Juneberry Triangle FO and Project Updates

Hey, it’s another FO Friday! This edition brings you a finished Juneberry Triangle.

Once I got to the edging on Juneberry the 2nd, I didn’t want to put it down! Wasn’t long before it was finished. Last weekend I finished it and blocked it. I the yarn blocked out nicely. It’s drapes wonderfully and the finished shawl is pretty big, maybe slightly bigger then the first Juneberry Triangle I knit.

Juneberry Triangle

Pattern: Juneberry Triangle, the 2nd (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: January 5, 2011
Completed: January 22, 2011
Yarn: Brooks Farm Solo Silk, 1.15 skeins (approx 460 yards)
Needles: US 7 bamboo circular
Notes: I did make one mod (the same one I did on my first Juneberry Triangle, which I didn’t mention on that FO post). When you start the border, it tells you to repeat the first two rows twice more. I only repeated once more. Repeating twice more then knitting the next two rows didn’t line up right to the existing garter edge on the shawl (because you’re working 4 stitches total before starting the pattern and the garter edge is only 3). When you reach the end you only work the garter edge picking up 3 stitches from the shawl (the 3 border stitches from the shawl), so I think this may be an error in the pattern. Even if it’s not, it makes the two edges match rather the the start of it having an extra garter ridge.

Juneberry Triangle – Full

Juneberry Triangle – Back

Since I finished Juneberry the 2nd, I went back to working on Watershed. You start by knitting the bottom band, then knitting the points on each edge, then you start the body. I’m up to the armholes now, but I’ve decided to change from what the pattern says to do. The pattern directs you to knit the two front and the back pieces separately until you’ve completed 2.5 repeats of the pattern (for the size I’m working). This creates the bottom part of the armhole on each side. Clear as mud? It’s kind of hard to describe, but it would basically look like this when you move on to the next part. Please excuse my lack of detail. I’m not very good at drawing things. The little squiggles at the top represent the stitches that would be live on your needle.

Drawing of the Armholes on Watershed

Then you cast on the arm stitches and join the fronts and back together. Once you’re finished, you pick up the stitches between the fronts and back that you put on waste yarn, then pick up stitches along each side where you knit those 2.5 pattern repeats, and around where you cast on stitches for the top part of the arm. Work one row, then bind off. Seems like a lot of work and ends to weave in!

I’m concerned that working it as written would make the armholes too deep for me and I was thinking about lengthening the sleeves a little more then the pattern calls for, so instead of doing all that, I’m going to work the whole thing 2.5 more repeats, put the same number of stitches on waste yarn for the under part of the sleeve, then cast on more stitches then it calls for to do the sleeves (the amount it tells you, plus what would be picked up on each side). I started doing the separate bits last night because I couldn’t figure out what was going on, despite reading ahead in the pattern, then when I finished the right front I realized what was going on and I didn’t think it would work for what I wanted to do. So, I ripped back and I’m now to where I cast on stitches for the armhole.

Watershed – Front

Watershed – Back

Remember that Summer Flies Shawl I started back at the beginning of the year? After not picking it back up for well over a week, I decided to frog it. The written instructions were just not working for me and I dreaded having to work from them. I like the finished shawl a great deal, however it just wasn’t appealing to me right now, so I decided to frog it and try the pattern some other time with a different yarn. Last night I cast on Textured Shawl (Ravelry link) with the same yarn – Malabrigo Worsted in Rodecian and size US 9 needles. (You can see pictures of it on Flicker here and here.) Since it’s more of a recipe then a pattern with specific instructions, I’ve looked over notes from others on how they started and worked theirs. I’m sure I’ll have a lot of notes on it when I’m finished, but so far it’s a pretty easy knit!

Textured Shawl & My New Project Bag

If you notice in the picture above, I have an awesome cupcake project bag in the background. I recently bought it from the Piddleloop Sewing Team. It’s one of the large box bags and came with a matching zippered pouch. It’s really well made, arrived super quick, and I love it! I have a feeling I’ll add more to my project bag collection soon enough. 🙂

Tonight we’re going to a hockey game with some friends. Should be fun and I’ll be bringing my knitting to the game, of course. This weekend our only plans are to get a new garbage disposal installed tomorrow (so long as it arrives – we ordered it on Amazon for less the Lowe’s was selling it for). Wednesday, I found that it was leaking right before running the dishwasher. Our sink has been mostly out of commission since then, so I’ll be happy to have it working again. Hope everyone has a good weekend!