasn't quite as simple as it sounds as the stitch count varies.  When I charted it just based upon the written instructions the chart didn't really look like what was coming out in the knitting.  After working the pattern for a few repeats I realized what was going on and was able to add in the non-knit stitches in the appropriate places to make the chart look like the knitting.  I was pretty well chuffed with myself for figuring it out.  My plan is to basically use up the entire skein for the center panel, but in the pattern I'm including directions for adjusting the size and figuring out what you can do with the yarn that you have.

Pattern:  Falling Leaves Shrug by Carolyn Blakelock
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Verve in Verdandi
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Falling Leaves Shrug - Swatching Lace

The really exciting development is that I'm working on a design.  The basic construction is inspired by the Traveling Shawl pattern, but I wanted to do it in lace, and a Unique Sheep Gradiance.  I've been looking for suitable lace motifs for a little while now, and finally found them this week.  Interestingly enough, I found them in the very first knitting book that I bought How to Knit by Debbie Bliss.  I pulled my copy out to give to a friend that wants to learn, and ordered another copy for myself after leafing through it and reminding myself what a nice book it is.  Last night I pulled out my bag of leftover balls of Verve yarn and knit up a sample.

There were a couple of things I was figuring out - the biggest was how to work the pick for the lace panels that come off the sides of the central panel.  The bottom panel was knit after picking up a stitch for every other row (one stitch per slipped stitch side loop).  That was obviously too tight.  When I started the top panel I initially picked up two stitches in each side loop - knit-front-back - but after working a couple of rows it was obvious that there would be too many stitches to block out properly so I frogged and redid the start.  This time I did an initial pick up of one stitch per side loop, then on the return wrong side row I increased every other stitch, but using the knit-front-slip-back.  I also played around with my double decreases.  I like the central-double-decrease as it gives a more distinct line.  I'm not sure if I'm going to include any beads.

The yarn I'm going to use is the first shipment for The Unique Sheep's Mythical Shawls Club.  I had done the test knit and didn't feel like knitting the shawl again, but I love the colorway, and it was, in fact, part of the inspiration for this design.

Pattern:  Falling Leaves Shrug by Carolyn Blakelock
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Verve in Verdandi
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)