Sometimes, sometimes, something actually works!  I started knitting Ouzo designed by Baby Cocktails out of Malabrigo’s new yarn, Susurro.  I wanted lineny, drapey, loosely knit.  That is not my usual knitting style!  I like my knitting to be kind of firm.  But, I soldiered on because I knew the outcome that I was looking for.  I love the yarn!  It is lovely to knit with, has beautiful drape, and comes in a ton of gorgeous colors.

I liked the casual style of Ouzo, with its fun lace panel across the back shoulders:

It is knit in stockinette with reverse stockinette only on the back shoulders above the lace.  It has an open front with lace trimmed pockets.  The pattern has you knit the pockets after the sweater is finished and then sew them on as patch pockets.  I knit mine the traditional way with a lining.  It was putsy because I knit the lace and ribbing sts of the pocket on a 6 while knitting the rest of the front on a 7.

Pocket close up:

I lengthened the sleeves a couple of inches and adjusted the shaping to my body type, but made very few other changes.  I thought I would need 6 skeins but only used 4!  Yay!!  I love this sweater!!

I finished my Harriet’s Hat.  To recap, the proceeds from sales of this hat pattern support the Shetland Island MRI fund.  It is $5 well spent!!  I used yarn from my stash so this is a cheapie.

I have a big head.  This hat starts with 136 sts and then increases to 144.  Not enough for my melon!  I cast on 160.  The main snowflake chart and the crown require an 18-stitch repeat so I added 2 sts for the snowflake section.  For the crown, I decreased 16 so I was back at the 144 in the original.  So my crown shaping is identical to the original.  It worked smashingly well.  I may use this trick in the future.

The crown is so pretty.  I may add a tassel but will not cover the top with a pom!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SUSAN!!!!

Yes, it’s that time of year again.  (How does that happen?  Every single year!)

It’s Susan’s birthday today.  Wishing a wonderful day to my partner in crime and all things yarn.  (You knew this photo would make its annual appearance!)

Lettie is back and looking good!  She is not thrilled with her current location.  Instead of being upstairs in the limelight she has been banished to the lower level!  She is sad, sad, sad!  But she has a great view of the pond.

Lettie is wearing my recently finished 2019 Romi Hill Mystery Shawl.  It is knit out of mystery stash yarn, which is fitting.  The darker color is something I must have bought at Yarnover some time or another.  The lighter panel was knit from leftovers from my Fading Point Wrap.  As I already mentioned, my friend Kim had to come to the rescue when I ran out of yarn.

On my needles now is a hat: Harriet’s Hat.

The people of Shetland are trying to come up with the money to buy their own MRI.  All proceeds from the sale of this pattern go toward that goal!  I am very slowly progressing.  I am making mine larger and a bit longer so I have more knitting to do than most people!!

You think you’re motoring along and then you look…something has gone horribly wrong!  Things that need to line up do not.  That’s when repairs need to be made!

I am working on my Romi Hill Mystery Shawl and discovered that I had not been paying proper attention.  Years ago, Romi showed how she corrected mistakes in her knitting – specifically lace knitting but it could be used on any project.  You cordon off the mistaken area by identifying the specific rows/stitches that have gone awry.  In my case, center sts were not lining up in two repeats of the pattern:

I found the error when working Row 9.  I knew I had to go back and rework Rows 3 – 8.  I pulled out the bad section of knitting row by row, pinning each strand separately to keep them in order.  I then placed the live sts on a circular needle one size smaller than I was using.  I used another short circular to reknit each row.  I alternated using each circular (in other words I always worked from the RS).

Everything is all lined up!!

Now I can continue, but will pay more attention this time around!!

PS to all questioners!  I pinned the shawl to a tablecloth on top of a pad.  It looks very barky, but it’s just fabric!  It was easy to knit with the strands pinned out.  I just released them one by one in their proper order and knit the assigned row.  It did not seem difficult to do.  If this happens again I will try to do a video.

The bad news is that I ran out of yarn 5 rows from the end!  The good news is that friend Kim has the same yarn – I will get it from her on Thursday!!  🙂