The Colchi KAL Continues.

...my apologies, I couldn't resist the alliteration!

We were a small group at the shop on Friday, but we all made forward progress.

Jessica's in the upper left, knit out of her stash...something light worsted, I think. and Sharon's is the lovely turquoise Venezia. and mine is the purple Sublime.

a close-up of Sharon's. Venezia is a great choice for this project!

A few clarifications and notes based on questions I've heard:

First, the ssp (slip slip purl) stitch that appears on the wrong-side rows beginning on row 24. Think of this like an ssk (slip slip knit) except on the wrong side. Slip the first stitch as if to knit, slip the second stitch as if to knit. Then slip both those stitches back to the left needle (keeping their "new" orientation) and purl them together through their back loops. Yes, it's a bit awkward - at first - but we get lots of practice! Here's a video that demonstrates the stitch.

Second, a reminder that the designer included a great video link in the pattern for the yarn over short rows.

Third, what happens for rows 45 and on? (the pattern gets pretty vague at this point). You want to keep working the short rows, using row 43 as the model for the right side rows and row 44 as the model for the wrong side rows. You will continue the short rows until you use up all the stitches, til row 74, I think? (I'm still on the chart... so I'm kind of speaking out of turn here!). Also, the stitch counts shown (113-13-13-19-25...) include "13" twice, but I think it's really only 13 once on row 42. Row 43 has 19 stitches, row 44 has 25 stitches, etc.

Fourth, here's a video that shows an i-cord bind-off. (it takes a long time to execute, but it makes a great looking edge!)

I'm hearing that folks are finishing. I can't wait to see pictures - please post them in our Ravelry thread.

And that means we're starting to think about our next KAL. Clapotis (ravelry link) was suggested because it's so versatile - you can pretty much use any yarn you want (as long as it's not too "sticky"...dropping stitches with sticky yarn is not fun!) and it makes a lovely wrap for summer. Stay tuned as we finalize our plans.

Colchi Cast-on.

Our latest KAL started Friday with the cast-on. Three of us were there in person - and that means we cast on a whopping 1,035 stitches - WOW!

...after 2 hours of knitting...

That's mine in front, Kathy's on the right (she's using Venezia Worsted in a colorway that's going to look fabulous at the Masters in April!) and Jessica's in the back (she's using something in a light worsted weight from her stash).

If you're joining us virtually, be sure to read the details I posted here about reading the chart. And if you have any questions, feel free to leave them here, or in our forum on Ravelry. Looks like we've got great participation for this KAL - thank you to everyone for participating!

And special thanks to Beth for letting us know how to pronounce the pattern name. If you missed it on Ravelry, it's coal - ki - KAY - kI (i = little i sound, KAY = syllable that’s emphasized, and I = long i sound). So no "ch" sounds, just "k" sounds :-)

We'll be meeting again this Friday at the shop - 2-4pm (ish) if you'd like to join us in person. We'd love to have you!!

A Colchi Swatch.

As promised! I've selected a pretty dusty purple shade (#107-rhubarb) of Sublime Aran for my Colchi (even though I've finally learned to type its full name, I have no idea how to pronounce it, so for now this is going to be Colchi, which I say as "kol-chee" :-) The finished projects on Ravelry that used worsted weight used about 440 yards - the Sublime has 94 yards per skein so I bought five.

For this swatch, I decided to test out the first section of the chart. I cast on 25 stitches, using the knitted cast on (remember back when we did the Annis shawlette, we needed a very stretchy cast on and that was the one we suggested) and a size 8 needle. I then worked one repeat of the chart through row 18. I like the fabric and love the texture in the pattern. I think I'm going to use a size 9 needle for the "real" cast-on just to be sure I have a stretchy enough edge for blocking out the points. Also, I am not planning to knit or purl back a plain row after the cast-on, before starting the chart - we did that on Annis, but I like the look of the lace starting right away on this swatch. I do need to remember to switch back to my size 8 needles for the first row (if you're there on Friday, please remind me!)

A few notes about the chart. Because we're knitting flat, we read the odd rows (right side) from right to left, and the even rows (wrong side) from left to right. The chart symbols (at the bottom of the first page) for the empty square and the square with the dash are only shown for right side rows. An empty square is stockinette - it gets knitted on the right side and purled on the wrong side. A square with a dash is the opposite - it's purled on the right side and knitted on the wrong side. Note that the two edge stitches are worked in garter stitch - knitted on every row; they have empty squares (knit stitches) on the right side and dashed squares (knit stitches) on the wrong side. There is also a "cdd" = "central double decrease", which gets worked over 3 stitches: slip 2 together knitwise, knit one, pass the 2 slipped stitches over. Here's a video to demostrate.

We'll be casting on at the shop this Friday afternoon. 345 stitches might take the whole two hours!

Please let me know if you have any questions. We've had a great response in the Ravelry forum about this project - hope it continues!

Seasonal Thoughts.

I'm in Florida right now, visiting my parents, and it's a balmy 58 degrees outside (and yes, that's at 7 am); they're forecasting a high today in the upper 60's. And my Google homepage shows Roswell with a low of 25 and a high of 40 and those little white dots that mean snow flurries. So while I have spring here, I know it's still winter at home.

And I think it fits perfectly to share ideas for knitting winter....


Dave's Montera Set

 Dave's Montera Set is the latest free pattern from Classic Elite's newsletter. It includes mittens and a hat sized for both women and men, knit in a textured stitch pattern that works great in one or two colors. The suggested yarn is a 50 wool/50 alpaca blend at 4 st/in. Cascade Pastaza would be perfect - and comes in about a hundred colors (and it's reasonably priced - you could make the set with two skeins for around $20).

...and spring.

photo from silberfee on flickr

This is the Colchicaceae shawlette and it's going to be our next KAL. It's a free pattern on Ravelry (). The pattern suggests about 380 yards of DK weight yarn, but there are also beautiful projects knit in worsted weight (like this one in my favorite Venezia Worsted) and sport weight (this one in madelinetosh Pashmina is stunning!) as well. In a bright color and a yarn with some silk (and of course a cute white t-shirt!) this screams SPRING to me. We're going to start the KAL next Friday, February 4. And with any luck, by the time we've finished, we'll have some warmer weather!

I'll be back early next week with yarn suggestions and a gauge swatch. If you're planning to knit with us in person, it's 2-4pm at the shop. But we welcome virtual participation as well - feel free to participate in our Ravelry forum, or on Facebook.

Stay warm and happy knitting/stitching!!

edited to add (in response to Lydia's question in the comments): Ravelry has finished photos of three finished shawls knit in fingering weight yarn. All three report to use close to 500 yards and one used a size 4 needle (the other two don't mention the needle size).