Seraphim Started
Well, despite my picking up Nature Spun Sport at Brown Sheep last Thursday rather than a fingering weight yarn, Miriam convinced me to continue ahead with my plans of using the 4 balls (7 oz total) of Chuck Berry Seconds I picked up on our road trip for Seraphim. Since I find Brown Sheep yarns to be on the thin side of the spectrum of yarn weight for which they are labeled it isn’t that big of a stretch. I did go up to a US6 so that I would have a bit more drape to the final product. When I completed the first ball though I was at 18% completed (thanks to the the shawl progress calculator that Jessica has on her blog in the sidebar) if I worked the pattern as written, 20% if I took out one set of 6 rows of stockinette, I would have to take out 30 rows to be 100% positive I wouldn’t run out of yarn. I had written to Brown Sheep to see if they had two more balls remaining since my visit and if I could have them shipped, but I still haven’t heard back.
I also e-mailed back and forth with Miriam to figure out what number of stitches would get me close to the same dimensions of shawl as the pattern calls for. I didn’t trust my math since I have yet to finish a triangle shawl. To accurately figure that I needed the blocked gaguge so I transfered all 187 sts to a lifeline and steam blocked the shawl on the guest bed. We decided I’d be closest if I only took out 6 rows. So, that meant I was sitting at 20% of the knitting complete.
Since the top is dense being just stockinette I very well may be okay with my four balls of yarn. I’m a little nervous about it running short, but Snow, Miriam and I decided it would also be acceptable to knit the edge chart and bind off in a contrasting color. I’ll probably hold off until I’m closer to done before getting a contrasting color, but I’m thinking perhaps a charcoal gray if one is called for.
Did you notice the uneven dyeing in that photo of the shawl blocking at row 92? I suspect that is why it was marked as seconds. But, I like it. It gives it that kettle dyed look. I don’t think it is strong enough that it will detract from the lace and it gives some added interest to the stockinette portion.
I did make a poor choice at the beginning of the shawl. Two cast-on options were offered - backward loop and cable. In reading about the cable cast-on one of the “disadvantages” was that it is not very stretchy so I thought that would make it a poor choice for this shawl. I was afraid of a pucker at the top where the cast on is if the cast-on was too inelastic. So, I opted for the backward loop and now I have what looks like “break” in the top edging. I’m thinking I’ll try use the tail and some crochet to bridge that gap a bit. What do you think?
BTW, all this wondering about whether I would have enough yarn or not led to a discussion amongst myself and Sansablog about the math in the shawl calculator and whether it was accurate. If anyone is interested in seeing how the equation used in that came about, give me a holler as I even have a graphic to back it up… What can I say? I’m a big geek and was only one course short of a double major with math!
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