LOL my stitch count is wonky, too–and I always just assume it’s me. My
count at Row 74 is 27 stitches total, 10 in yarn A and 17 in yarn B. WHAT
IS WITH US?
My hunch is that I forgot to k2together somewhere. But I was too lazy to
undo my lovely intarsia to find where it happened.
I made the executive decision to just Go With It. Now, at Row 155, I’ve got
4 stitches more than the official count. Will keep you posted on what
happens.
It’s so lovely, isn’t it? Only we know that the stitch count is wonky . . .
This weekend at DFW Fiber Fest, I heard two different people who were talking about mistakes in knitting say, “Galloping Horse.” The idea is that if a mistake can’t be seen from the back of a galloping horse, just keep knitting. Sounds like a good mantra!
Thanks! Glad to hear I’m not alone! The lovely cumulus makes it hard to see where mistakes may have happened and hard to undo your knitting as well.
I love the galloping horse idea and it reminds me of something I say with jobs around our house. I say things are “better knit.” It means it’s not great, but better’n it was.
We use the same expression in quilting Pennie! My yarn is on its way - yay!!! - and I can’t wait to start. Pretty sure I’ll be putting the “galloping horse” theory to the test in this project too :*)
Well I’m glad to see that other knitters are dealing with this too. I don’t know where it went wrong, but I can’t see how it’s going to matter so I’m just letting it go.
I’m 3 colors into this, and it’s going well, but this yarn is a bit annoying to me. It knits up beautifully, but it sticks together so the various colors get tangled every single time. I know I’ll be happy with the result, but I don’t know if I’d ever use it for intarsia again!
Hah! I fell victim to missing that k2tog on Row 40 twice last night but, since I’m using Hempathy which doesn’t stick to itself or anything else, it was easy to t-i-n-k back a few stitches and fix it. Ooh, great tip to keep yarn from tangling quite as much, Ann1.
Well, confession time for me! Since it’s only my second post, that didn’t take very long, did it?
As I have now hit a, um, “certain age” at which one may obtain a certain red card with letters that can be seen a mile away by my loudmouthed college student daughters, my hair has become grayer than I would prefer, thanks to said daughters. As a result, and the fact that I’ve never found a normal hair color to match my natural one, I now sport “colored hair” as in purple, blue, magenta and jade.
What I never expected after doing this was A) how much I would love it, and B) how much of my wardrobe I would have to throw out because it didn’t match my hair!!! My students let me know quickly that red and earth tones are not my friends (I’m a humanities professor, specializing in art history), lol!
Long story short, I’m having to dip into the stash to find colors that don’t clash with my hair, so Elsebeth Lavold’s Silky Wool in jewel tones is happening. I actually thought I knew Intarsia, but evidently I had NO clue about it! Figures! I have had a blast with figuring it out, though, and what do you know? It works, pretty much…!
I have a beloved wrap knit with Silky Wool which just gets better with time.
And I am amazed by this take on Intarsia. Brilliant, and not at all what I have done in the past.
I sadly cannot start another project but have been reading through the directions (I love reading patterns) and notice a lot of ‘at the same time’ directions going on. I am a fan of marginalia, and make lists and charts and curious notes along the edge of the pattern or on a post-it to combine all the things that must be done.
I love the yarn, the kit, the colors and all of the thoughtful substitutions I’m seeing.
Have reached a mental roadblock. Tonight I got to section 4: Work Increases, Shift Yarns B and C. In the paragraph below, the last line says that the “shawl body increases continue on the 4th rows” then in the next paragraph it says they aren’t written into the pattern. No fair! I have no clue which of the increases I did in the previous sections were considered “body increases” so I am lost… and peeved. You’d think learning to juggle multiple balls of yarn would be enough, now the designer wants me to think? Can someone help? I won’t get back to working on it until tomorrow evening, hoping someone will take pity on my ignorance by then. Thanks in advance.
The body increases are in every 4th row in colour A, so I have written on a blank piece of paper the rows that I have to increase on, eg 109,113,117,121…right up to the point of decreasing which I think is row 301. Seeing I am still following rows for other instructions, I will cross off the increase row from the list as I come to them. Maybe others have a different method but this is the only way I can remember to increase!
You’ve already had a great answer from @sandradart17 But I just wanted to add that the shawl body increases were established back in section 1 (it’s the k3, slmx, m1r at the start of all the rows marked inc). I worked with Bristol on the pattern wording and there is just one sections where the increases aren’t written in (and one where the decreases aren’t written in). Both times the shift repeats were long, but not multiples of 4. So if we had written it in full it would have added a lot of length to the pattern, and we were trying to balance “easy to follow” with “not too overwhelming”. In section 4 the shift repeat works over 18 rows, so when you repeat the shift pattern the increases land on different rows.
Hopefully by this point in the pattern you’re getting used to working the “plain” rows, where you are just knitting or purling across the intarsia pattern? And doing the increase on 4th rows isn’t too tricky I hope. Which just leaves the shift rows to keep track of and pay attention to. I kept track of mine like this in section 4:
Stars are increase rows then the other letters are which are shifting and RS/WS notes. Sometimes I stop paying attention and forget to tick a row when it’s done, but I can usually see when I last did the increase row and work out whether the next RS should be increase or whether the next but one should be increase and that usually gets me back on track.
Just a general tip… If your stitch counts are out, it is a good idea to fudge them rather than leave them too far - just that otherwise you won’t end up with the curves finishing where they should, which might make it tricky to sort out later. I’d recommend adjusting the stitch count of sections as required by working an increase or decrease they way that they would be worked in a shift row. But space the fudges out as much as possible so that you don’t make a wiggle in your smooth curve. Does that make sense? It’s one of those days it would be nice if we were all in a room with our knitting together and could look at each other’s projects.
As far as I’m aware there are no mistakes in the stitch counts in the pattern.
The shawl pattern is intriguing but the colors in the kits are just not going to work for me. But what to get instead has me stumped, because the descriptions of the yarn seem to vary from heavy lace-weight to DK, depending on the source (pattern, Ravelry?). So I will probably postpone this past the KAL, since the chance of me hitting a yarn store before May 1 is already low.
Nonetheless, when I do get a chance to buy something for Brambling I would love to know is this one of those patterns where the yarn weight is less important than the drape of the fabric? In other words could DK or fingering work with a looser gauge than the label specifies? And is fuzziness functional for this particular technique, or just a pleasant feature?
Cumulus is one of those yarns that can be knitted at a wide range of gauges depending on what effect you are after - hence the lack of agreement on what yarn weight it is. If you are looking to substitute it, and you don’t want a fuzzy yarn, then I would go for a 4ply. You are absolutely right that the drape is more important than the fuzziness. You could work with anything from a heavy laceweight to a DK weight, as long as you have enough yardage (and I can only comment on the yardage requirements in Cumulus I’m afraid).
If you’re happy to knit with a fluffy yarn, then Kidsilk Haze from Rowan; Debbie Bliss Angel; Knitpicks Aloft; Drops Kidsilk would all be good subs. Here’s a link to YarnSub.com for Cumulus substitutes: http://yarnsub.com/yarns/fyberspates/cumulus
Hope that helps!
Thanks, sandradart17 and JenACKnitwear for your quick responses to my shout out for help. Margin note scribbling will commence forthwith. Jen, thanks especially for clarifying which increase is the “body increase.” I feel better now.
Not being a fan of fuzzy and having none in my stash, I’m using Elsabeth Lavold’s Hempathy which is giving me drape with no fuzz and I’m liking the sharp separate lines where the colors join.
But I just wanted to add that the shawl body increases were established back in section 1 (it’s the k3, slmx, m1r at the start of all the rows marked inc). I worked with Bristol on the pattern wording and there is just one sections where the increases aren’t written in (and one where the decreases aren’t written in). Both times the shift repeats were long, but not multiples of 4. So if we had written it in full it would have added a lot of length to the pattern, and we were trying to balance “easy to follow” with “not too overwhelming”. 
