Mariposa Tee - Done!

Once I got past clue 3 this top went very quickly.  I did have to make a couple of more adjustments to the pattern because of the changes that I had already made.  I had to recalculate where to do the yoke decreases, which was easy thanks to an app on my iPad.  Once I did the initial 3 sets of decreases that were common between the scoop neck and the high neck I tried it on to see how it was fitting.  I really liked the neckline so I decided to stay with the scoop neck, but I really didn't feel like figuring out how to do the short rows with my pattern adjustments, so I just skipped them.  Instead I did another set of decreases and then started the neck edge, working another set of decreases into the neck edging.

Pattern:  Maripos Tee by Michelle Miller
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Worsted in Carnival
Needle:  US 8 (5 mm)

And the sun was out yesterday, so I got some beauty shots of my latest shawls.  First up, my Treasure Island Cape, front view.

 And my Ardent Spring Shawl

Have you heard?  It's time for Camp Loopy.  Camp week - the week you can get discounts on the yarn used in the camp challenge is this week.  I wasn't going to do it again this year, but I caved.  The first challenge is easy.  Knit or crochet something that uses only 1 skein (at least 375 yards), but it has to be a yarn that you haven't used before.  Well, that might be a bit of a challenge, but there is no harm in looking.  So I went to the Camp Loopy site and checked out the yarns, just looking, and found Dragonfly Fibers Djinni Sock, a yarn that I have never used before.  The first color that caught my eye was Queen of Tarts.  How can you resist that name.  Then I spotted Blue Morpho Butteryfly.  You have to understand, I have been haunted by the Blue Morpho ever since I listened to the ZBS radio play Dreams of the Blue Morpho.  I have been wanting to make something inspired by that radio play ever since I heard it.  Actually, I thought it would be cool to design a whole series inspired by the Adventures of Jack Flanders radio plays, starting with Blue Morpho.  And here is the yarn.  It was meant to be.

I'll use the Queen of Tarts for the challenge, and find a nice one skein shawl.  I have tons of patterns, and there are lots more on Ravelry if I don't have one in my library that suits.

Mariposa Tee - Clue 3 Done!

Remember when I mentioned about a project coming together easily meaning that it was meant to be?  Well, the opposite is also true.  If a project is giving me a lot of trouble I figure it is time to rethink it.  Maybe the yarn and the pattern are not a good match, or there is something with the construction that is causing problems, or maybe I just don't approach a pattern the same way that the designer does.  This top was a problem project.  Beautiful yarn, beautiful pattern, but I kept making mistakes and it was frustrating me and making me work way too hard.  Knitting should be fun.  Life is just too short to spend time on things that are supposed to be fun but for some reason are not.

So a couple of weeks ago I was sitting in my office listening to a telecon working on this project when I made another mistake, which I didn't notice until I was knitting the row above it.  The pattern had been giving me trouble as soon as I finished with the ribbing.  You see, the round began at one of the sides, so it split up the lace pattern, and led to that horrible spiral jog that is inevitable when knitting in the round.  And then, you get around to the other side where the lace pattern is and the instructions say to knit the left chart and then the right chart, but as you're sitting there looking at your knitting the left chart is on the right and the right chart is on the left while on the pattern page the left chart is on the left and the right chart is on the right, which was causing me all manner of confusion.  So there I was, sitting in my office, listening to a telecon and staring at my mistake and I decided to just rip out everything that I had done and start it all over.

Well, almost everything.  I ripped back to the ribbing and picked the stitches back up, but this time I put the round marker in the center of the back.  Then, on my set up row I made sure that the lace pattern would line up with the ribbing (it wasn't before, and that was something else that was bugging me).  I also cut out those two charts on my pattern instruction page and taped them back down again so that I could work the charts in order, from right to left, the way knitting charts are supposed to be read when you are working in the round.  I also adjusted the waist shaping, which was really low and seemed very compressed to me, so that it would match my shape, which is somewhat high waisted.  After I did all of that this project just sailed right along, no problems at all, which is the way it is supposed to be.

Here is a picture of the lace panel, lining up with the ribbing just as it should.  It is a little thing, but as we know little things matter (right Frodo?).

Pattern:  Maripos Tee by Michelle Miller
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Worsted in Carnival
Needle:  US 8 (5 mm)

Mariposa Tee - Clue 2 Done

This project took a back seat for a few days while I worked on Clue 2 of my Two Roads Mystery KAL, but after seeing all of the finished Tees on Ravelry I was inspired to get back to it and dragged it out of my work bag.  I finished up Clue 2 this morning while listening to a telecon at work.  I keep making mistakes on this one.  I think it is a combination of the dark/variegated yarn and the placement of the lace panels on the sides of the Tee.  For some reason there just seems to be a lot to keep track of, and I keep getting distracted.  But I made it through clue 2 and I don't think I made any mistakes that I didn't catch.

Pattern:  Mariposa Tee by Michelle Miller
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Worsted in Carnival
Needles:  US 8 (5 mm)

Mariposa Tee KAL - Clue 1 Done

This is the latest offering of Fickle Knitter (Michelle Miller) and Zen Yarn Garden.  I was going to sit this one out, there was the possibility of furloughs looming and I really felt that I needed to cut back on my spending.  But then the furloughs were delayed and the number of days reduced and there was this last lonely extra set of yarn, so I gave in to temptation.  Of course by procrastinating I am late to the game and all of the clues are actually out, but I will do them as they were released.

The yarn is Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Worsted, one of my absolute favorite yarns to knit with, the color is Carnival.  I am glad that I waited because I really couldn't decide what color to pick, and by waiting that decision was made for me and I am really happy with the colors in this yarn.

Pattern:  Mariposa Tee by Michelle Miller
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Worsted in Carnival
Needles:  US 8 (5 mm)

Beauty Shots

I finally got enough light to take some beauty shots of my last three shawls.  It also helps that I took the afternoon off.  So, without further ado - The Holden Shawlette:

Yarn - The Unique Sheep Verve, Old Farm House (November Sip 'n Stitch yarn)
Pattern - Holden Shawlette, by Mindy Wilkes

The first Fickle-Zen KAL:

Yarn - Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Lace II, Raspberry
Pattern - Fickle-Zen Mystery KAL #1 by Michelle Miller (aka Fickle Knitter)

And Through the Looking Glass:

Yarn - The Unique Sheep Luxe, Tart Berry
Pattern - Through the Looking Glass by Janine le Cras

Fiori Di Sole - Charts F and G

Only two more charts left.  I took a picture after I finished Chart F, but it was only the first half of the motif, so it really didn't look like much.  Now I'm going to get back to work.  I really want to get this shawl finished.

Fiori Di Sole - Chart E - Finished

Five repeats of Chart E completed, finally.  Actually it wasn't too bad, the chart was pretty easy to memorize, but wasn't too boring.  Now on to chart F (and then G, H, and I and then it will be done).  I started this shawl on January 1, 2011 and it has been sitting around far too long.  I need to finish it so I can cast on another lace shawl.  I think the next one I knit will be Moonfleet, which is the first Unique Sheep KAL that I signed up for.  The yarn is all wound into a nice cake and the beads are sitting with it, along with a knitting needle.  The yarn and the beads have actually been sitting in the same spot for months.  Now that I have knit so much of this shawl, I am a little sorry that I didn't add beads, some nice red beads would look great accenting the points of Chart E, and maybe outlining the petals of the flowers...

Limestone One Skein Shawl

This is the Limestone One Skein Shawl by Michelle Miller, also known as Fickleknitter.  It is knit from Zen Yarn Garden's Serenity 20 yarn (70% Superwash Merino, 20% Cashmere, 10% Nylon) in Mauve Swirl.  I added beads to the edging - Beadcats stock no. 2-06-707-71 purple trans silver-lined, w/ blue irid - but you can't see them in this photo.  This is a small shawl, knit from a fingering weight yarn with approximately 400 yards in 100 grams.  For comparison a lace weight yarn typically has 1200 yards in 100 grams.  What this means from a practical perspective is that this is a quick knit.

And here is another view of the Winter Mystery 2010 Shawl.  You can see the beads in this shot.  The color is not quite right.  I had to use the flash.