Midnight Rose - Finished!

I finished this up Friday night and blocked it Saturday morning.  I did get a bit careless in the final Mosaic section and missed a decrease after I finished up the main patterning, which messed up my stitch count.  Unfortunately I somehow didn’t notice it until several rows later, so I had to tink back almost to the beginning of the “easy” part of the Mosaic.  I did take the opportunity to also switch to needles with a shorter cord as wrangling the longer cord was becoming just a bit annoying.  Blocking wasn’t too difficult.  It is always hard to get things perfect, but I think I did pretty well.  I always end up noticing the things that are off after I take the photo.  Sometimes I go back and fix them, sometimes I don’t.

Pattern:  Knit Love Shawl by Ambah O’Brien 

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 in Midnight Rose and Harvest Pear

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Midnight Rose - Second Lace Section Done!

Once again I pulled the stitch markers when I reached the single color rows in the Mosaic section and reinserted them when I worked the first lace patterning row.  As I was working that first lace patterning row I did discover that I had not paid enough attention to the pattern and worked decreases on the last wrong side row of the Mosaic pattern when I was not supposed to, so I had to tink back and fix that.  I cheated and just did not work decreases on the first wrong side row of the lace chart.

Pattern:  Knit Love Shawl by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 in Midnight Rose & Harvest Pear

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Midnight Rose - First Mosaic Section Done!

I do really enjoy Mosaic knitting, and I am very happy with my color choice for this one.  I am glad that I decided to change from the solids that I had picked out.  I pulled the stitch markers out at the end of the lace section and put them back in on the first row of Mosaic patterning.  I have a marker on the center stitch that I shift up periodically just to make sure I don’t lose it in all of the patterning.

Pattern:  Knit Love Shawl by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 in Midnight Rose & Harvest Pear

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm) 

Midnight Rose - First Lace Section Done!

This one has been languishing in my WIPs pile for a while now.  I cast it on back on February 23 and I only knit a few rows before I had to set it aside to focus on a test knit.  But now the test knit is done I can focus on finishing some of my WIPs (before I start casting on more!).  The first lace section actually knit up pretty easily.  I have markers to keep me on track - I rarely use markers but they are definitely useful on this pattern - and the yarn is a real joy to work with.  The yarn is Serenity 20 from Zen Yarn Garden and at one point (based on the amount in my stash) it was my favorite fingering weight yarn.  It still is one of my favorites.

As I approached the first mosaic section I realized that I did not want to use one of the Dream in Color yarns that I had picked out.  I really wanted to use another Serenity 20 yarn.  So back I went to my stash.  Actually, I just looked at my stash of Serenity 20 on Ravelry, came up with a couple of possibilities, and then went to my stash.  I ended up picking Harvest Pear.  Despite the name and color inspiration it reminds me of a rose garden.  I am a few rows in to the first mosaic section and am very happy with how the colors are playing together.

Pattern:  Knit Love Shawl by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  Serenity 20 by Zen Yarn Garden

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

 

Midnight Rose - Cast On!

This is the Knit Love Shawl by Ambah O’Brien, her latest knit along.  I really struggled with selecting the yarns and colors for this one.  I loved the colors of her samples, but wanted to work from my stash.

My first thought was to use a set I had gotten from Sunshine Yarns.

But I was worried that the color changes would not be smooth enough.

Next I looked at two of my Unique Sheep Advent Calendars, wondering if I could take a portion of one of them and pair it with a solid skein.  I came up with two options.

But neither one really felt right to me.  So I sat down with my iPad and went through the fingering weight yarns in my stash.  I came up with a couple of options, but in the end went with two skeins from deep stash that did not have a project identified in the notes.  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Sock 20 in Midnight Rose.  I then had to find a good contrast skein for the mosaic.  I have identified two options, and haven’t decided which one I will go with yet.  Both are fairly recent stash acquisitions, and both are Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere - Gold Experience and Hope.

For the cast on I went with long tail, pulling out a very long tail (almost not long enough, I had a couple of inches left).  I placed the markers identified in the set up row as I cast on, so I wouldn’t have to count all of those stitches.

Pattern:  Knit Love Shawl by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 and Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Kimba - Finished!

I finally finished up my Kimba shawl on Halloween.  I was really hoping to get some better beauty shots, but it has been overcast this weekend.  Blocking was an interesting challenge.

The blocking photos in the pattern show the top portion going straight across and the wing tips curving up, but I couldn't do that without stretching the shawl very aggressively, and I am just not an aggressive blocker.  I did mush the top part down - garter stitch can really stretch out when you block it.  This has got to be the oddest shaped shawl I've made yet, but I love the colors that I used and it is fun to wear.  I gather the fabric at the top into a shawl collar.

Pattern:  Kimba by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Kimba - Color Two Finished

I finished up color two this afternoon with 1.9 grams left.  Here you can see my design solution to my yarn limitations.  You can see the middle set of eyelet lace is the light yellow.  Sometimes I am good at planning ahead, and it is fun to come up with a solution that works with the design.

Pattern:  Kimba by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Kimba - Color Three Done

I've been working pretty steadily on my Kimba and made it through the third color yesterday.  I don't think the picture quite does justice to the red, it is very red, juicy red, candy apple red.  I did a quick stitch count spread sheet last week because I was worried about running out of color two (based upon the required yardages in the pattern).  Based upon my calculations I am right to be worried.  Yesterday as I began working the final color two section a solution occurred to me.  I had about 5 grams of color one left over so I used it for rows 19 and 20 of the Chevron Chart B.  It was just the right amount - I had about two feet of yarn left over - and that should give me enough breathing room on color two so I won't lose my game of yarn chicken (having lost that game on Goldwing).  I could have waited and used color one at the end if I ran short, but then it would look like exactly what happened, I ran short and had to substitute another color.  By inserting color one in the middle of the eyelet section it looks like an intentional design choice, which it was, albeit one driven by necessity. 

Last night before I went to bed I finished the first row of color four, so I'm hoping to have it finished this weekend.  Despite the fact that the pattern is repetitious I am not finding this pattern as boring as I found Goldwing.  The color changes help, the yarn helps (Serenity 20 is a dream to work with), and you do have to pay attention to what you're doing, mostly by counting.  It is also really nice to be using up some of my voluminous stash.

Pattern:  Kimba by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Kimba - Second Color Introduced

Once I finished my Goldwing I picked up my Kimba, which I started back at the end of June.  I was close to the introduction of the second color when I put it down.  I took a quick progress picture showing the second color before I lost the light yesterday.  I powered through that section quickly and have actually done two rows with the third color.  I wasn't sure about my color choice when I went to start the third color, which is the red, but I think it will work out - it will be against the lighter green and the darker green will be the fourth color.  Originally I thought that I would use the dark green as the third color, but as I was working the pattern I realized it would look better with the red as color three and the dark green as color four.

Pattern:  Kimba by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Kimba - Making Progress

Now that I've finished up the sample knit for Biscotte I've been focusing on some of my other projects.  I haven't quite gotten to the point where I bring in the second color, but I am only 5 rows away.  I have been using the written instructions instead of the charts on this one, in part because the charts are rather garishly colored.  I understand the reason - showing when to change colors in the pattern, but the selections are just a bit too intense for my tastes.  Fortunately the stitch patterns are pretty easy to memorize.  I am going to have to do some modifications on the color switching because I probably don't have enough of color 2, and I would like to use up more of my colors 3 and 4, so I think I will add some rows.

Pattern:  Kimba by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Kimba - Cast On

I've had this set of yarn sitting out for at lease a month.  I pulled the colors when I was re-organizing my stash by yarn weight.  All of the colors are from the Flavour of the Month Club that Zen Yarn Garden did with Woolgirl.  I loved Woolgirl's clubs.  I don't know what has happened to her.  Her website no longer appears to be active.  The colors are, from right to left, Lemon Meringue, Celery, Minty Tea and Candy Apple, and that is the order that I will be using them in.  This past Friday I finally caked up the Lemon Meringue and cast on.  I haven't gotten very far in the short row section, which at this point in the pattern is not really an apt description, as the rows are pretty long, but each row they get a little shorter.

Pattern:  Kimba by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Hale-Bopp MKAL - Done!

All done.  I took a blocking picture this morning before unpinning it.  I did not put any pins along the top edge, just at the top corners, and in each of the picots.

I worked the last wrong side row in the main color (the Truffle) and then did the bind off in the Arctic.  I used a different color bead for the picots, one that went with the Arctic colorway - blue lined aqua AB.

Pattern:  Hale-Bopp MKAL by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Hale-Bopp Clue 4

It's been a little while, but I've been busy finishing up a test knit, and also working on a sample knit (more about that later).  The final clue for the Hale-Bopp MKAL came out last week. As most predicted, it involved picking up stitches and working the lace motif.  If you recall, at the end of Clue 3 we were left in this configuration.

With 280 stitches still on the needle on the right, and the comet tail going off to the left and it was along that comet tail that the stitches had to be picked up.  My usual method of picking up stitches is 2 stitches for every 3 rows.  The pattern called for picking up 3 stitches for every 4 rows.  Okay, I could work with that, easy enough on the sections that are lace - those are done in stockinette - but what about the sections done in garter stitch?  Typically, when I pick up stitches on garter stitch, I pick them up every other row.  The first time I picked up the stitches, I did it that way, but then got nervous about not having enough fabric in the edging to block without overly stretching the edging.  So, I ripped back and tried to do it per the pattern.  I got seven rows into the lace and noticed this happening.

It was really noticeable on the slip stitch section.

Ugh.  I didn't like that at all.  So I thought about it, and slept on it, and decided to rip back and try again this morning.  On the lace sections I picked up as I normally would, but on the garter and slip stitch sections (which is worked on a garter stitch base, with the addition of slipping stitches to pull the fabric in even more) I picked up a stitch every other row.  Then, on the purl row back I increased by purling into the front and back of stitches to get to the right number in each section (based on the 3 stitches for 4 rows rule).  I am much happier with the result.

And here is the slip stitch section.

Much neater.  Oh, and I won a prize in the clue 3 thread - a free pattern - way cool and very exciting.  Now, I just need to complete clue 4 before the end of the weekend.

Pattern:  Hale-Bopp MKAL by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Hale-Bopp - Clue 3

I flew through clue 3.  I worked the first garter section Friday night, but then was trying to figure out how I was going to stay on track for the other garter and slip stitch sections because each distinct row was only given once, and then the other rows would be "Rep row x", and then there were repeats, and some of them were partial repeats.  When I woke up Saturday morning I had the solution.  I created tables for each of the garter and slip stitch sections in Excel, copying and pasting the full instructions for each row and also for each repeat.  I also include the stitch counts for each row.  In the end I had complete tables that I could just work through without having to try to remember where I was, or mark something on the paper, or flip counters backwards and forwards.  I put the tables into a Word file, where they conveniently each fit on one page, and exported that to PDF.  Then I pulled the PDF into my knitCompanion Hale-Bopp project and created Text Objects of each of the tables and used the Text Overlay feature so each row would be highlighted in turn.  It made knitting the clue carefree.  I still had to refer to the clue file to make sure I had the order of each of the sections right.  The lace chart I also pulled into knitCompanion.

I was a little nervous as I neared the end of the clue that I would run out of the Main Color (the brown) and the Contrast Color 1 (the variegated), but I made it through with 6.1 grams and 7.7 grams left, respectfully.

Here are a couple more beauty shots.

The comet tail wraps all the way around.

Pattern:  Hale-Bopp MKAL by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Hale Bopp - Clue 2

I really wanted to get Clue 2 done before Clue 3 came out so last week I ignored my other projects and focused on this one.  I will admit that it is a bit addictive.  I like the colors and textures and how they work together and on the garter and slip stitch sections I can actually read while knitting.  Once again I figured out the stitch counts for all of the sections so I could make sure that I stayed on track.

Pattern:  Hale-Bopp MKAL by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Hale-Bopp MKAL - Clue 1 Redone

After fixing the slip stitch section in Clue 1, I finally got around to re-knitting the lace section to finish up Clue 1.  I can now redo the garter stitch section, which I'm looking forward to as I can read as I knit and I'm in the middle of a thumping good read.  I'm glad I ripped this back and fixed it.  Now I just have to decide what to do on my test knit.

Pattern:  Hale-Bopp MKAL by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Hale-Bopp MKAL - Slip Stitch Section Clue 1 - Slight Redo

As I was working on Clue 2 I realized that I had a mistake in the slip stitch section of Clue 1.  The floats from my last 3 rows of slipped stitches were lining up instead of being staggered.  This morning (after working the garter stitch and lace section of Clue 2) I spotted the mistake.  It had been bugging me all weekend and there was nothing for it but to rip back and fix it.  At least I only had to redo the last 4 rows of the slipped stitch section.  The first time I knit it I had the floats on the wrong side, literally.  But that is one of the things that I like about knitting, you can rip back and fix things, even if it takes multiple tries to do it (so long as your yarn holds up - but I don't usually knit with fibers that don't hold up to some handling).  There are so few things in life where you can get a do-over.

Here is the before picture - see those last couple of rows?

Yeah, they just bugged the heck out of me.  But things are all better now.  Well, except for the cast on of my test knit.  I was an idiot and did a long tail cast on, instead of a knitted cast on, or some other looser cast on.  I'm still trying to decide if I should rip it back and start over.  Knowing me, I probably will.

Pattern:  Hale-Bopp MKAL by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Hale-Bopp MKAL - Clue 1 Done

I've been getting Ambah O'Brien's newsletter for a while now.  I really like her designs although I haven't knit any of them, until now.  I couldn't resist this one.  It is named for a comet, and my MS in Physics was in Observational Astronomy, and it called for 3 skeins and I happened to have a 3 skein set in my stash, and the pattern was on sale for newsletter subscribers.

The yarn I am using is from Zen Yarn Garden and is one of their Inspiration sets - Monument Valley.

From right to left, the colors are:  Truffle, Arctic and Black Mousse.

The cast on was a challenge - Turkish Cast On, which I've never done before but definitely will use again in the future.  I also like the I-Cord edging, definitely something I'll use again.  It did take me several tries to get the cast on correct, and then I got about half way through the second section and discovered that my stitch count was off.  I tinked back for a while and then just ripped.  It turns out that my stitch count was off at the end of the first section, but somehow I had miscounted (twice) because I thought I was good.  I had also made a really stupid mistake in the second section, which I'm not saying any more about, cause it was just that stupid.  When I restarted I took the time to figure out the stitch counts and then I made sure to check myself after every increase.  I also decided to add beads to the lace section, just cause.  I used stash beads.  Stash yarn, stash beads.  I feel very virtuous.  I'm trying to be better this year about adding to my stash because I'm seriously running out of room to put things.

Pattern:  Hale-Bopp MKAL by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Craftvent 2016 - Day 13

There was yarn today - some very yummy Anzula Squishy in Aqua.  One of the fun things about this project is the chance to try out yarns that I've never used before - as if I need more favorites to tempt me.  I think I will modify the pattern just a little to use up all of the skeins when I start the next section.  It will probably mean that my color changes won't be at the ends of the rows, but that is okay with me.

I'm all caught up with the knitting.  There are three more colors to go before I start the next section.  I had to use the flash to take the picture, so it isn't the greatest, but you can see the way the colors are progressing.

I ended up falling asleep on my daybed last night, and when I got up to go to bed for real I decided to go ahead and block my Dragon Tooth Shawlette.  I did take a blocking photo, again with the flash, but I'll wait to post until I can get some beauty shots.

Pattern:  2016 Craftvent Shawl by Rachel Roden of Unraveled Designs and Yarn
Yarn:
Color 1 - MJ Yarns Sophistisock in Cerulean Twilight
Color 2 - Baah La Jolla in Maldives
Color 3 - Lorna’s Laces Solemate in Pewter
Color 4 - Sweet Georgia Touch Love Sock in Ultraviolet
Color 5 - Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 in Jakey
Color 6 - Koigu KPM in 2405
Color 7 - Anzula Squishy in Aqua
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Craftvent 2016 - Day 11

There was yarn in the drawer today - color 6 - so I was able to complete another repeat of Section 1.  I was disappointed to find a knot in my mini skein of Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20.  I didn't feel like dealing with it, so I didn't.  I left it in.  I don't usually leave knots in my knitting, but with the texture of this one I figured it wouldn't be noticeable.

Pattern:  2016 Craftvent Shawl by Rachel Roden of Unraveled Designs and Yarn
Yarn:
Color 1 - MJ Yarns Sophistisock in Cerulean Twilight
Color 2 - Baah La Jolla in Maldives
Color 3 - Lorna’s Laces Solemate in Pewter
Color 4 - Sweet Georgia Touch Love Sock in Ultraviolet
Color 5 - Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 in Jakey
Color 6 - Koigu KPM in 2405
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)