I am looking forward to joining my first KAL. I realize I have made large afghans with size 15 needles and bulky yarn so now I am a little less concerned. I will be doing a swatch this weekend.
Here is my color way.
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Love your colors!
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Oooh I love that wine red color!
I’m late to the party and Lambs Pride has to die one more lot of color, so I will be working and watching with one skein that I have on hand! Looking forward to doing large needle knitting again.
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I have just received the Blue Colorway for the Kiki Mariko rug but I need help - what color do I cast on with?
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Just got my shipment from MDK today‼️ Can’t wait to open it and get started‼️
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Cast on with Dynamic Blue, and bind off with Blue Boy for the Blue version.
Cast on with Seafoam, and bind off with Wild Violet for the Heather version.
edited to change the bind-off color for the Heathers.
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For the blue you can either cast on with the Dynamite Blue or Turquoise Depths and your first two stitches in the pattern will be with Turquoise Depths.
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I bought this kit in the Holiday Shop and set it aside for who-knows-when I would get around to trying it…I think February 1 is the perfect time to push it to the top of the Queue. I’ve never felted anything before, so I think I will learn quite a few new things with this project.
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Yarn is currently sold out in the MDK shop, but I’m intrigued by the “strapless woolly ball gown” and now I need someone to post a picture of that before felting!
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You got it 
I’ve never felted either! (Intentionally, that is) I’m a little nervous but not going to let that stop me!
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Looking forward to kiki mariko ball gowns…and tiaras!
I’m so excited for this! While waiting for my kit to arrive, I’ve practiced with some yarn I have hanging around, and have a few questions. (I’m new to strand work, and steeks.)
- From what I’ve read about strand work, it is important to keep one color yarn above the other while stranding, not to mix them up and down as you go. So, the yarn from the motif color stays above the yarn of your background color. So my question is: when you switch a color from position A to B, do you keep it in the motif spot (yarn on top) or move it to the background spot (yarn on bottom) in holding the yarn while you strand?
For example, in the original color way pattern, you’ve got the blue yarn in position B for rows 5-8 (and brown in position A), then in rows 9-12 blue jumps to the other color position (position A) when you add the grey. (Blue takes the spot of brown in the pattern and grey comes in where you had been using the blue.)
When you make that switch, do you change where you’re holding the stranded yarn in relation to the other color, or does it stay in the same spot? So if you’re holding the blue above the brown yarn while stranding in rows 5-8, does it stay above the grey or do you move it under the grey in rows 9-12? Does it make a difference?!
And— the steek is messing me up! I’ve never steeked before so I think I need more guidance on the steek pattern. After the first steek, are you alternating colors so it’s a one-stitch-of-each checkerboard, or are you doing the edge stitch, then 4 of one color, then alternating colors for 4, then edge stitch? The pattern says “on the next and subsequent rounds, you will create a checkerboard by knitting the eight center stitches in the opposite of the stitch below it”— so if you’ve got 4 of one color set up from the first row, it would seem like that would carry on forever?
And… I’m definitely doing something wrong on the steek color change when the color jumps to the next position, but maybe that’s because I’m steeking wrong and the clarification above will help.
I hope those questions made sense… hard to explain in writing! Thank you! This project had invigorated me and I’m so excited for it.
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Thanks for posting this, I have the same question about the steek… I’m confused about what the steek pattern looks like…
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These are the 10 steek stitches with colors changed at stitch 5.
@Jourdan
I am (trying to be) consistent with the dominant color- all of the blue was held in my Left hand.
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thanks, this helps!
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Here is what my steek is looking like. The first and last stitch always match the color the pattern row either ended or is about to begin with. From there I occasionally have a duplicate color stitch to get it back to the alternating checkerboard.
I have found a routine with my stranded knitting (took a few inches) where as long as the two colors aren’t twisting, I know I am holding them in the right positions. Occasionally they get one twist but I correct it on the next pair of stitches in that color and carry on. I am not being super strict with so hopefully it’ll turn out ok!
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A few more thoughts/questions…
- It looks like at one time (November 16, 2008 to be exact!) Anne posted a steek chart on the Kiki-Mariko discussion board on Ravelry. That’s no longer available, but it seems like that would be a great thing to have. Is it possible to bring that back?
- Also, the discussion on Ravelry does help clarify some of the issues regarding the steek
- I am knitting this using the pattern in the book and picking up tips from Ravelry posts -I’m wondering if I should purchase the new and updated pattern?
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Thank you for your help @nellknits ! So, just to be clear, the alternating starts at stitch 5 in all the steek rows? It sounds like that’s what you said, but it looks like the stitches are alternating each stitch in the photo. But I am also super new to all of this! Thank you.