Update: Four Knitting Projects

- 1 -

I finished the latest Elijah! Baby BJW now has his elephant, although of course, he is too young to appreciate the lovely colors (Misti Alpaca Pima Cotton & Silk Hand Paint - color CSP11, April Showers), or the fact that the eyes actually match this time. But I think this is my cutest elephant yet.

- 2 -

Jim's scarf is progressing nicely. There is really not much else to say about that project. I have been steadily working on it, during odd moments here and there. The scarf is slowly getting longer, while the ball slowly gets smaller.

- 3 -

The shawl, on the other hand, has had some serious ups and downs. A couple weeks ago, it was moving along nicely. But there were these two stitches, kind of hanging out on their own, that just seemed out of place. I felt that something was amiss, and posted a question on Ravelry. And then, I immediately answered my own question - I'd been making a mistake on every row 1 of the repeat.

There was nothing for it - I had to frog the entire thing and start over. So I did that, started over, and was again making forward progress.

Friday night, I was swatching for another project (see below), and looked over at Bonnie. She was playing with something - it looked long, like a dog collar, so I got up, to see if she'd gotten her collar off or something. Imagine my surprise to discover she was playing with my shawl! Or maybe she wasn't playing - maybe she was just trying to get untangled; at least, that's what I'm hoping. I'd been keeping it on the fireplace hearth; now it's on the piano.

I checked it quickly Friday night, and twice yesterday, more carefully, in the light of day. I can't see any damage, so it looks like I lucked out on this one.

- 4 -

I had thought that once I finished Elijah, I'd zip along on the shawl. But no; another project caught my eye. I've joined the Mittens for Me! Mystery KAL. KAL stands for Knit-ALong. The mystery is that we've signed onto this project without actually knowing what the finished project will look like. It will be mittens, of course. The yarn is fingering weight, so they'll be finer than traditional worsted weight mittens. Two colors are used, so there will be some colorwork involved.

I'm using yarn that is in my stash. I think I'll use the darker skein as the main color, and the green as the accent color.

Friday night, I swatched, first with size 0 needles, then with size 1.5. The goal was 7.5 stitches per inch. I was measuring about 6.5 or 7 per inch, which was pretty close.

Then, when I was reading the first clue today, I realized I had done the pattern wrong for my swatch - instead of K2 P1, I'd done K1 P1. And then, when I was reading posts from other knitters, I realized that my purls were 'hidden' behind the knits, and I was, in fact, only counting the knits. So my gauge is really something like 13 or 14 stitches to the inch - oops!

So... back to swatching, with the right pattern, and a larger needle size. What can I say?!?