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.

Treasure Island Lace Cape - Done!

I finished this up Monday night, but didn't block it until Tuesday and then decided that I needed to tweak the blocking but didn't feel like doing that until tonight.  The dark line is where the fronts overlap, and where I needed to make the adjustment, the fronts really stretched and were distorting the shape.  Now at least all of the edges that are supposed to be parallel are parallel.  I like the way my extra clue came out.  I wish that I had enough of skein 6 to do the complete border with it because I really like the contrast, but I was a little short.  Once I had the border memorized and felt confident that I wouldn't screw it up things went very quickly.  I really like that part of knitting a shawl, the gradual unfolding as the border goes on and the shawl comes off the needles.

While I was working on it Monday night I had it draped across my lap and the daybed.


Pattern:  Treasure Island Octagonal Shawl by Janine le Cras, converted into an Octagonal Cape by me
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Tranquility
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Treasure Island - Border 1/4 Done

This is the kind of never-ending border that I like because it is easy to measure your progress.  Every 14 repeats is a section, every section is one-eighth of the shawl.  Every section I pause and weigh my yarn to see how I'm doing.  Now that I've seen the finished design I understand what Janine was doing with the optional clue - waves on the beach.  She puts those organic touches in her designs and there is usually an asymmetrical element to it that always just throws me until I see the finished design.  Of course, by then I've always tweaked the design to make it symmetric and removed that element.  One of these days maybe I'll get over my aversion to the asymmetry and trust the designer.  I think part of the problem is that I am so visual when I am knitting lace, I'm reading the chart and reading my knitting, and when things don't line up it just really throws me, it almost makes my head hurt.  Back to my border, and Creature Features on TCM.

Pattern:  Treasure Island Octagonal Shawl by Janine le Cras, converted into an Octagonal Cape by me
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Tranquility
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Treasure Island - Extra Clue Done!

After a week of steady work and regular weighing of my yarn I have finished the additional clue that I designed, extending the design from Clue 6 to what I thought was a logical conclusion.  My yarn usage calculations are spot on and I have enough, just enough, to finish the border.  According to my calculations I will need a little less than 62 grams to knit the border, and I have a little more than 62 grams of yarn left.  For the border, I will use half of skein 5, then switch to skein 6, then switch back to skein 5.  Here is a close up of the additional clue to show the bead colors.

Pattern:  Treasure Island Octagonal Shawl by Janine le Cras, converted into an Octagonal Cape by me
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Tranquility
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Berry Bloom - Beauty Shot

Here they are, all done blocking.  Now I am all ready for the May blocks.

Pattern:  Berry Bloom by Donna Kay Lacey, April 2013 Unique Sheep Crochet Block of the Month
Yarn: Unique Sheep Tinsel Toes in Beech and Sugar Maple
Hook:  2.75 mm

I've been thinking about what to do with the optional clue on my Treasure Island Cape.  Part of my reason for waiting was that I wanted to see what the clue looked like knitted up.  When I saw the clue I just wasn't sure that it was really going to go with the rest of the lace work, it just didn't seem like it was going to flow properly.  The thing that I was most concerned about was how the motifs of the optional clue would line up with the motifs of clue 6.  I've mentioned it before, but I am incapable of knitting asymmetrical designs.  There has to be a symmetry there, somewhere, and I can't see one with this optional clue.  So, last night I decided to make my own optional clue.

The first thing that I did was replicate clue 6 in my Knit Visualizer software, and then I started extending the lace motifs from clue 6 into my optional clue.  I completed the chart for my variant this morning, but it uses more yarn (54 grams) than either the optional clue (30 grams), or my initial variant on the optional clue (41 grams).  The good news is that I can cut several rows from my variation without ruining the pattern if I am going to run short of yarn, so I can safely start knitting.  One of things that I did in my variant was replicate the beaded medallions from clue 6, unfortunately that will use more beads than I have for this shawl and I don't have more of that color in my enormous bead stash.  Fortunately I have some other beads that will work and that I think will look better with the colors of my later skeins than the ones that came with my yarn.

Treasure Island Cape - Clue 6 Done!

This last clue was pretty easy and pretty quick.  A lot of the times when I am knitting lace I can look at the row and then knit it without having to refer back to the pattern, but for most of this shawl I couldn't do that.  Finally, with this latest clue I was able to, the pattern was easy.  I would have finished it up earlier in the day but we had a fierce little storm line blow through last night and our neighbors lost the top of one of their poplars and it came down partially on our property, so we spent a few hours cutting it up and clearing it out.  I actually enjoy that kind of physical labor.  And it gave us a chance to chat with our neighbors.

So now I have to figure out what I want to do with the optional clue.  Janine released it today.  She had taken it out of the pattern because she was worried about people running out of yarn.  The optional clue is one of those motifs where there is lace patterning on every row and I'm not sure that I want to do that because it makes for a denser fabric, and I'm lazy and don't like purling through the back loops.  I put together a spreadsheet this afternoon with the stitch counts for each of the clues so I could figure out my yarn usage and I definitely have enough yarn to do the optional clue.  So far my variant has used about 2.8 extra grams of yarn over what I would have used if I had knit according to the pattern.  I'm thinking of adding 4 extra rows to the optional clue just so I don't have to do any center double decreases or knit 2 together or slip slip knit stitches from the wrong side.  By my calculations that will use up an additional 11.7 grams of yarn, in addition to the 30 grams of yarn used by the optional clue.  That would leave me about 75 grams of yarn for the border, which should be enough.  Now I just have to decide if I'm bold enough to take the plunge without waiting for the final clue so I can confirm my calculations.

Pattern:  Treasure Island Octagonal Shawl by Janine le Cras, converted into an Octagonal Cape by me
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Tranquility
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Treasure Island Cape - Clue 5 Done!

After the first couple of rows, this clue was pretty easy and knit up pretty quickly, when you consider how long each row is.  That is the challenge with these kinds of shawls.  You feel a bit like you're climbing a mountain, or on an endless treadmill.  I try to ignore how long each row is and just try to enjoy the process.  In fact lace knitting has taught me a lot about enjoying the process, even those long purl rows.  When I first started knitting I hated purling, it just felt so awkward, but knitting lace has taught me to appreciate those resting rows.

Pattern:  Treasure Island Octagonal Shawl by Janine le Cras, converted into an Octagonal Cape by me
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Tranquility
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Treasure Island Cape - Clue 4 Done!

I finished up Clue 4 last night.  The last two clues were a bit more challenging, just because there was a lot going on in them.  I had to take a couple of breaks while working on this one.  It definitely required an alert mind.  I switched to skein 3 towards the end of this clue.  I was a little bit worried about how the switch would look, the color changes are fairly dramatic as you can see from the photograph of the yarn.  But I think it is going to be just fine.

Pattern:  Treasure Island Octagonal Shawl by Janine le Cras, converted into an Octagonal Cape by me
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Tranquility
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Treasure Island Cape - Clue 3 Done!

All week long I have been waiting impatiently for the next clue to come out.  I even took this project to work with me on Friday and knit two rows during a telecon.  This is the first time I have been so excited about one of the mystery knit alongs.  I love the yarn, love the colors, love the pattern, love the fact that I'm making a cape out of it.  But now I am done with this clue and have to wait until next Friday for Clue 4 to come out.  I don't know what to do with myself.  And it isn't even as if there aren't lots of other things that I could be doing, I just don't feel like doing any of them.

Pattern:  Treasure Island Octagonal Shawl by Janine le Cras, converted into an Octagonal Cape by me
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Tranquility
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

I did manage to get a better photo of my Little Mermaid shawl.  I took the other photo on a cloudy day.  Here is one that definitely shows off the colors of the yarn far better.

Treasure Island - Clue 2 Done!

I finished up Clue 2 of my Octagonal Cape version of the latest Unique Sheep Mystery Knit Along, Treasure Island, this morning.  My design modification has caused quite a stir over on Ravelry, and there are several people following my lead, so now I really have to make sure that I keep up with the clues.  There is also a group that is doing it as a crescent, or three-quarter shawl, so not only did I start a bit of a revolution, but I also helped create more revolutionaries. It has been quite exciting.

I wanted to get a sense of how the cape will look when worn, so I put it on my dress maker dummy.  The cord is a bit twisty and I didn't try to pin anything down to tame it, so it looks a little like a costume from an old Flash Gordon serial.

Pattern:  Treasure Island by Janine le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Tranquility
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Treasure Island Lace Cape - Clue 1 Done!

The first clue came out yesterday and I wasn't sure I was going to start it, but there was someone on Ravelry worried about the circular cast on so I came up with a scheme for starting it flat and then joining it after you've got enough to work it on a circular needled.  For those who are curious, add an extra stitch at the beginning and end of your row, so cast on 18 stitches instead of 16, and begin with a k1, end with a k2.  Around row 10 or 11 there should be enough stitches to join on a 16 inch circular, just do a central double decrease and sew up the seam later with the tail from the cast on.

I even thought of working my shawl that way because I am not crazy about doing a circular cast on, but I also don't wear circular shawls.  I do, however, love capes.  I used to wear a full length gray wool cape, and I still pull it out on occasion, so I decided to turn this one into a cape.  I started on row 11 of the chart, just before the lace patterning began.  I used a garter stitch tab and was delighted to discover that it is exactly the right length to go around my neck.  I will be using up every bit of yarn of every skein to minimize the risk that I'll run out, but if I do, I'm sure that I will figure something out.

Pattern:  Treasure Island by Janine le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Tranquility
Needle: US 4 (3.5 mm)

A Taste of Things to Come

Now that I am almost caught up with my backlog of crochet blocks, here are a few things waiting in the wings.  First up, of course, is the March 2013 Crochet Block, Ferris Wheel by Donna Kay Lacey. The yarn is Verve in Earth and Coal.  Check out that cute little spinning wheel stitch marker!  I rarely use stitch markers, and when I do they are pretty plain, but I have a whole tin (not an Altoids tin, but a Newman's Own Cinnamon Mints Tin) full of pretty stitch markers that I have received as part of kits and clubs.  One of these days I am going to make some jewelry out of them.  I'm thinking a chain-mail necklace.  I've always wanted to try chain-mail jewelry and even have a kit I picked up a couple of years ago at Bead & Button.

Yesterday I received two packages from The Unique Sheep, which went a long way towards making up for the rough week that I had.

This is the first shipment from the new Gourmet club.  The yarn is Back to Basics 2, a worsted weight Merino that I have never tried before, the colors are Lemon Balm and Laurel.  Along with the yarn were two cute cookies cutters, two cookie recipes and a pattern for a double knit pot holder.  I've been wanting to try double knitting and this might be just the project to get me started.  The pot holder is also supposed to be fulled, which is something else I have never done before.  And I am seriously thinking about making some cookies today...

I also received my yarn for the next Unique Sheep Knit Along - Treasure Island.

The colorway is Tranquility on Luxe, with gold lustered raspberry beads.  I will probably not be knitting along with the rest of the group because this is another circular shawl, well, actually I think it will be octagonal - pieces o' eight - get it?  But I will probably modify the shawl because I have decided that I don't really do circular shawls anymore.  Been there, done that, they are lovely to display and there is one living on my piano, but I don't really wear them.

Some time ago, when I pulled my Evenstar shawl out and placed it on my piano on permanent display

 I vowed that I would make another one to wear so I ordered a set of Eos from The Unique Sheep.

The colorway is Midnight Delight, and it is a set that is specially dyed up for the Evenstar shawl, which is why that skein on the right is fatter than the rest, that one will be the outer edge.  I still haven't completely decided on my design modification, but I am thinking about making it a circular cape, so keeping with the circular theme, but making the neck area bigger, and obviously not working it as a circular shawl - that would turn it in to a poncho, which would not do for this design.  I have seen some beautiful dresses made out of this pattern, especially this stunning one by FadenStille, but am not sure I want to tackle something quite that challenging.

You will no doubt have noticed the constant thread running through this post.  All of the yarn is from The Unique Sheep.  With furloughs looming on the horizon, my disposable income is going to being pretty sharply reduced, so I have been cutting back on the clubs as well as yarn purchases in general, but The Unique Sheep is exempt from the cuts.  Yes, I love them that much.  Zen Yarn Garden is also partly exempt.  I am sitting out the latest Fickle-Zen knit along,but I did sign up for the next Butterfly-Zen knit along.