Lion's Mane Cowl - Finished!

I finished this up on this past Monday, but haven't been able to get a decent picture in natural light until today.  I found errors on rows 75 and 77 and ended up recharting that section of the pattern through to the end, and in the process also expanded the pattern to use all of my yarn.  I didn't quite make it through all of my expanded charts - I ended up jumping to the last 6 rows part way through my expansion, but it all came out fine.  I debated wet blocking because I knew that it would really change the drape and the loft of the finished fabric.  I tried it on before I blocked it and it was a fair bit smaller - the opening for the neck narrower and it stood up.  I like things with a little more drape so I went ahead and dunked it and then just laid it out on the blocking board, moving it to the sweater drying rack (with the open mesh to speed drying) the next day.  I like the way it opens up the lace, and the cables are still there, just not quite as pronounced.  I couldn't resist a quick picture of it laid out on our freshly fallen snow - the first snowfall of the season.

It really shows off the lovely colors.


Pattern:  Lion's Mane Cowl by Amy Loberg
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Sushi Socks in Sunny Side Up
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm), US 6 (4.0 mm), US 7 (4.5 mm)

Lion's Mane Cowl - Sections Five and Six Done

I worked on this project most of Christmas Day down in Florida.  After I finished up Section 5 I had my step-daughter model it for a quick picture.

When I finished up Section 6, I took a quick shot of it on the hotel bed.

This morning I took a picture on my dress maker dummy (top photo).  At this point I had a decision to make, I knew that I would have a fair bit of yarn left over if I work the pattern as written, almost an entire skein, in fact, and I had to decide how I wanted to add to the existing pattern.  I knew that I wanted to repeat a section of the chart, but the real question was where to work in the repeat.  I could repeat a section that has increases, but then I will have to modify the subsequent charts to account for the extra stitches.  That would also be riskier when it comes to yarn usage, and I would have to do some calculations to make sure that I wouldn't run out.  And after all that effort I might find that what I wanted to do wouldn't work with the yarn amount that I have.  The easiest way to increase the pattern is to repeat rows 85-94, which is probably what I will end up doing.


Pattern:  Lion's Mane Cowl by Amy Loberg
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Sushi Socks in Sunny Side Up
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm), US 6 (4.0 mm), US 7 (4.5 mm)

Lion's Mane Cowl - Four Sections Done

I finished up the fourth section this afternoon.  The increases have started and I put it on 32 inch circulars.  This section increased the stitch count by 2 stitches per repeat, the next section of the chart increases the stitch count by 14 stitches in each repeat.

Pattern:  Lion's Mane Cowl by Amy Loberg
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Sushi Socks in Sunny Side Up
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm), US 6 (4.0 mm), US 7 (4.5 mm)

Lion's Mane Cowl - Three Sections Done

I finished up the third section this morning.  You can already see the effect of the increasing needle size, mostly in the increase in the circumference, although you can see it in the stitch size if you look for it.  I think this one will need a gentle blocking to keep the texture.  This next section starts the increases, I will probably put it on a longer cord when I finish the fourth section and before I start the fifth section.  I used up all of my first skein and started on the second skein during this section - the gradiance is subtle so the change is not easily spotted.


Pattern:  Lion's Mane Cowl by Amy Loberg
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Sushi Socks in Sunny Side Up
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm), US 6 (4.0 mm), US 7 (4.5 mm)

Lion's Mane Cowl - One Section Done

Casting on for this project distracted me from my Craftvent Shawl last week.  This is the other project that I am gifting this Christmas - or I should say the original yarn and pattern for this project.  This is the Lion's Mane Cowl also by Amy Loberg.  When I was going through my stash in pursuit of the original yarn - I spotted this gradiance set and realized that it would be perfect for this project.

The colorway is Sunny Side Up and the yarn base is Sushi Socks, which I haven't used in a garment before, although I have used it in the Crochet Block Club.  The yarn is 60% Merino, 30% Bamboo and 10% Nylon.  The chart is all one piece, but when I set it up in knitCompanion I broke it up into sections where the markers shift.  Yes, I am actually using markers on this one.  These are the markers that came with the Jimmy Beans Craftvent Calendar.  The pattern calls for knitting the first 24 chart rows with US 5 and then switching to US 7 needles.  I am switching to US 6 needles after the first 12 chart rows, and will switch to US 7 needles when the pattern calls for.

Pattern:  Lion's Mane Cowl by Amy Loberg
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Sushi Socks in Sunny Side Up
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm), US 6 (4.0 mm), US 7 (4.5 mm)

Dragon Tooth Shawlette - Finished!

I finished the knitting this past Monday, and even got it on the blocking board before I went to bed.  I was able to get some beauty shots today.

I like styling small shawls this way.  I've worn larger lace weight triangular shawls over one shoulder, tying the ends at the waist, but I've not worn a shawlette this way.  It would like nice with a shawl pin or a broach at the shoulder.

Pattern:  Dragon Tooth Shawlette by Amy Loberg
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Squooshy in Twilight
Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Dragon Tooth Shawlette - Lace Patterning Done

This project has been my mostly mindless project for the past week.  It has been nice to have a project that didn't require me to do any math or figure out any modifications or deal with any color changes.  I did find a mistake in the chart.  Row 9 starts k2, ssk, and then you purl across till you get to the last 4 stitches, which should be k2tog, k2, but on the chart it has k2tog, p2.  I forgot that k2tog on 2 of the 4 repeats and didn't realize it until I was working the first row of the next repeat.  I fixed it by just working a k3tog on that row instead of the k2tog as the pattern called for.  I can't spot the difference, and that is all that matters.  Now all I have to do are the short rows to shape the shawl into more of a crescent.

Pattern:  Dragon Tooth Shawlette by Amy Loberg
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Squooshy in Twilight
Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Dragon Tooth Shawlette - Cast On

Yesterday Bruce and I were out running a couple of local errands and we were talking about Christmas presents.  We don't do much in the way of presents.  We have a small family gathering with his side of the family in St. Augustine, where is mom lives, so we only have to get a handful of presents, well 6 to be exact.  For his mom, son and brother we're going to get something practical, but for his daughter, daughter in law and sister in law I thought I would raid my stash and my jewelry box.  Two projects immediately came to mind for his daughter and sister in law - both knitters.  Both projects are ones that I had gotten the yarn for without first looking at the yarn content.  They call for the same yarn type, and it is 50/50 wool/alpaca.  I don't do alpaca, it makes my hands feel funny, almost like I'm about to have an allergic reaction, but I never handle it long enough to get there.  So when we got back from our errands I tracked down the yarn.  One set had been entered into my stash, but the other one hadn't so I had to dig that one out of the "to be stashed" pile.  I went ahead and caked it up, printed out the patterns and packed up a couple of gift bags.  I'll probably gift them the pdfs via Ravelry.

But, while I was doing that it occurred to me that I had the perfect yarn for one of the patterns sitting out on my project table in my studio.  The yarn is Squooshy by Zen Yarn Garden and I had pulled all the skeins in my stash out when I was looking for yarns for multi-colored shawls.  So I caked that skein up and loaded the pattern into knitCompanion and cast on.  It is one of those one skein shawlettes that you knit from the bottom edge up, so you have to cast on a lot of stitches.  I like a long tail cast on, and don't like working from both ends of the skein at the same time (tried that once on another project), and I'm reasonably good at estimating how much yarn I will need, and I don't mind taking more than one try to get there.  I came up just a little short on the first go, but easily made it the second.  I also looked through my stash and think I've found yarn for the other project.  Even though I have a couple of other WIPs going I wanted something small, easy and reasonably quick to knit.  This pattern was inspired by the show Game of Thrones.

Pattern:  Dragon Tooth Shawlette by Amy Loberg
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Squooshy in Twilight
Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)