Observatory MKAL - Finished!

 

I finished this up last Saturday, but this past week has been a long one, work-wise, and I haven’t had the energy to post.  It is a challenging shawl to get a good picture of.

This is the final clue.  We could use any of our colors that we wanted, so long as we had enough yarn (at least 25 grams).  The only two skeins I had enough of were A and C.  I wen with A as I had the most of it and I did not want to play yarn chicken.  The pattern calls for tassels, which I haven’t added yet.

Blocking wasn’t too challenging, I just laid it out and smoothed things into position.  I only pinned the tail out (clue 7).  My husband thinks it looks like a rocket ship taking off, others have seen fish or a mermaid tail.

Pattern:  Observatory MKAL by Larissa Brown

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering 

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Observatory MKAL - Clue 6 and 7 Done

Somehow I managed to skip clue 6 and went straight to clue 7 in my blog posts, so I’m updating this one to include both.  The top picture is clue 6.  This one had more of the “shooting stars”.  I picked a light amber/copper bead for these.

This is clue 7.  The biggest challenge of this clue was deciding on the beads for the final section of shooting stars.  I knew that I didn’t have enough of the light amber/copper beads that I had been using.  I ended up with some berry lined amber beads.  They have a subtler color than the others, they pick up the purple.  It will be interesting to see how this ends, as I don’t have very much of my color D left at this point.

Pattern:  Observatory MKAL by Larissa Brown

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

 

Observatory MKAL - Clue 5 Done

 

Clue 5 had more nupps, and introduced Color D, which is purple.  I replaced the nupps with beads again.  This time I placed the beads on the wrong side row, placing them on stitch and then purling the stitch.  So, on the right side row I did not do the increases to make the nupps, just knit, and then on the wrong side where I would have been purling all of those stitches that I didn’t make together to make a nupp I placed a bead and purled.

Here is a shot of most of the shawl so far.  Interesting shape, and wonderful colors.

Pattern:  Observatory MKAL by Larissa Brown

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Observatory MKAL - Clue 4 Done

I finished up clue 4 yesterday in the early evening, but couldn’t get a photo until this morning.  This was a pretty easy clue and I really enjoyed the interplay of colors between my B and C skeins.  The next clue brings in my D color, and has more nupps, which I will replace with beads.  Here is an almost full shot of the shawl so far.

The designer’s use of shape, line and color is really quite wonderful, and she is always helpful and supportive when folks are picking their colors for a project.  When she approves my choices I am always confident that I will love the resulting shawl.

Pattern:  Observatory MKAL by Larissa Brown

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering 

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

 

Observatory MKAL - Clue 3 Done

 

I did not immediately start clue 3 because clue 3 has nupps, and I don’t do nupps, so I waited until a couple of other fast knitters had knit the clue to see how they were being used in the design before I decided how I wanted to handle them.  In the end I replaced the nupps with beads, which is my standard response to nupps.  I treated the stitch as established in the design, slipping it on the right side and purling it on the wrong side.  I chose a light amber/copper bead to provide a bit of contrast and color.

Pattern:  Observatory MKAL by Larissa Brown

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering 

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Observatory MKAL - Clue 2 Done

 

I think clue 2 went faster than clue 1, mostly because there weren’t those special stitches that I added the beads to.  This clue brought in the second color, but on the wrong side instead of the right side, which created a pretty cool blending effect.

Pattern:  Observatory MKAL by Larissa Brown

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Observatory - Clue 1

 

The other Mystery Knit Along that I’m doing is by Larissa Brown.  I’ve done hers before and love how creative she is both with the design of her shawls and with her use of color.  She does not include beads (yet) in her knitting, but I went ahead and added some to mine.  This pattern takes 4 skeins of yarn and I grabbed som Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering that I had in stash.  The colors are (from left to right):  Kyanite, Moonstruck, Matrix and Ametrine.

Pattern:  Observatory MKAL by Larissa Brown

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Botanical Exordium - Finished!

I actually finished this shawl up last month, but just never got around to posting about it.  It was a fun knit, and used up pretty much all of the yarn.

I still like having a knit on border on these boomerang shawls.  I think it finishes them off nicely, and also helps with the blocking, but the pattern didn’t call for one.

Pattern:  Exordium by Rebecca Picoult
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering in Botanical and Limes
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Botanical Exordium - Main Color Finished

I have been focusing on this project for the last few days and have finished up with the Main Color.  All that is left now is 8 more sets of the textured stitch (16 rows, plus the set up row) and a few rows of garter.  I have 1 gram of the Main Color left, which in my book makes this a perfect project as I hate having a lot of leftovers.

On another topic, my sister Virginia received the vest yesterday and is absolutely delighted with it.  She called me to thank me and also texted me, telling me how warm it is.  Now her husband wants one.  I told her to send me his measurements and I would see what I could do.


Pattern:  Exordium by Rebecca Picoult
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering in Botanical and Limes
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Botanical Exordium - Restart

I picked this shawl up again this past Monday, and despite what I posted back in December I decided to rip it back and start it over again.  I changed the shape to a boomerang shape.  I just couldn't see spending all that time and effort on a shape that I really didn't want to wear.  On the right side I work k2, (k, yo, k) in the next stitch, then work across in pattern to the last 4 stitches and end with a k2tog, k2.  On the wrong sides I keep the first and last two stitches in garter and work the rest in pattern.  I also figured out how to get my yarns on the correct edge without cutting them (which just offended my sensibilities).  When I got to the first textured stitch section I knit across with my contrast color working the increase and decrease as established, then I purled across with my main color.  Both of my yarns were now where they needed to be and I could start working the textured stitch by purling back with my contrast color.  I'll do something similar when I get done with this section and need to start working the garter stitch again.


Pattern:  Exordium by Rebecca Picoult
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering in Botanical and Limes
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Exordium - Making Progress

I've completed another big swath of garter stitch and have just started working another textural stitch section.  I'm not completely sold on the shawl shape, it is a little too rectilinear for me, but I'm not going to rip back and change it at this point.  I may do a project with just the textural stitch.  I have two sets of Unique Sheep gradiance leftovers that would go well together

Pattern:  Exordium by Rebecca Picoult
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering in Botanical and Limes
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Botanical Exordium - Cast On

I had originally picked out these two skeins, which came as a pair, for Anna Dalvi's 2019 Advent Shawl, but I didn't like the way they were working up together for that pattern, as you can see from the picture below.  I will come back to Anna Dalvi's shawl later, and I have yarn in my stash in mind for it - yellow and red (Butter and Sin).

Then Exordium came out, and I scored a free copy during the introductory period (it hit number 1 on Ravelry).  I like the textural quality of the shawl, and thought it just might tame the variegated skein.  I like how it is coming out so far.

I really like the section that I'm working now, even if that stitch is a little bit of a pain to work.

Pattern:  Exordium by Rebecca Picoult
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering in Botanical and Limes
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Violet Valentine - Finished!

I actually finished this shawl on March 6, but I've been struggling to get a good photo of it.  I still haven't succeeded in getting a photo that really shows the beauty of the yarn.  It was a fun and easy knit, but you can probably say that about a lot of Ambah's patterns.  Garter stitch is really in right now and I've done a number of garter stitch shawls lately.

Pattern:  Zarya by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Violet Valentine - Decreases Started

After a week of clouds and some rain we got hit by a crazy Nor'easter that brought a lot of wind - approaching hurricane strength - but no rain or snow.  Our power went out yesterday around 6:30 in the morning, while I was downstairs exercising.  Our local authority sent out an email alert warning of downed trees and power lines and to stay off the roads if at all possible - a request I was happy to comply with.  I live off of a tree-line two-lane road and there are only a few ways in or out, so I wasn't going to risk it.  Our power was out all day, finally coming back on just before 6:30 pm, right after we had eaten our cold supper and I had just lit a couple of candles to augment the LED lantern we were using.  I worked on this shawl most of the day, despite the fact that I really need my knitCompanion app on my iPad to stay on track, and my battery was getting low.  I also had a print out of the pattern, so I could refer to that as needed, and just use the app for keeping track of my progress and checking my stitch counts.  I had screwed up my stitch counts when I started the second eyelet section of the dark purple and had to tink back an entire repeat to fix it.  I used my Beam N Read task light when I needed the extra light - it hangs around my neck and has a yellow lens over the LEDs so they aren't quite as harsh.  We spent a fair bit of the day upstairs in our bedroom, which is a corner room with good light.  Thanks to the sun it also received some solar warming, so it was more comfortable than our living room.

Pattern:  Zarya by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Violet Valentine - Violet Speckle Eyelets

I finished up the first eyelet section with my Violet Speckle yarn and am about to start the second slip stitch transition section.  I wasn't super careful making my spreadsheet, so I have some errors, not on the stitch count, but on the eyelet instruction row.  Fortunately it is a minor error, and I also printed out a copy of the pattern to refer to, just in case, but there are no page numbers, which is just crazy.

Pattern:  Zarya by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Violet Valentine - Cast On

Even though I still need to finish my Xanthe for Ambah's "It's a Wrap" KAL I couldn't resist casting on Zarya for the "Valentine KAL".  The yarn is Superfine Fingering by Zen Yarn Garden and it came as a pair - Violet and Violet Speckle.  I didn't even have to stash dive (more like stash surfing) as this is a recent acquisition that hadn't been put away yet.  The purple is very much the Moon Purple that I have used on several other projects, and is a color I really love.

Now I really need to get back to my Xanthe.  I am just over half-way through the second set of stripes - perfect knitting for reading - so I'm hoping I can finish it up this weekend.  I have far too many WIPs right now and really need to get some finished.

Pattern:  Zarya by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Adventurous Wrap - Done!

I wrapped this around my shoulders last week when I was home (one day feeling like I was coming down with something and then the next because of snow) and decided it definitely needed more length, so I unzipped my bind off, put it back on the needles and pulled out my leftovers.  I decided to add length to one side of each triangle.  I had thought about working a third triangle, but I didn't have enough yarn to work the same sequence, and it would have meant undoing more bind offs.  This required the least rework.

I did the same sequence over again, picking up where I had left off.  I did leave out 2 rows of the C2 and C3 colors just before the join because they were the ones that I had the least of and I really didn't want to play yarn chicken.  It turns out I probably would have had just enough of C3 to do all 3 garter ridges, but I wasn't sure and didn't want to risk it.

Pattern:  Adventurous Wrap by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering - Magical Dye Pot F-series
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Adventurous Wrap - Finished?

So, technically, the wrap is finished per the pattern, but I do believe that I'm going to knit another triangle - same colors, same fade.  If I reverse the color order I would have enough with what I have on hand.  If I want to keep the same color order I need more of 2 of the 6 skeins.  Adding a triangle will make it more wearable.

Pattern:  Adventurous Wrap by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering - Magical Dye Pot F-series
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Adventurous Wrap - One Triangle Done

Actually, the entire shawl is done, finished up yesterday, and is currently blocking.  I've been bad about posting because all I've been doing for the past week is knitting this wrap.  Despite being garter stitch, it is strangely addictive - due to the color changes, I believe.  I finished up this triangle on Friday, and whipped out the second one in two days.  The entire wrap took me five days.  It helped that I was home from work most of last week with a wicked cold.

Pattern:  Adventurous Wrap by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering - Magical Dye Pot F-series
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Adventurous Wrap - Surfing the fade wave

I've started using the colors in the reverse order now, this will keep the fade going.  This is how I will be using my skeins:

F6 - C1, C11
F5 - C2, C10, C12
F3 - C3, C9, C13
F4 - C4, C8
F2 - C5, C7
F1 - C6

I'll work both triangles the same way.  I actually tried working it with a straight repeat of the skeins in the original order, but realized it just wasn't going to work - it was introducing a color step-function into my continuous fade wave - so I ripped back.

Pattern:  Adventurous Wrap by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering - Magical Dye Pot F-series
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)