WIP: Aibrean

Patterns designed by Isabell Kraemer are wonderful to knit. You are guaranteed directions that are easy to follow and an FO that will be comfortable to wear and that will look great.  I was so happy to finally get one of her patterns called Aibrean on my needles as it had been in my queue for some time. I knew that my Madelinetosh 80/10/10 Sport in the colourway Tannenbaum would be a great match for it.

Madelinetosh 80/10/10 Sport

Colourway:  Tannenbaum

What I didn't expect was that after working on the pattern for one week, I would be ripping it out and starting over.  Not because I made any knitting errors.  No, I had no issues following this well written pattern.  As I knit this sweater, mostly in the evenings, I did not notice how different the skeins were from each other.  What I stupidly did was decide not to alternate skeins until I got to the part in the pattern where I put the sleeve stitches on hold.  MISTAKE.  I had reasoned in my head that since I bought all the skeins at the same time that they would be from the same dye lot and would look very similar.  Nope.  Wrong.  What I should have done before I grabbed the first skein was to lay out all the skeins in the daylight, side by side, and look to see if they were the same. When I finally had a closer look I noticed that each skein was slightly different. I don't know if you can see where I started alternating in the picture below but the section in the lower part of the sweater is definitely darker.  If I hadn't started over, the sleeves especially would look weird once I start knitting them because no other skein is as light as the first skein I used.

First attempt.  Notice the darker section when I finally started alternating skeins

So I ripped it out and started over.  Seriously I would think by now I would know better and alternate from the beginning.  Another lesson learned.  They say you will keep repeating lessons until you learn them.  I don't know who 'they' are but 'they' are right!

Well here is my progress a couple weeks after I started over.  I am almost at the ribbing section.

Second attempt alternating three skeins

It is very hard for me to capture the exact colours in this yarn.  It is a beautiful combination of a rich forest green, a lighter green and brown.  I will be very interested to see how this sweater blocks out and how much it grows as I have never knit this patterned stitch before.

While I was on my holiday a few weeks ago I managed to finish the beautiful Pebble Beach Shawl by Helen Stewart.  This is the second one I have knitted. The first Pebble Beach Shawl I knit was gifted so I had wanted to make another one for some time.  It is the perfect size and shape to wear around your neck.  This is a very popular pattern with good reason.  There are no charts.  Instead it is written line by line giving you an indication of how far along you are in the pattern.  So, for example, it will tell you when you are 50% along.  This is extremely helpful if you want to use a whole skein of yarn, or if you want to make sure you do not run out.  

Pebble Beach Shawl

Colourway:  Blue Bell

I knit this shawl in Madelinetosh 80/10/10 fingering in the colourway Blue Bell, a lovely soft combination of merino, cashmere and nylon.  This is a great pattern to showcase a special skein of yarn.  The revised pattern also comes in two other larger sizes.

Now off I go to work on Aibrean.  Enjoy what's left of your weekend and don't make the mistake I made..ripping out is not fun.