Virginia's Charivari Shrug - Finished!

After finishing up the Salvia test knit I picked up this project again and finished it up - these are great projects to work on while reading, although when you're working on the second half there is a fair bit of fabric in your lap.  I had to set my Kindle up in a stand in order to use it.  I weighed my skeins after every row and captured all of the data so I could get yarn usage numbers and continue to refine the pattern.  Now I can make some yarn usage predictions and check them with my next shrug.

I also managed to get a beauty shot of the Watermelon shrug.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Watermelon Shrug - Finished!

I finally got around to re-blocking my Watermelon Shrug.  I thought about adding cuffs, but I really like the scalloped edge.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert modified to be a shrug
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Virginia's Charivari Shrug - One Side Done

I finished up the white stripe on the first side, so the shrug is basically half done.  I have figured out an easy set of modifications to enable folks to utilize as much of their yarn as possible while minimizing the risk of running short.  Basically there are three variations of the garter and stockinette stitch combo that can be worked:

20 rows:  6 rows of garter, 8 rows of stockinette, 6 rows of garter
16 rows:  4 rows of garter, 8 rows of stockinette, 4 rows of garter
14 rows:  4 rows of garter, 6 rows of stockinette, 4 rows of garter.

On the second side I will be keeping a row by row record of my yarn usage so I can determine a stitches per gram for both the garter and stockinette sections so that folks can figure out their approximate yarn usage depending upon how many rows they knit on the central panel.

I also have to provide a formula for determining how many stitches you need to keep for the opening to make sure that the shrug fits properly.  I'm thinking that it should be based upon the width of the shoulders plus the distance from the nape of the neck to the natural waist.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Virginia's Charivari Shrug - Three Stripes Done

Third stripe done.  These actually go pretty fast, despite those long ruffled rows.  I worked the two extra rows of garter before the ruffled section again.  I've got some ideas on easy modifications to use more or less yarn depending upon how long the central panel is that I'll put into the shrug pattern write up.  It'll mean folks will need to weight their skeins and keep track of their yarn usage, but it is pretty straightforward and should prevent any awkward surprises.


Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Virginia's Charivari Shrug - Two Stripes Done

My brain wasn't up to working on lace on Sunday so instead I worked on Virginia's Charivari shrug and finished up the second stripe.  I did a slight modification of the pattern on this one.  It had always bothered me that the garter ridges on either side of the ruffle were not the same - 4 rows below the ruffle, 6 rows above, so I took a little gamble and did 2 extra rows before I started the ruffle.  I really like how it came out - I am a bit of a symmetry nut.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Virginia's Charivari Shrug - One Stripe Done

I finished up the first ruffled stripe this week.  Wonderful mindless knitting.  I tried a variation on the knit-front-back that is going around, instead of knitting into the back of the stitch you put your needle like you're going to knit into the back of the stitch but just slip the stitch onto the needle instead.  It is called knit-front-slip-back.  It gives a cleaner increase, you don't get that little bar.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Virginia's Charivari Shrug - Center Panel Done

I stayed home from work today.  There is a bug going around and I think it was trying to get me, so I decided to stay home and rest and hopefully kick it before it sets in.  My mind was pretty fuzzy so it wasn't up for working on the Dreamy Adalia (all those cables) instead I worked on this and read and watched some TCM.

I didn't make it to 480 rows though, only 456.  That gives me 228 stitches to pick along the side.  I'll still keep 120 stitches for the central opening, so that will mean I will graft 54 stitches for the sleeves.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Virginia's Charivari Shrug

Now that I've finished up a couple of my deadline projects I started another shrug.  I need to write up the pattern so I figure I'll knit a couple in the process.  I bought two more Charivari Paintbox sets, one for my sister and one for myself.

I'm not using a row counter as I go, because when I've tried that in the past I found myself forgetting to click the counter between rows.  Instead I periodically count the number of slipped-stitch loops and when I have ten I put in a locking stitch marker.  The picture above shows the stitch markers.  When I pick up stitches I'll go through both loops, as the markers do.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Watermelon Shrug - Almost Done

This project has been mostly done since February 4, but I realized after I wore it that the sleeves were different lengths, so I set it aside while I worked on a couple of other projects knowing that I would have to come back and fix it.  I finally got around to fixing it today.  I undid the bind off on the central opening, raveled back and picked up the stitches, then I undid the sleeves, one at a time.  I had done a three needle bind off, which I had decided was too tight, so I decided to replace that with grafting.  Once I got both of the sleeves done I redid the knitting around the opening and did the final bind off.  I'm probably going to work some cuffs to add a little length to the sleeves.  This one did not come out as long as the Gazania Shrug.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert modified to be a shrug
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Watermelon Shrug - One Side Done

I finished up one side of my Watermelon Shrug last night.  When I got to the last color stripe I continued working garter rows until I ran out of the light pink and then worked short rows with the remaining colors, working from the center out, until I ran them out as well.  I had to finish the row with a stretch of green from the self-striping skein.

I've already picked up the stitches for the other side, and also ordered another set of the Watermelon, and two sets of the Charivari to make more shrugs.  This one will be a gift, and so will one of the Charivari shrugs.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert modified to be a shrug
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Watermelon Shrug

I've set aside my Strawberry Shortcake Shrug for a little while because it is being such a problem project.  First my central strip was too short so I had to rip back and add length to that and I'm still having trouble finding good colors for the sides, so I decided to pull out one of my sets that I knew would work without any issues at all - my Watermelon set.  I picked up a skein of the Watermelon self-striping yarn to go with it, and fortunately it does go with it, perfectly (I really don't know what went on with the Strawberry Shortcake yarn).  I spent a fair bit of last weekend working the central stripe - an easy knit I can do while reading, which I did a fair bit of last weekend - and then continued working the color stripes this week.  Although this picture only shows two of the color stripes, I'm on the fourth one now.

I really love the colors on this one, they just make me happy.  I have a feeling that this one may end up going to Carol, so I will have to make another one for me.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert modified to be a shrug
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Strawberry Shortcake Shrug

I have been struggling with my Strawberry Shortcake Shrug.  The picture above is of the Paintbox kit called Strawberry Shortcake.  I really want to make more of the Traveling Zebra Shrugs, so I ordered all of the Paintbox sets that Biscotte offers.  The challenge I then faced was getting self-striping yarn that goes with them.  I ordered the Strawberry Shortcake self-striping yarn, but it doesn't match the Paintbox set.

I did find a skein in my Biscotte Stash that looked like it might work.

Of course, I only need four solid skeins so I first started out with this color combination.

But when I started knitting with the darkest color it had too much berry in it and it just didn't match well with the reds in the self-striping section.  So I ripped it back and started with this color combination.

As I was picking up the stitches with the darkest skein I apparently switched which side of the central panel I was working with because I got about 2/3 of the way along the panel when I discovered a loop of yarn hanging off the work.  It was a stitch that wasn't attached.  I had dropped it and never realized it.  I undid my bind off and took it downstairs to my studio and ripped it back, winding it back into a cake on my ball-winder.  I spent the drive down to Florida re-knitting the central panel.  But when I picked up the stitches with the darkest color, it still didn't really match the reds, so I ripped it out again and put the project away for the rest of the trip.

Before I had gone on vacation I had ordered the another Paintbox set, this one a repeat - the Watermelon Colorway.  I had already knit a shawl using that Paintbox set and was tempted to frog it and re-purpose the yarn into a shrug, but then I tried the shawl on and I like the weight of it and the way it fits, so I'm keeping it.  When I ordered the Paintbox set I also ordered a skein of yellow yarn and a skein of the Watermelon self-striping yarn.  That yarn was waiting for me when I arrived home last night.

Fortunately, these colors match quite well.  When I saw the dark red I had a hunch that maybe it would work for my Strawberry Shortcake shrug.

The yellow I ordered will also work, so I think now I will be able to continue working this shrug.


Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Gazania Zebra - Finished!

I finished my Gazania Zebra this past Saturday while waiting up for Bruce to get back from Tennessee.  I had some second thoughts while I was finishing it up and the first time I did the bind off I did a regular bind off, which was too tight, so I undid it and worked a lace bind off.  The real unknown was how far I should join the edges to make the sleeves.  I wanted the shawl to open up in the back so you could see all the colors.

I had already divided the solid colors of yarn into two cakes so I wouldn't have to worry about weighing while working each side. I then divided the remains from each side equally and joined them.  When I got to the yellow section I left the yarn attached, but cut half off.  I worked short rows, knitting to just shy of the center of the shawl and then working 10 less stitches on each consecutive short row until I almost ran out of yarn.  When I got to the blue I worked across all of the short rows in the section back to where I had started.  Once I had finished one side, I placed all of those stitches onto a spare needle and secured the tips so the stitches wouldn't get away.

After I finished the second side I joined the edges for 60 stitches. Instead of working a 3-needle bind off I wove the loops together by picking up the first loop on one needle, then the first loop on the second needle and pulling it through the first loop I picked up.  I kept doing this, alternating between the two needles until I got to the last stitch.  I placed this last stitch on the knitting needle to be worked with the rest of the stitches when I worked the opening.

Here are the sleeves.

I used the leftover Gazania yarn to work a few knit rounds on the opening and then bound off using a lace bind off to keep things loose.

I think it looks a bit like a deflated seed pod, but in really crazy colors.  I didn't do anything special when I blocked it, just lay it out.  I didn't want a crease in the striped section, so I laid it out so the fold would be where there was a color change.


Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Gazania Zebra - One Side Done

After finishing Raspberry Blaze I picked this project up again.  I finished up one side last night and picked up the stitches to start working the other side.  I decided that because I did not make the center stripe on this shawl as long as the one on my Charivari Zebra that I would turn this shawl into a shrug.  This would also provide me with a way to use up all the leftover yarn.  I had already divided up each skein into two for working the two sides.  I took the leftovers from the first three strips from side one and divided them in half, and then joined them - blue to red to orange.  When I finished up the yellow strip I divided the remianing yarn in half without cutting it from the work.  I joined that yarn to my other remains.  I then started working short rows in garter stitch.  I knit until I was 3 stitches away from the center stitch (I have an odd number of stitches) and then turned and knit back.  I continued knitting back and forth working 10 fewer stitches at the center each time.  When I got to the blue I kept knitting toward the center on the last row to use up as much as possible.

I may join the edges using a weaving technique that I've seen where you pull the loops through each other, working your way up the live stitches, almost in a braid.  If that doesn't work I'll do a three needle bind off using the remains of the self-striping skein.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Gazania Zebra - Three Stripes Almost Done

I had to travel to California this past week for work and took this project along with me.  Before I left I split all of the skeins up so I wouldn't have to worry about running out or weighing anything.  I also realized that between the time that I bought the Charivari Paint Box and the Gazania Paint Box the Traveling Zebra pattern had been changed - the strips were 16 rows in the Gazania Paint Box pattern as opposed to 18 rows in the Charivari Paint Box pattern.  When I was working the Gazania Traveling Zebra it did seem to me that the ruffled section was shorter, but I didn't bother to check until I had finished the red stripe.  I figure that the pattern was shortened to keep folks from running out of yarn, but I prefer the look of the longer ruffled section.  Who would have thought that 2 rows could make that much difference?  So I ripped back to the blue ruffled section and switched to the Charivari Paint Box version of the pattern with 18 rows.  I still have yarn left over after completing the 18 rows, but not nearly as much as I had when I was only working 16 rows.  On this one I didn't make the central panel as long as I did on the Charivari version.  I'm thinking that I will turn it into a shrug and use up the remainder of my yarn doing that.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Gazania Zebra - Dark Blue Strip on Side 1 Done

There are some days when I am no good at counting.  Well, actually, I can count just fine, I just forgot that when you start working the strips you don't count that very first row after the initial pick up.  I didn't need to frog those rows after all.  Because I stopped knitting the central panel after using a little over 50 grams, I didn't run short of the dark blue as I did on the black on my Charivari Zebra.  Now I just need to figure out what, if anything, I want to do with my leftovers.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Gazania Zebra - Center Panel Done

I finished my Coral Snake, also known as the central panel, this past Thursday and picked up the stitches with the dark blue to begin the first edge.  I got a little too enthusiastic last night and knit 6 rows instead of stopping at 4 so this morning I had to rip back.  I am now ready to start row 5, where the stitches are doubled by knitting into the front and back of each stitch.  I took this project with me to one of my safety review board meetings and worked on it during the lunch break and also during the caucus.  I was still working on it when the program came back in to the room for the results.

I didn't use up all of the Gazania skein on the center panel as the skein weighed 57.8 grams.  I stopped with 7.1 grams remaining and tried to make the two ends match color-wise.  I cast off so that the tail would be on the opposite side as my cast on tail, thinking to use them to join the yarn for the pick, but the tails are on the wrong sides for that.  Instead, when I got to the end of the row where the tail was I joined the tail to my working yarn be sewing the tail through my working yarn in a running stitch.  Then, when I got back to my starting point where the tail for the blue yarn pick up was, I did the same thing.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Gazania Zebra - Cast On

I started this project last weekend because I needed a mindless project to work on while we watched the movie "The Adjustment Bureau", which actually required me to pay attention to what was going on.  Unfortunately it was Father's Day, so we were interrupted by phone calls from Bruce's offspring.  The up side of that was it gave me time to go wind all of the skeins for the project so I could weigh them and get a sense of how long I could make my snake, I mean central panel.

You have to admit, though, it really does look like a snake.  In fact it bears a pretty striking resemblance to a Coral Snake, as you can see from the photo below.

As a reminder, here is a picture of the yarn pack that I am working with.

My yarn weights are:
Gazania Skein - 57.8 g
Blue Skein - 48.9 g
Red Skein - 46.4 g
Orange Skein - 49.1 g
Yellow Skein - 50.2 g

For comparison, the yarn weights of my Charivari Zebra were:
Charivari skein - 52.4 g
Black skein - 48.9 g
Dark Gray Skein - 48.9 g
Light Gray Skein - 48.1 g
White Skein - 46.8 g

For the Charivari Zebra I used up all of my Charivari skein, which made the central panel longer than the pattern called for.  I did this knowing that I might run short on some of the other colors, but wasn't worried and new I could just adjust the number of garter stitch rows, which I did on the Black skein and the white skein.  Given the weight difference between the Charivari skein and the Gazania skein I don't think I can safely use up all of my Gazania skein, so I will use up about 52 grams.  I'm thinking that any leftover yarn that I have I will divide evenly in half, join the ends and just work additional garter stitch rows on both edges, reversing the order of the colors and ending with the Gazania.  I know that I won't have any of the Blue or Red skeins left, based upon my experience with the Charivari Zebra.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Charivari Zebra - Done!

I finished this up this past week, while I was home with a nasty summer cold and needed something mindless to work on.  My shawl is longer than the pattern called for because I used up all of the self-striping yarn.  This resulted in me running a little short of the black yarn and the white yarn.  To account for that I simply adjusted the number of rows of garter stitch.  I also ended up binding off with leftover gray yarn, although I didn't have enough to do the entire bind off in the gray, and on one edge (the bottom edge in this picture) I bound off on a wrong side row.  I also wet blocked it, which relaxed the ruffles somewhat.  I'm happy with the result, and I used up every bit of yarn.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)

Charivari Zebra - Halfway through side 2

I haven't done too much knitting this week because I've been working some long days to get things done prior to going on my annual trip to Milwaukee for the Bead & Button Show.  As in 10 hour days, and even an 11 and 1/2 hour day.  But before the long days I did manage to get through 2 of the stripes on the second side and start the third.  I'll take this project along with me as it is easy to pick up and put down.

Pattern:  Traveling Zebra by Louise Robert
Yarn:  Bis-sock by Biscotte & Cie
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)