Spirit of Guernsey - Clue 3 Done

I set this aside a couple of weeks ago, distracted by other projects and rebelling a little against my over commitment to knit alongs, but the pictures of the finished shawls inspired me to pick it back up again this past week.  I started happily knitting away on the second repeat of the chart, only to realize as I neared the end of the chart that I had not quite finished the first repeat.  I was missing the last two rows.  Fortunately this doesn't really make a huge difference in the pattern, so I did not feel a need (or a desire) to rip back.  But now I was faced with the fact that I would be four rows short on this section.  I pondered that for a little bit, looking at the proportions of the finished shawls and decided that I would add a third repeat.  I used all of my first skein, which I had intended to do anyway because I really hate having left overs, and switched to the second skein on row 7 of the third repeat.  I did not do any transition rows.

Guernsey Mystery Shawl - Clue 2

I ended up knitting this clue twice.  It didn't help that I started knitting it Friday after spending 10 hours in a Critical Design Review for the program that I am working on.  I completely screwed up the first row of the chart and didn't realize it until I started on the third row and things were not lining up correctly.  So I put it aside and worked on the Knitterati Mystery Shawl instead.  On Saturday I picked this back up again, tinked back to fix my mistakes and was doing fine until I was almost done with the third repeat and I realized that I had missed a yarn over some rows back.  At first I tried to do some lace surgery to fix my mistake, but with the way that the pattern shifts the section that I had to unravel just kept getting bigger and bigger, so I decided to just rip back.  Of course, I don't use lifelines, but on circular shawls it is usually pretty easy to slip a needle into the increase row (the one with all of the yarn overs), then you just pull out the other needles and start frogging.  The beauty of this technique is that the start of the row is automatically revealed when you get to the increase row.  I had to shift the stitches around when I got there, but that was easy.

Crafts are how I decompress and unwind from the stresses of work, they are meditative and help me center myself again after all of the demands of the work week.  I am highly empathic and an introvert (although I play an extrovert at work) and really need the quiet time at home to recharge.  My husband is the same way so our weekends tend to be quiet retreats.  It does mean that we don't have much of a social life, but neither one of us really feels much like socializing on the weekends.

Spirit of Guernsey - Clue 1

I finally cast on the latest Unique Sheep Mystery Knit Along this afternoon - Spirit of Guernsey.  This is not the yarn that I ordered for the project.  This is.

This is the November colorway in Ling.  I have never knit with Ling before.  It is 70% superwash merino and 30% cultivated silk, but it is a very firm yarn, reminding me more of pure silk.  I spent a frustrating afternoon on Friday trying to cast on with this yarn, and somehow managed to lose one of my size 3 double point needles.  It has simply vanished.  I have no idea how or where, but I cannot find it.  It didn't take me long to decide that for circular shawls I will stick with Eos.  Fortunately I happened to have some Eos in my stash.  This lovely colorway - Erin's Dream.  I have way more than I need - 6 skeins instead of 4, but I didn't realize that until I had cast on and finished the first clue, and I really don't feel like starting over again.  I still need to buy beads, but I am going to wait until we get to a clue that has beads to decide on a color. 

The curious thing is that Eos is a 50/50 blend of Merino and Tussah silk, but somehow it is more forgiving and easier to work with in tricky circular cast-ons than the Ling, and while I know that I could do the cast on in the Ling (I have done it with pure silk), I just don't need to work that hard.  I work hard enough in my day job.  The Ling I have ear-marked for a second In Dreams shawl.  I even have beads picked out.  I'm thinking of calling it Summer Dreams.

Pattern:  Spirit of Guernsey by Janine le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Erin's Dream
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)