Saltwater Taffy - Myndie / Kallara Mashup

Earlier this month I restarted the Saltwater Taffy using the Myndie pattern, but as I neared the first switch I knew I would have more yarn left over than I wanted to, and I wanted to end up with a shawl bigger than Myndie.  So this past weekend I restarted it using the Kallara pattern, but I'm not really happy with that one either.

I like the look of the eyelets from Myndie, but I want the size of Kallara so I decided to do a bit of a mashup.  I've modified the Myndie pattern to work more increases.  These shawls are pretty simple in their construction.  There are two increase sections and two decrease sections.  The first increase section has increases on both sides of the central double decrease.  The second increase section has increases only on one side of the central double decrease.  The first decrease section has decreases only one side of the central double decrease and the second decrease has decreases on both sides until you run out of stitches.  To make Myndie larger I will work more increase sections and more decrease sections, using the stitch counts from Kallara as a guide.

So, instead of working 8 repeats of increase section 1, I will work 10 repeats, which will give me 70 stitches at that point instead of 58.  I will then work 14 repeats of increase section 2 instead of 10, which will give me 117 stitches instead of 97.  On the other side, I will work 24 repeats of decrease section 1, instead of 20 and 18 repeats of decrease section 2 instead of 16.

Pattern:  Myndie / Kallara mashup
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Bright & Bold Advent Calendar
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Turkey Trot Kallara - Finished!

I finished this up on Sunday and blocked it before I went to bed. Funny thing, it really should be called Turkey Tail Kallara, as the name of the gradiance colorway is Turkey Tail.  Somehow when I created the project page I got it wrong and called it Turkey Trot.  Not sure how that happened.

Pattern:  Kallara by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Rare Breed in Turkey Tail gradiance and Cladonia
Needles:  US 5 ( 3.75 mm)

Turkey Trot Kallara - Skein 4 Done

I finished up skein 4 this morning.  This skein is darker, but also more subtle in its variegation - dark green and blue-gray.  The green matches the dark green in skein 3 and the blue-gray goes with skein 5, which I'm currently working.

Pattern:  Kallara by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Rare Breed in Turkey Trot gradiance and Cladonia
Needles:  US 5 ( 3.75 mm)

Turkey Trot Kallara - Skein 3 Done

These skeins knit up fast, and so does the pattern.  I finished up skein 3 yesterday.  This one brings the greens into play and I really like how it goes with the first 2 skeins.  Skein 4 is a more dramatic departure, being hardly variegated at all, and darker.  It matches the dark green in skein 3.  I'm liking how it is working up.  I have been checking out other Ambah O'Brien patterns and I've got a couple more projects waiting in the wings.

I'm going to make another Kallara with this set:

This is Tea Party, also by The Unique Sheep, and this time I'll be able to do the stripes as the pattern calls for.

And I'm going to make a Celadon out of this set:

This is the The Unique Sheep 10th anniversary set.

Pattern:  Kallara by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Rare Breed in Turkey Trot gradiance and Cladonia
Needles:  US 5 ( 3.75 mm)

Turkey Trot Kallara - Skein 2 Done

I finished up skein 2 last night.  I really like the color play with this gradiance set.  This pattern lets the yarn be the star.  Skein 3 is a more dramatic color shift.  The solid color is superwash Blue Faced Leicester.  The gradiance set is 85/15 superwash Blue Faced Leicester and Nylon Tweed, so it has some nice texture as well as the great colors.

Pattern:  Kallara by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Rare Breed in Turkey Trot gradiance and Cladonia
Needles:  US 5 ( 3.75 mm)

Turkey Trot Kallara - Skein 1 Done

This set was intended for the Of the Forest, but I decided to do something else with it.  My first thought was to make Kallara with it, using the solid color as the main color, and the gradiance skeins for the contrast color, but after creating a stitch count spreadsheet, and caking and weighing all the skeins I determined that I didn't have enough of the solid color.  I used my yarn usage figures from Myndie to make my estimate.  I thought about using one of the skeins from the gradiance to make up the difference, but even using the heaviest skein (skein 6) I was still short.  I did the math to try to use skein 6 and part of skein 5 to make up the difference and even started knitting it that way, but after about 20 rows I decided it would look better if I did it as a color block shawl instead of a striped shawl, so I ripped back and started over.  I went back to my spreadsheet and looked at how many stitches I should be able to work with the gradiance set, took the remainder and divided it in two.  I'll start and end the shawl with the solid skein, and work the gradiance in the middle.

Here is the first skein done.  Isn't it lovely?  One of the fun things about this design is that it is a basic shawl, which makes it a great canvas for playing with color.

Pattern:  Kallara by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Rare Breed in Turkey Trot gradiance and Cladonia
Needles:  US 5 ( 3.75 mm)