Brassica Shawl from Mosaic Yarn Studio--Day 1

Top notch...

Words cannot describe my joy at knowing this shawl will not result in another Top-Down Rant.  Yes, I know the rows will get longer for a while, but it will only be for a while.  At some point I’ll reach that magic middle where the rows start to get shorter and shorter.

I find it amusing that we’re also at the point in the year where the days get longer and longer.  It’s a fitting metaphor.  Even if we’re only gaining minutes of daylight each week, I find it heartening.

Still, this piece is not without it’s challenges.  To work two patterns at once will require a bit of brain matter.  Fortunately, I have a gadget that will help with that—my trusty Sirka counter.  Sure, mine looks a bit like a pocket watch on pastel steroids, but now it comes in lovely vibrant colors, too—I want more!  This brilliant gizmo counts three separate things simultaneously.  That makes it ideal for instructions like “repeat this six-row pattern eleven times,” but we’re not quite there yet.

For now, the increasing half of this shawl is mostly stockinette with a clever little i-cord border (quickly becoming my new favorite!).  On the other side, the eyelet border stays constant over a six-row repeat.  So, right now, I only have to know where I am in the six-row border repeat.  This means I’m only using one of the colored hands on my clock.

That will change, but not for a while.  What a delightful start!

Wavelength Shawl from Holley's Yarn Shoppe - Day 1

Just the right Wavelength...

This is a perfect summer project.  The fiber, Classic Elite Bella Lino linen/viscose/cotton blend is light and airy.  I have a good, cozy neutral beige winter shawl, but I need one for warmer weather.  The gentle undulation of warm colors—browns, tans, grays, and creams—gives texture and just a bit of interest to the knitting.  For now, working with only one 50 gram ball, my project is highly portable even with its long circular needle.

The yarn is a bit stiff—it is, after all, 58% linen—but I know that will soften once this baby gets its first bath.  The ball is like a squirmy toddler; it wants to unwind.  I find I need to keep it under close control so that it doesn’t unravel and tangle.

Yes, this is another top-down shawl.  I know, I just know it’ll be grueling at the end.  I’ll be slogging through the long final rows, whining to you about how many stitches there are.  To help in that challenge, the designer places panels of mercifully quick-and-easy garter stitch on either side of the lacework center.  I’m hoping this will keep me from pulling my hair out in my inevitable final dash to the bind-off.

The lacework pattern—with its expanding repeat in rows 21-34, takes a few readings to grasp. Read the note and the pattern a couple of times until it becomes clear. Essentially, each set of row repeats adds 14 stitches to the section; enough to host an additional stitch repeat. So you don’t repeat the first “repeat”—you just execute it.  It’s complicated, but once you catch the idea, it’s whack-your-forehead simple.  Stitch markers, which get shifted at the end of each set of 14 rows, will help ensure you’re exactly where you need to be.

Uliuli Wai Shawl from Needlecraft Cottage - Day 5

Fun...and not so fun...

It has returned.

The curse of the never-ending top-down shawl rows is back.  I kid you not, these final ten rows are taking me almost an hour each (including the purl row back, granted, but all those purls are killing me!).  I’m seriously doubting I’ll get this thing done, cast off, and blocked in only six episodes.  

As such, I’m coining a new DestiKNITions phrase:  the “sevener.”  It means a project that is too complicated to get done in six posts.

This is most definitely a sevener.

It is, however, one awesome sevener.  The exquisite color, the lovely lace, all of it.  I have to go shopping for an awards ceremony dress this week (I’m delighted to report that my 2014 novel A Heart to Heal won the Best Love Inspired Reviewer's Choice award from RT Book Reviews Magazine), and you can bet I’ll be keeping a special eye out for gowns that would coordinate with this shawl.

Speaking of special, here’s a special shout-out to all of you readers who entered the Love Inspired Knits sweepstakes last week celebrating the release of my newest knitting novel, The Doctor’s Undoing.  I had such fun looking at all the entries!   The lucky winner (tbd, as of press-time) will get to choose from a very nice selection of Cascade 220 yarn.  There aren’t too many things more fun than giving away free books and yarn!

...And more special stuff!  If you read my last post, you know I harbor a bit of an Outlander obsession.  During my book tour gig last weekend I had the pleasure of meeting the author of the Outlander series, Diana Gabaldon herself!  A big thrill for me, and I told her so--along with the fact that I'd written a blog post about the lovely knitwear featured on the show.  

It's nifty when all my worlds--writing, knitting, reading--collide into one fabulous experience.

Edie's Shoulder Wrap from The Knit Shop - Day 4

The feather-and-fan finish line...

One head cold, one migraine, one wedding, one baby shower (and associated hat and bootie knitting), one car trip, two minor crises, and a writing deadline later….I finally make it to the end of the garter stitch portion of this shawl.  Heavens, but that took a long time!  By now you all have become achingly familiar with my impatience for high-volume stitch top-down shawls.  You know what they say…you are doomed to repeat the lesson you haven’t yet learned.

Not that this is any kind of punishment.  It’s pleasant knitting—just time-consuming.  And given the crazy (and cranky) nature of my week, it’s been just the type of knitting I needed.  Even on the car trip requiring lots of navigation participation from me, I was able to knit while keeping an eye on travel directions.  The fiber is soft and fluffy, comfortable and comforting between my fingers.  Yes, this requires a very long circular needle—and those tend to go all loopy on me at times—but it wasn’t unwieldy.

The biggest challenge with this pattern so far?  The counting.  349 stitches and 57 ridges is a lot of counting.  The 57 ridges aren’t so bad, especially with the stripes every twelve rows, but it takes a fair amount of focus to count 349 stitches.  I found myself wishing I’d placed stitch markers every 50 stitches.

No worries there, because I’ll be whipping out plenty of stitch markers to note repeats as we move into the feather and fan lace section of this shawl.  Onward!

Holden Shawlette from The Artful Yarn - Day 1

Holden on...

  

Yes, the knitting universe—or in this case the nice people at The Artful Yarn—has handed me another top-down shawl. Sometimes you just have to keep going back to the same lesson until you learn it, yes?

This pattern helps me, however, by getting a big chunk of the work out of the way in a stockinette base.  Stockinette makes good television knitting—I barely have to look down anymore.  I’ve gotten quite fast on the knit side, thanks to my continental skills, but I have yet to master a decent continental purl.  No matter how I try, I just can’t get the hang of it.  Some knitters counsel me to come down over the top of the picked yarn, but that twists the stitches and makes for problems for me.  Others champion the “finger down approach” (for lack of a better name), but my index finger always cramps up after a certain number of stitches.  I have another friend who pulls the yarn down with her thumb, but I’ve never been able to master that at all.  And so I chug along, speedily knitting my way through the right side and not-so-speedily purling my way through the wrong side.  There are worse fates.  But I do worry my speed here will only make those growing final rows feel that much longer.

Don’t get me wrong—there are definite plus sides here.  Malabrigo Sock truly is a delightful fiber, with wondrous colors and the perfect amount of elasticity.  This isn’t the first shawl I’ve made from Sock and I doubt it will be the last.  The weight is marvelously seasonless—light enough for summer but with enough heft to allow it winter appearances as well.

Kudos to designer Mindy Wilkes for giving both written and chart instructions for the lace section.  I often prefer the chart, but in this case I think I’ll start out with the written directions.  And I’m no idiot—I’ll be using stitch markers and safety lines to ensure I don’t meet with disaster.  Or, more precisely, that I can save myself when I do.

Rose Garden Shawl From Knit N Purl - Day 5

Close, but...

The garter stitch section of this is a new mini-torture version of the top down shawl.  This section has garter short rows that start at the bottom of the shawl’s curve and increase their way up to the top.  You get all excited, thinking you’ve finally finished pulling your hair out over the lace section.  It’s nothing but coasting, all garter stitch simplicity until the top, right?  Quick and easy.

Not so fast, sister.

Every row gets longer and longer until your fingers ache. You can see the beauty emerging, but you can’t reach it.  You’ve got to work your way all the way from the center to the edges, and instead of exciting, it starts to feel tedious.  That last row before you bind off feels like it takes 17 hours instead of the 17 minutes it took me (I timed it).

But I’m done.  I’ve finished everything but Jenny’s Stretchy Bind Off, which I can’t bear to do until tomorrow since you have to work each stitch multiple times.  Then I will block this shawl into it’s true, lovely form and show it off with great pride.

I’ve got the outfit all picked out for it.  I think it’s so funny when people come up to me and say “You always seem to have just the right shawl or scarf for your outfit.”  What they don’t realize is that it works the other way around—I match the outfit to the shawl.  Because, really, it’s all about the knitting right?