Glistening

The new Multnomah is finished - gloriously so, if I do say so myself.  Here is daughter #1 once again serving as model and proving that a shawl fits all sizes from cute young thing to old mama. 

The specifics:
Multnomah (link at bottom of post) which is a pattern from way back in 2009 .
Needle size 4 US
Tiny crochet hook for beads.
Beads left over from two other shawls.  Please don't ask me to count the beads.  Math is not really my thing, so even counting one row, multiplying and then increasing for the increases causes me to say Yuckie Poo!
Malabrigo Sock.  One skein will make a generous size if you just add additional repeats.  I stopped when the beads ran out.

 Here is the typical back view that shows the center spine and the feather and fan (or mountain and valley?) lace work.  But what you really want to see is how the beads worked out.

Voila!  Straight lines of beads that end in a glistening drip of a beaded picot bind off.  Everything between the drips is just a normal K2Tog bind off.  I use the K2Tog BO for shawls because it provides a bit more stretch.  And I am a yanker.  I pull and fiddle and play with my neck wear all day. 

Check out Yarn Fairy's lesson on this wonderful beaded picot.  It might take a few tries to get the hang of the yarn over method, but it works great.  NOTE:  Lenora only did two YOs (with bead placed) prior to picking up a stitch to anchor the whole thing.  Just watch the video and all will be clear.

A Mountain of Success

The mountain is scaled - Multnomah is complete.  Yes, I am a few years late in the trend, however with such a timeless pattern, late is never late.  Before I  get all wrapped up in success, a few specifics:

Pattern: link is above and available through Ravelry if you prefer.

Yarn:  Araucania Yarns, Lonco Multy in Color 4005 (blue, yellow gold and resulting brown & green)

Needle:  US 4

There are many blogs and chat threads available to assist with this pattern.  The dreaded Feather & Fan seems to be the major culprit that causes difficulty.  Well, that and the fact that the pattern for the F&F section is written very well for the first repeat but lacks clear specifics on maintaining placed markers as the work progresses.

This pattern has a strong and very pronounced center spine.  While the pattern might be missing a few hints, it is easy to read the stitches and place the YOs appropriately.  This part gave me no angst.

Ah!  But the dreaded F&F is another story.  I will admit to you, fair knitter, that this simple pattern always causes my hands to shake, my needles to TINK, and my mouth to be bad. 

Do I insert a life line?  NO. 
Do I insert markers at each eighteen stitch repeat?  NO. 
Do I do anything to help avoid problems?  NO. 

Miss Lenora goes on faith, a wing and a prayer - all the while trusting that she can fix anything or fudge her way through.  It is a bad habit.  I admit it.  You, however, should do the whole life line, markers, work slowly and count thing. 

To celebrate successfully getting through the F&F lace part, I tried a new-to-me bind off.  It is one of the K2tog BOs that claims to be very stretchy and give enough wiggle room to allow blocking out the lace without going up a gazillion needle sizes trying to bind off loosely.  Know what I mean?  The BO can be learned here.  I used Version B should you wish to give it a try.

Actually, you should give Multnomah a try. It is a wonderful mountain of a project.

In Between Knitting

This month is turning out to be a series of fun adventures broken up by short periods of calm.  And it appears that the only time I have for yarn work is in between the adventures during those short periods.  I even missed my favorite Monday knitting group. 

So, you are wondering why Bert is the first thing you see in this post.  Simply stated, I am finding that sitting near the beast (his jungle scream has been particularly loud and demanding lately) keeps him calm and gives me a comfy place to try to get a little knitting done.

This is Multnomah,  which can be had free here.   It is an extremely easy piece of work.  Except for one thing.  It involves the ageless feather and fan pattern which is never my favorite to work.  Mind you, I love the final result.  But something happens to my fingers as they manipulate the sticks and string to K2tog and YO in the appropriate places.

It is inevitable that on every non important row, something will go amiss which causes the important working row (that being the K2tog & YO work) to be missing a stitch or two.  Thus I am forced to check each and every stitch in the prior row to find that one little mishap that make the whole thing go awry.  Sometimes it turns out that a YO was missed way below.  Sometimes it turns out that six does not mean seven nor does it mean five.  Sometimes it is impossible to figure out what when wrong where and how to insert/delete an extra stitch so as to fool the eye into thinking that nothing is wrong.  Sometimes it is. . . .

Is my frustration showing?  Don't fret.  When this one is done, I'll be please as punch.