Calandra Shawl, Sock Yarn Blanket, Uplift Make Along

Wow, the last few months have been madness with my work schedule. I had many weeks of 60-70 hours working and one week where I'm pretty sure I hit 80 hours. It's a nightmare; I do not recommend it.

I did finish the Calandra shawl but I have not blocked it yet. Below are pictures I took along the way. I didn't swatch at all so I have no idea how much it will grow when I block it out.

A skein of shiny purple yarn sits on a yarn scale. The yarn scale measures it to weigh 233.0 grams.

A crescent-shaped purple shawl is laying over a knitting chart. There are two lifelines in place and several stitch markers in place.

The purple shawl is laying over a white & pink fleece blanket. The zig-zag lines of the pattern are clearer here; there are also more lifelines in place.

Work has (hopefully) settled down - or, more realistically, I'm forcing myself to stick to a more reasonable schedule. I pulled out my sock yarn blanket after I finished Calandra. When I got frustrated trying to plan out my next row, I turned to Google Sheets to chart out what I've knit so far. I have a legend on a second tab so that I can use numbers on the chart. Having this information organized this way will help me plan future rows so that I can spread out the yarns and not have the same one right on top of itself. Identifying the yarns took a fair amount of time; for many of them, I had to refer to the project pages I had printed to PDFs before I deleted my projects from Rav*lry.

A chart of numbers: row 1 at the top through row 12 at the bottom. The contents of the table are numbers that won't make sense without referring to the legend in the next picture.

This table has numbered rows; the columns are yarn company, yarn, and color way. Rows 1-19 are visible.

Then I sorted out the yarns into separate sandwich bags with their numbers, and put the sandwich bags into gallon-sized bags by 10s (so yarns 1-9 in one bag; yarns 11-19 in another bag; yarns 20-29 in a third; and so on). I am pleased with the results - it is much easier now to plan my rows and I don't feel like I will end up with a haphazard, ugly mess.

My next knitting project will be for the Uplift Make Along that Ruth Brasch is organizing (her blog post is here - link opens in a new window). I did some searching last night on Instagram: I looked through the knitting designers I follow and eliminated anyone white, then anyone with more than 5k followers. I didn't find any patterns I particularly liked, so then I started going through the non-white/BIPOC knitting designers and looking at who they follow. 

I found Sunnie (IG: @noodlyknits - link opens in new window) and her Ppo-Ppo Shawl, and that was it, the end, do not pass go, I love this pattern. I am going to knit this up in the Little Bay Blue Yarns Rose Petals Gradient set that I bought earlier this year. Their Etsy page is here - link opens in new window. I don't wear much pink at all, but certain pinks resonate with me: really vivid, rich pinks; rosy pinks; neon pinks. So I think this is an excellent match of yarn and pattern. Sunnie has fewer than 3k followers on IG, and a small number of sales on her Etsy page. I am avoiding Rav*lry as much as possible so did not check for her possible popularity there.

I haven't knit with Little Bay Blue yarns, so I am soaking each skein separately in cold water to be sure the dye does not bleed. The darker shades are very deep pink and I do not want them to bleed into the lighter skeins. So far, so good - I'm on the fourth skein of six, and the water is still rinsing clear. I will let the skeins rest on my drying rack for a day before I wind and swatch. I will have a LOT more yarn than what the pattern calls for, so I am considering using only half of each skein and saving the remainder for another project. 

All right, time to go squeeze out that skein #4 and start skein #5 soaking. Happy crafting! Hopefully I will remember to come post again much sooner than ... four months from now :D 

Curlew Shawl bind-off & planning for next project

I bound off the Curlew Shawl today. I've left my notes in the other room, so I will have to update again in the future with more details.

I used Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off to keep a stretchy edge.

When I went into my craft room to set up for blocking, I realized another shawl I'd finished a few months ago still needed to be blocked - so the Curlew Shawl will have to wait its turn (maybe next weekend?).

On to the next project! 

I pulled out some of my oldest yarn - Blue Heron Yarns in Bamboo Lace. Label indicates color way is Blueberry (but this is some seriously purple yarn - no blue in sight) and that this should be 1260 yards. That's .... a LOT. I am going to swatch on US size 5s and am considering the Calandra Shawl by Tammy Bailey. I can't seem to find the pattern online anywhere except Rav*lry, so be warned if you search for it.

Curlew Shawl

I figured out the math to expand the shawl! Charting the pattern out in Stitchmastery was exactly what I needed for things to click.

Essentially, I will repeat the third and fourth stockinette sections (with the garter bands between them). I will need to add repeats of the lace stitches as the number of stitches increase. Each repeat of the stockinette sections will increase the lace panel by one per half of the shawl. For example, the second time I knit the third and fourth stockinette sections, I will have four lace segments on each half of the shawl. Then on the third time I knit the stockinette sections, I will have five lace segments on each half of the shawl, and so on. This disregards the lace segment that runs up the spine of the shawl.

I will have to break out my scale and weigh the remaining skein after each of these segments so that I don't end up playing yarn chicken. Currently, I have 77.5 grams remaining, at the end of the first fourth stockinette section.

Curlew Shawl

 I made it through the fourth stockinette lace section last night and am going to have to expand this shawl for quite a bit due to the difference in yarn weight and needle size from the pattern recommendations. I have the Stitchmastery program on my computer and tried to chart the pattern out, but working on my laptop screen made it a challenge. I will try again today with my computer hooked up to a monitor, and I'll also skip the wrong-side rows. I think I understand the math and the pattern repeats but need to see it on a chart. It seems I've set myself up for more garter-stitch hell as this thing grows - but that's okay; I have plenty of things to watch or listen to in order to keep my brain engaged.

This yarn is a delight to work with, and as usual, the stiletto tip Signatures are amazing.

Curlew Shawl

I’ve knitted through row 42 and placed my first lifeline - this is the end of a garter section. The pattern seems intuitive and easy to remember so far.

I’ve only made one modification to the pattern so far. I’m slipping the first stitch of each row purl-wise with yarn in front, and knitting through the back of the last stitch on each row.

I need to come back and add alt-text on images once I’m on my laptop (vs on my phone).

The first few rows of a shawl rest on a computer keyboard. Stitch marker showing right side of work is iconic Ruth Bader Ginsberg image.

Curlew Shawl cast-on

• Project name: Curlew Shawl
• Pattern name: Curlew Shawl
• Designer: Verily Knits
• Yarn: Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Silk Single in Twilight
• Needle size: US 3 / 3.25 mm
• Cast on: 10/18/2020

Twisted up hank of yarn sits on yarn scale. Weight is 100.5 grams.

Wound-up yarn cake sits on its side, showing muted blues and deep reds with lots of grey.

Yarn tag: the brand is Zen Yarn Garden; the yarn is Serenity Silk Single; the color way is Twilight. The yarn is 75% merino, 15% cashmere, 10% silk.