Edie's Shoulder Wrap from The Knit Shop - Done...sort of

Feather and Fan and Frustration...

I’m guessing you knew how that was going to end up.

Restored--no, I won't let you't see the botched version

Yep, turned out I had to rip all the feather and fan out and start over. 

Good thing I wasn’t alone. My friend (and April 2012 Author Who Knits feature) Camy Tang was there at the writers conference where I was.  Not only is Camy a talented writer, but she is also ninja-level knitter and a master of the feather and fan.  If anyone could save this shawl, it’s Camy.  Conversely, if anyone knew it was beyond saving, it was Camy.  

The verdict was pronounced, and Camy and I began to rip.  And rip.  And rip.

We were sitting in the hotel lobby, and you could divide those who walked by into two distinct groups:  non knitters who wondered what the heck we were doing with all that tangled yarn, and knitters who stood in sad solidarity as we pulled irredeemable tangled mohair from its place.

To add to the pain, I didn’t have anywhere near the right number of stitches I should have had to start the feather and fan portion.  Again, Camy to the rescue!  That dear friend sat there and recalculated/rewrote the pattern for me so I could move ahead with the stitches I had.  Because that’s what a knitter does for a knitter in need.  When a fellow knitter comes to you heartbroken, moaning “fix this!,” you dig in your heels (and your needles) and lend a hand.

It’s not done.  It’s close, but I can’t bear to make you watch further.  Just trust that I made it out of the pit alive and am clawing my way toward the finish line.  

For everyone’s mental health, we’ve moving along to Austin for our next episode.  Don’t worry Edie, I promise I’ll stick it out until the end and post a photo one of these days!

Edie's Shoulder Wrap from The Knit Shop - Day 5

History is bound to frog itself...

Well, phooey. 

“Onward” didn’t happen.

Well, it did, only it was swiftly followed by “backward.” As in rip it out, you fool, this won’t work.

For whatever reason, my knitting lesson in life this year seems to be “some things you just can’t fudge.”

I thought I could just plow forward through the feather and fan portion of this project even though my accent stripes were a bit off.  Turns out I could do that, but I ended up with wider green stripes—two rows of garter stitch gives you a single ridge, but two rows of stockinette give you two full rows, which look thicker.

The fixed version--after much gnashing of teeth

At first, I told myself I liked it that way.  You know those little kitting lies you tell yourself to try and convince yourself you won’t have to rip out three days worth of work?  You can get away with it for about twenty minutes, and then the truth hunts you like a hound.  Some errors you can live with, others you know will bother you for the life of the garment.

So what did I spend yesterday doing?  Ripping out three days worth of stitching to start the feather and fan section all over again.  

Lucky for me, I have a bunch of air travel ahead of me this week.  I’m going to need all that time to catch up.

Cabled Feather Cowl from The Studio - Day 3

Waving hello...

My favorite thing about feather and fan is what it does to the border.  It starts out straight like any other piece of knitting, but the combination of yarn overs and K2TOGs create this marvelously undulating wave that has always been my favorite edging.  It’s just so pretty.

I’ve done it on scarves and shawls, I don’t know why it’s never occurred to me to use it in a cowl.  There’s something so delicate about a scalloped edge up there by your collarbone.  It even looks pretty just spreading out from the circular needles like some yarn-y flower petals.  I grin every time I look at it.

I’m frustrated that I can’t

quite capture the right color of this yarn—a deep teal.  It’s as if the camera can only register it as green or blue but not the marvelous in-between color that it is.

The ingenious combination of feather-and-fan interspersed with a single smart cable gives this piece a terrific texture and just enough heft to hold up against your neck.  With just a few stitch tricks like these, an impressive accessory (and lots of compliments) are surely in my future.  Not to mention—because this is Chicago, after all, a lightweight garment that will offer a nice bit of warmth without being too bulky. 

Sure, I’m only a couple of repeats into the pattern, but sometimes that’s all you need to know you’ve got a good thing going.

Cabled Feather Cowl from The Studio - Day 2

Fiber content…

Let’s talk for a moment about fiber.  With this project, there are a lot of considerations as you choose.

In this case, I’m working with Alpacas d’Auxvasse suri/merino blend, a soft, luxurious blend that is a bit pricey but worth every penny when you feel it against your fingers and around your neck. I care a lot about what a yarn feels like while I’m knitting, not just when it’s blocked and done.  I want that “ahh” factor while I work—the end product is only part of the pleasure for me.  The label cites this as a “luxury yarn,” and it is.

Because this is a cowl, and because you’re dealing with cables as well as feather-and-fan, you can’t go with something too silky here.  Not enough softness, and you’re going to feel like you’re wearing one of those plastic cones from the vet.  Too much softness, and it will look like something crawled around your neck and died there.  This blend hits it just right.  The cowl keeps its shape without choking you.

Color is important here, too. 

This teal is lovely, but it’s just on the verge of being too dark to show off the cables nicely.  There’s too much going on for anything but a solid color—it would look like a riot around your neck if you did this up in a bold stripe or a dramatic variegation.  Stick to lighter solids—but you can definitely go bold in hue if you like—to get the most of this piece.

Knit-Along II: knit's Feather and Fan Shawl - Part 4

Two feet in...

...and the charm is wearing off. Not that I don’t think the final product will be absolutely lovely, but after the non-stop drama of the sampler scarf this is, well, less drama.

And you know, that’s not a bad thing. I have more than enough drama in my life at the moment.

Which brings me to a salient point: quality materials. Sitting and knitting on this shawl the other night, I was struck again with how satisfying I find the experience of working with this yarn and needles. The yarn is smooth yet with enough texture to really be noticed under your fingers. I find myself running my hands down the knitted piece, taking in the paradox of smooth bumps. It drapes fabulously. And the more material I produce, the more weight is added to the piece so that the stitch pattern and drape come out more and more. Yummy. You just can’t get to that place with a ball of acrylic sport weight. Not that such yarns don’t have their place, but some days you just need the “luxe” vibe.

Which brings me to another salient point (I’m a professional writer, I’m supposed to have lots of these): good needles. I am a huge fan of Lantern Moon needles, particularly the ebony ones which I am using now.
There is just something amazing in the way they feel to me. I own metal needles—I even own a pair of the ones with light-up ends which I used often until my son thought it would be cute to stuck them up his nostrils so I could watch his nose glow (can you say antiseptic wipes?). I love addi turbo circulars. But there is a romance for me in the Lantern Moon straight needles. They feel indulgent, and face it; I’m in knitting for the indulgence. It’s a tactile pleasure for me.

So, when faced with a project that is a looooong stretch of basic repeats like this, I take my inspiration and endurance from my materials. Plainly put, I’ll keep going because it feels so good.

If only I could say the same about a treadmill….

Knit-Along II: knit's Feather and Fan Shawl - Part 3

Keep on Keeping On...

A good part of this pattern is full rows of knit or near-full rows of purl, so this can get a bit tedious. The luscious color-way helps with that—I’d go cross-eyed doing this in a solid color yarn. I keep stitching through the waves of pastels, thinking how stunning I’ll look on Easter Sunday draped in my fabulous shawl.

For ease, I put a stitch marker at the end of each 16-stitch repeat, but that’s had its share of problems, too. Because you’re putting yarn-overs on one side of these markers, they have a nasty habit of migrating a stitch over a few rows. It’s not hard to compensate for once you realize your marker has simply wandered under a yarn-over when you weren’t looking, but you’ll drive yourself nuts trying to figure out where you dropped a stitch before you realize what’s really happened. I solved this by counting out my stitches before I started each of the more complicated rows--namely rows 1 and 7--and putting my markers back in their rightful places before moving on.

It is really beautiful, though, and I’ve had the delightful experience of people stopping me when I knit in public and asking me what I’m making, touching the piece, and generally making me feel artistic and fascinating. Gotta love that. No one ever seems to stop me when I’m making complicated mittens or fluffy scarves, no matter how impressive the pattern might be. This, though, seems to be a real show-stopper. So do yourself a favor—go take your knitting out in public and bask in the glow of your own fabulousness. You deserve it.

Knit-Along II: knit's Feather and Fan Shawl

My next project: the Feather and Fan Shawl from knit

First off, if this is your first trip to DestiKNITions, do yourself a favor and go back to read the first CHARLESTON, SC installment. It will put everything in context…although be warned, it may have you booking a flight by sundown.

Now that I’ve finished both sides of my sampler scarf, I’ll turn my attention to the Feather and Fan shawl from “knit.”
Knit is definitely a cool store, and this is cool fiber. It’s a deliciously silky hand-died confection of a yarn called “Rick Rack” from Interlacements. It’s rayon, so it’s hand-washable —I don’t like to knit things that will end up sending me to the dry cleaners—but with a rich, elegant feel that will undoubtedly give me an artful looking product. The yarn takes its “rick rack” name from its squiggly nature, like the “rick rack” trim you’d find in a fabric store. While providing great texture, it also makes it a struggle to take out if you’ve missed a stitch or made some other mistake. While it’s smooth and silky, it’s not quite slippery enough to undo easily. That’s good, though, because it also won’t stray off your needles like some of the other shiny rayons I’ve used. Still, I chose to cast this onto wood needles just to make sure nothing goes wandering off my needles when I’m not looking.

I’ve done feather and fan stitches before, and hadn’t realized there are variations on the theme. This one is a bit more complicated than my previous attempts, but I like the shape of the wave it produces. The repeat is just long enough to forget, so use a stitch counter. Of course, that means you have to remember to advance the stitch counter when you finish a row (I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve messed myself up on that front). If only they made needle-pedometers that counted for you based on how you moved. Oh, I’d probably confound a device like that with all my fidgeting anyway.

This is an endurance pattern. Master the repeat, then repeat it all for about six feet. Good “watching tv” or “attending a meeting” knitting—provided you pay attention on the complicated rows and keep count.

Next installment I’ll tell you the sorry story of how I unwound this thing….it will help us get through the mileage of this project with a smile on our collective faces. Or it may take your opinion of me down a few notches. Stay tuned, DestiKNITers, the adventure continues.