Alternative Knits

Jess here with an admission: I'm a little bit picky with my knitting projects (okay, super picky). This is probably because I'm primarily a selfish knitter. So while I did like the looks of the Scroll Lace Scarf, I decided it wasn't quite my style. Instead of knitting along with the other ladies, I decided to go back to the beginning and re-knit Damson. As I previously mentioned, I left mine on a G train, and as any New Yorker will tell you, it's just not worth going after. Thus, I wound my yarn -- Tosh Merino Light in the beautiful, versatile Dust Bowl -- and began my knitting. As with my previous version, I knit the body in stockinette so that I wouldn't run out of yarn. The result is absolutely perfect. I haven't gotten the chance to snap a great photo of it, but here's a less than flattering shot to tide you over!

I'm so happy with how this version came out. I'm loving Dust Bowl even more than Smokestack; the slightly darker gray shade goes with my skin tone a little better, and it matches more of my wardrobe. I'm also pleased to report that I'm the proud owner of blocking wires, so I was able to make all of the loops stand out with ease. It's amazing how good blocking can elevate a project from good to great!

I had about 20 yards leftover, so what did I do? Okay, I saved half for hexipuffs, but the other half I used to create a fun little pal! Meet Joel the Jackalope.

Joel was based on the patterns Tiny Easter Bunny and Tiny Reindeer from Teeny Tiny Mochimochi by Anna Hrachovec. He's a little sweet and a little scary, which I find hilarious. I'm about to attend a wedding in Mexico, and I think that Joel will be the perfect date.

Beyond that, I've somehow managed to become a prolific knitter in the past month or so. I've finished my Rocky Coast Cardi, knit a Bunny Nugget, made a Tiny Armadillo named Queso (also coming with me to Mexico), and have started a pair of Elm Socks. Not too shabby. Now, time to keep knitting my socks! It's cold and rainy today, so I need some bright pink/red socks to make me smile!

Lindsey Finally Crosses Not One But TWO Finish Lines!

Alright folks, Late Lindsey here to say I'm catching up! The best part of catching up is that I actually have pictures of projects to share! I bound off and pseudo-blocked Damson on Monday.

For some reason I was really into the bubbles and purple water when I soaked Damson.

Like I said, I "pseudo-blocked". In my transient state, I don't really have all the proper equipment (and can't easily borrow it). For now I just laid flat to dry, but the edging could use some proper blocking.

Finished Damson! Sorry for the busy background and awkward perspective. If I haven't said it enough already, I LOVE this shawl in this yarn and colorway. LOVE!

After I finished up Damson I started right away on Ripley. I had a few issues (why do I own twenty-something inch size 10 circs?), but the pattern was great. Like everyone else, I didn't check gauge. When I got to the point in the lace band where I could just do the extra-small, the band fit around my head so I just got started on the body of the hat. I met up with Jess around the time I got to the second pleat, and she laughed at how small my little hat was (I have a tendency to make tiny hats out of lazyness). So, I ripped back to the lace band and added enough repeats for the medium. Luckily I was able to do almost the entire hat on the Jitney! Disclaimer: I don't recommend this, my wrist hurt so bad last night. Anyway, ends were woven in this morning! Sorry for the flat photo, I don't have Jess's awesome ability to take pictures of myself and there is no one here to take them for me. Oh right, I should probably mention that this is in Tosh 80/10/10 in Fig. The base is great and the color is nice for this hat (although it doesn't make me as excited as Flash Dance).

Absentee Knitter Knits Damson

Phew, we've been blogging for a month and I finally have a minute to join in and write a post. For those who don't know, I've been a little busy for the past month with moving ("Where to?", you might ask. Funny thing: both California and East Hampton. Yeah, it was a fun move) and starting my nannying gig. The kids are off to camp, and I have a minute to tell you about my progress on Damson, which I am not surprisingly way behind on.

While everyone else is finishing project numero dos, I'm just finishing up the would-be-garter section of Damson (that I'm doing in stockinette in hopes that my single skein of Tosh Merino Light will be enough). Based on Jess's results, I should be fine with the 420 yards of TML. The benefit of finishing last is that I don't have to be the guinea pig. Hopefully that makes up for the well-deserved tormenting I'm sure to suffer from my fellow bloggers.


So my notes on the pattern and project itself: The pattern is nice and easy. Like everyone else, my stitch count got a little off at one point. I was missing one stitch on one of the ends, so I just did an extra increase once I realized the mistake. It's not even noticeable (woohoo). My other note about my project is that I absolutely LOVE the Flashdance colorway. It seriously gorgeous and possibly the reason I'm totally fine taking my time.Who wouldn't want to drag out the time spent knitting in this stunning colorway?


So, the consolation prize for indulging me with this not-so-helpful post: a few pictures of what you're missing in East Hampton. I'll share more later, but for today here are the hydrangeas that have been keeping me sane while I haven't been able to knit. I sure hope the slideshow works! Update: Click on "Fullscreen" to view the slideshow.

Another Damson Down!

Claire here, adding another finished shawl to the tally! This would have been done a bit sooner but for my indecision about the edging. Originally I finished it with the mustard, bind off and all, but then I had some second thoughts. Since it was pretty late by the time all those stitches were bound off I put it down for the night and revisited it the next evening. Yup, I wasn't as in love with it as I thought. Time to rip! I continued merrily on my way with the remaining Graphite until about 2/3 of the way through the bind off when I thought "Hm, that yarn end is getting a little short." You guessed it, I ran out of yarn! Luckily, this is where having a bit of stash saves the day. I have another skein of TML in the Terrarium color, which is a darker greeny color, but I thought I could get a section that could match okay, especially for just the bind off. I only ended up being about two yard short, so if you did want to keep the body in garter stitch and use the TML, I would recommend taking out a few body rows and doing the math to fit the scallops in.


I blocked mine a little more aggressively than Jess, since I like my shawls on the larger size. For all you nerdy crafters out there, the first thing my SO said when he saw it blocking was "Is that a Cylon raider?"


It's so silky and drapey! I can see this becoming quite a wardrobe staple this fall. You can also see how wildly the color varies depending on the light!


If you look closely, you can tell that the top row of edging in this picture is a different shade than the bottom row. Since Tosh Merino Light is a 100% wool yarn, I avoided having to weave any ends in by doing a felted join, also called a spit splice. I think the latter name is much more descriptive! Basically, you are applying moisture, heat and friction to the yarn ends, just like if you were felting a larger piece. I made sure to overlap my ends by about 1.5 inches to form a secure join.

Overall, I am super pleased with how it turned out, and can't wait to cast on for our next project. I've got plenty of projects to keep me occupied in the meanwhile; I just cast on Rondeur last night!

Damson: Crossing the Finish Line

Jess here, and I'm happy to say that I crossed the Damson finish line! The pattern was an absolute pleasure to knit, and I love the finished result in Tosh Merino Light. Enough talk; on to the pictures!

A word on yardage: The pattern calls for 440 yards, but Tosh Merino Light's new put up only has 420. Claire mentioned that she thought she would have enough yarn. I had absolutely no problem finishing mine with maybe 15-20 yards to spare.

The finished shawl is so versatile. I like to wrap it around my neck as pictured, but it can also be worn with the center over the back (like traditional shawls) or with the center in the front. I'm so in love with the Smokestack shade; it's a true neutral gray that goes with everything. Needless to say, I've been wearing this shawl almost constantly (despite the heat!), and I can't wait for the others to finish theirs!

The Damson Marches On!

My Damson is coming along nicely - I'm about 10 rows from starting the edging and it looks like I'll have enough yarn to finish the whole thing in TML! This presents a bit of a conundrum, however, as I've grown attached to the idea of a contrasting trim. I'm not sure I ever said it here, but my plan was to do the lacey edge with some leftover Colinette Jitterbug in the color Vincent's Apron - a sunny, mustard yellow. I think I'll stick to that for now, but if I end up not liking it, the wonderful thing about knitting is that you can rip it out if you need to!

(picture added after I've started the edging!)

I had to do just that when I was about to make the transition from the garter stitch body to the Stockinette stitch scallops. Somehow I ended up with not enough stitches, and so my yarn overs were totally out of place. Luckily a quick rip back and a few extra rows of garter got me back on track. As I got more stockinette fabric, I wasn't sure I like the sturdier feel in comparison to the squishy softness of the garter stitch body, but now I like them both and I think they're a nice contrast to each other.

I hope to finish Damson in the coming week, but lately it's had to fight for knitting time with a pair of socks for my boyfriend. The first is long done, and now I'm trying to fend off Second Second Syndrome! We'll have to see how well I manage that whole make-another-the-same-as-the-first thing with this project, since there are not one, but THREE pairs of gloves in the book!

Damson: Catching Simple Mistakes

One of the best things about Damson is that it's such a simple yet elegant pattern. Because of this, there's a lot of very repetitive knitting. I tend to make most of my knitting mistakes on very easy patterns because I simply stop paying attention to what I'm doing. The two problems I've stumbled upon with this pattern are mismanaged yarn overs and keeping track of stitch counts.

When you work the yarn overs correctly, your shawl will radiate out from the cast on edge in a symmetrical manner. Makes perfect sense, right? Well, my first 20 rows or so looked a little more like this:

Why were my wedges uneven? Because my yarn overs were ending up to the left of my stitch markers instead of the right. It can be a bit difficult keeping yarn overs on the correct side of the stitch marker, but it's super important to be vigilant! On my second attempt, I erred on the side of caution and pulled my yarn overs a little tighter. This helped me keep them in the right place.

My second major problem was incredibly silly. I often lost track of which row I was on (despite keeping a tally on my pattern). In fact, I worked the entire first row of the lace section before I realized that I needed to do one more set of increases first. In case you haven't read that far ahead, let me tell you that there's a chart of stitch counts on page 3. Had I realized this, I would have been spared some tinking!

Thankfully, all of my small mistakes have been very easy to fix. I'm sailing through the pattern and am currently on row 98! Here's a peak at my progress.



I think I'll finish the pattern this weekend. Wish me luck!

Damson in Progress

Hello there! I figured that it was time for a progress update from at least one member of our little knitting tribe. As of this evening I've sailed through 55 rows and am loving it so far! This is my first time using TML and it is wonderful to work with - very soft and smooshy, especially on the larger needle size. I keep stopping every few rows to give it a squish and admire it!

I chose to keep the body in garter stitch and add a contrasting color for the edging to solve the yarn shortage issue. I'm about 95% sure I know what color I'm using for the edging, but the final decision will wait until I have the stockinette bit done. In some lights Graphite is a very grey-grey, but in others it has much more of a green cast to it. Either way, I'm sure it will turn out lovely!

Of course I'm going to use my Damson project bag for this little guy! Autographed by Ysolda herself at Vogue Knitting Live this past January, when Kendra and I happened to be in the right place at the right time, with exactly the right things for her to sign. The knitting gods smiled on us that day!

Substitute Damson

Hello! You may have noticed that although there are four of us here, there's only three people mentioned in the yarn selection post - that's because I've already knit a Damson shawl and although I love love LOVE it, I don't need a second one right now. See, here's the proof!

I knit it out of Malabrigo Yarn Sock in color 851 Turner. I chose to modify it by knitting the body of the shawl in stockinette instead of garter stitch because the yarn had so much color variation that I felt it looked better as a smoother fabric. It probably turned out to be a good idea because as Jess mentioned about yardage, I might have run out of yarn! It's a fabulous shawl that's fun to wear because of the more curved shape and I can't wait to see how the other girls' shawls turn out :)


In the meanwhile, I'm going to knit Hömin Shawl by Gudrun Johnston - It feels a little like cheating, but I got the go ahead for the following (very meaningful) reasons: both designers are from Scotland, Ysolda Teague is a model for the pattern, and the shawl is absolutely beautiful! I'm knitting it out of Madeleinetosh Prairie in the colorway Well Water, which is single-ply, 100% superwash merino in a lace weight (as opposed to the fingering weight of the Merino Light described below). I love knitting shawls and this one has completely different construction than any I've knit before! You start by making the pointed edging (knit lengthwise) then you pick up and knit the body of the shawl. Here it goes!

Damson: Yarn Selection

Hi, everyone! Since Damson is the first pattern in the collection, we'll be casting on for it tomorrow. Claire, Lindsey, and I will be knitting this pattern, so feel free to join in! First, I want to talk a bit about yarn selection. One of the great advantages to Ravelry is that you can click on the "yarn ideas" tab on any pattern for some inspiration. Malabrigo Sock, Dream in Color Smooshy, and Madelinetosh Sock are all popular options because they're soft, bouncy 100% merino yarns. Here's what you should consider:

• Gauge. This pattern was written for a fingering weight sock yarn. Some laceweight yarns may work, but you might end up with a smaller shawl or a more open look.


• Fiber content. This choice affects two major components: size and drape. Wool yarns (especially merino) are a great option because they block well while having some stitch memory. Sock yarns work well here. This is the perfect opportunity to explore luxury sock yarns that are blended with cashmere, alpaca, or even silver! 100% cotton and alpaca yarns have the tendency to grow a lot, so be careful when using them.


• Softness. It seems obvious, but the yarn's hand is super important, especially in a project that will be touching your neck. Try rubbing your yarn on your neck and the inside of your wrist to see how it'll feel.

Somehow, Claire, Lindsey, and I all decided on the same yarn without even discussing it: Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light. It's an incredibly soft single-ply merino yarn with an excellent drape, so it'll be great for this pattern. Here are our color choices!




The one disadvantage is that the put up recently changed from 440 yards (the amount required for the pattern) to 420 yards, so we'll have to get a little creative. There are basically 3 options for us: make the body in stockinette instead of garter, do fewer pattern increases, or use more yarn (either the same yarn or a contrasting color). We'll each let you know which changes we're making as we go along. I can't wait to cast on and share my progress!