A quick update

I have been very busy knitting. But I realized that I did not share much about this. So, here is a quick update. A dear friend of mine had started Oregon Shawl, but because of several reasons does not think she can finish it. So.. A couple of weeks ago she asked whether I could please finish it for her. She had finished the center, and picked up the stitches for the sides. Being the friend I am, and because I think an unfinished project with no chance of completion is one of the saddest things in the world, (and the compensation she has promised me doesn’t hurt either ) I said sure. She was making Oregon in a lovely looking white with a shimmer yarn, called Star Light by Universal Yarns. So, last week, she handed me the yarn, the shawl on the needles, and the pattern, and it came home with me. I knitted a gauge swatch to try and match her tension, at least somewhat, and I was off to the races. I did have to go down a needle size, maybe should have gone down 2 needle sizes, but I did not feel like knitting a shawl on US 2′s (2.75mm), so 3′s (3.25mm) it is. . I have been working almost exclusively on it, and this is what I have done so far:

That is 16 rows, or one repeat of the pine cone pattern that is on the sides of the shawl. The composition of the yarn is 56% acrylic, 6% glitter, 19% mohair, and 19% nylon. The yarn is not bad to work with, though I have found that the glitter thread tends to cause the other yarn to bunch up, or is just plain broken here and there. This is not a big problem, as it does not make up the main body of the yarn, and won’t ravel, because the other 2 plies are still very much securely knitted in place. Those 2 plies are rather loosely plied together, which I thought might cause splitting, but so far I have not had an issue with that. It is actually fun to knit on, as I have quickly re-memorized the pattern, and only need the chart for the corners. I have enjoyed knitting this in front of the television this week. It is VERY soft to the touch.

This means that my other project I had been working on has been mostly put aside for now, though it still lives in my travel bag. That would be Hippo Gnu Deer, the shawl that I started less then a month ago.

I have finished chart 1, and discovered only one minor issue. The pattern starts with Cast on 8, knit 1 round. The the chart starts with the first round being a yo. After discussion with MMario, I assumed this meant that there was a dividing stitch between the 8 panels. But I am now starting to think that is not the case, as the number of repeats changes, which would leave a dividing stitch between some repeats and not others. I think the round 1 of the chart is actually the cast on round. I have not asked Mmario’s opinion about this yet, and will let you know what all the official changes are when I get a chance to finish this. The pattern is easy, and at this point knits up quickly. The yarn is turning out to be quite nice to knit with. It is Palette, from KnitPicks. It has not split on me, it feels relatively soft, and shows pretty nice stitch definition. I am very curious how it will block out.

I guess my quick update is not as short as I expected, I guess I had more to talk about then I thought.

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