My personal knitting tutors are all gone nowadays, so I have to ask you guys please for some help.

I am building my stash of hand dyed 4ply yarns towards this winter's shawl project, and have rather fallen for the Nightshift shawl by Angela Mowry, spotted on ravelry and pinterest. But. It is a different weight, and really too heavy for a temperate winter jaffa to get a lot of use out of.

So how to I rewrite the pattern to suit the new weight - just knit a test piece and go by measurements - stitch to inch or should I be taking something else into account?

Oh, and I intend to to this in colour family blocked stripes without fancy stitches, because for me the joy is in the simplest process, not the most complex!

And you should see the colours I have...

Edited by oh_hunnihunni at 3:58 pm, Fri 7 May

oh_hunnihunni - 2021-05-07 15:57:00

No expert at all here. What I do if I want to make a pattern but the yarn ply is different is, try it on different size needles till you get as close as you can to the recommended stitch/rows given?

jan2242 - 2021-05-08 08:56:00

If your pattern has the number of rows and stitches to a fixed measurement, work out how many you would need to do on your yarn and needles to the same measurement, probably a test swatch, and get then get the calculator out, or a mathes wizard.

voyager4 - 2021-05-10 09:23:00

I presume you wont buy the pattern if you are not doing the different stitches - just basically making a triangle shaped scarf - if you knitted from the short end of the triangle, in maybe garter stitch, you could just keep adding stitches to the one side until you got to a size that was big enough for the scarf effect. It looks like she does some kind of binding along the long increase side of the triangle or you could do the increases like you do on the diamond shaped dishcloths so that the edge is always straight. Good luck I think it will be lovely in 4ply in different colours!. Helen

obus - 2021-05-10 20:04:00

Thank you all, and I suspect there is a I cord edging. The reason it appeals is it doesn't require a centre join. I think the test swatch is the way to go!

oh_hunnihunni - 2021-05-10 20:33:00

I am about to start this shawl ...been collecting hand dyed yarns but 10 ply ...the pattern throws me as I read through it but our local wool shop lady told me yesterday to just read as I go ...she does not know the shawl .
Today knitted a Mustang Sally shrug / cowl kit from Unravelled at Waihi Beach ....great fun as you drop stitches to get an amazing ladder type pattern otherwise it’s K2 P2 and. one colour .
Have a Marie Wallin UK fair isle kit Primrose to knit ...30 plus shades of British Breed yarns ..Yummo !
Look forward to hearing how your Nightshift Shawl goes ...such an amazing effective mosaic stitch

jbsouthland - 2021-05-13 20:18:00

I started casting on last night and am scared to look at the results, lol! The yarn is so beautiful I am very wary about ruining it with my cack handedness, but that i cord finish really intrigues me.

Your dropped stitches one sounds fun, I do that by accident and have only just learned how to delve down and retrieve them...

Knitting is such a joy though, even when it tests me!

oh_hunnihunni - 2021-05-14 10:23:00

OMG ....this is proving more difficult than I thought ...I put a Help Plea out on a local fb knitting page and a kind lady offered to meet me and help me ...which she did .
After studying the pattern awhile she got me well and truely started ....then she had to leave .
I thought I was doing well , and I was ...till I counted and found I had 3 extra stitches !
Back home looking on you tube , they make it look soooo easy !
However tomorrow’s another day , I shall shut myself away from all noise and try and try again .
How is your shawl going ?

jbsouthland - 2021-05-20 19:08:00

Well, it isn't a shawl, at least not a triangular one, but it will wrap, so a sort of oversized scarf... But I have the i cord edging under control, I'm doing a three stitch version - slip three yarn across back purl one to lock the tight drawn yarn, then do the row ending with three purl, which become the slipped stitches on the next row back... And it is working... The body is stream of consciousness patterning, stripes and stitch changes row by row, with lots of slip ups and mistakes but I think I am into the rhythm of it now and will foul up less often, and the errors will disappear into the folds. I hope. Or I will overstitch them, or something.

I knit for the pleasure of the yarn under my hands, perfection isn't my thing, which was why it was so good to have a bff who was an expert. She would pick up my work and exclaim in horror and demand a crochet hook, and repair all my wickednesses on the spot, or just laugh at the irreparable, and always she encouraged me. She was a yarn addict too, and so involved in Creative Fibre and woolfest and all those lovely things. Picking up the needles reminds me of her in the nicest ways, but I do miss her dearly.

Funny thing yarn, it's very therapeutic. Even done badly!!

Edited by oh_hunnihunni at 7:30 pm, Thu 20 May

oh_hunnihunni - 2021-05-20 19:29:00

Oh it sounds great !
Yes the three slipped stitches works well , just not sure how I ended up with tooo many .
I make mistakes in most of my projects ...so will soldier on .
Love a pic of yours .Mines in 10 ply so will be both bulky and big .

jbsouthland - 2021-05-20 20:31:00

I will photograph it for you tomorrow, with all flaws judiciously disguised, lol...

oh_hunnihunni - 2021-05-20 20:59:00

https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/1544365879.jpg

And this is the i cord edge

https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/1544366771.jpg

Definitely going to need blocking to even it all out and stop the cast on rolling, but so far it is keeping me sane, which is why I do it.

oh_hunnihunni - 2021-05-21 11:29:00

Looks great ...and you icord edging perfected .
Very different using 4 ply and no mosaic stitch but still very effective in the stripes .I understand your need for less warmth ...HUh ! ...down here I wear thermals and wool aplenty !
I am following the mosaic pattern and knitting it chunky weight ...but throwing in my own ideas ie I use all plys just double , treble to get the ‘ chunk ‘ .
I am not sure the pattern is written in the most simplest form ....and it is taking me awhile , if at all to find the rhythm of the pattern .
Will knit some more today , then attempt a photo .

jbsouthland - 2021-05-22 09:00:00

Something is intriguing me though about this project - because I am using stashed 4 ply yarns, the variation in weights between the different balls is becoming really noticeable. I am wondering if this is down to the different fibres - alpaca, corri, merino, and silk combos - or just different ideas of how a four ply should be.

It does make for interesting textures!

oh_hunnihunni - 2021-05-24 10:25:00

You could also do different pattern stitches where the yarn thickness is noticeable, it will help hide it.

voyager4 - 2021-06-21 14:19:00

The member deleted this message.

jude164 - 2021-07-05 15:37:00

Just started another pair of socks with some yarn I was given, black with pink, blue and yellow bits. My fingers are getting stained with the black. Hate to think what will happen when I wash the socks later.

voyager4 - 2021-07-07 14:02:00

I had a gorgeous and expensive pair of black goatskin heels once, bought specially for a rather important sombre family occasion. Imagine my reaction when I took them off to find they had bled dye through my stockings and left me with black feet.

You could try giving the finished socks a bit of a soak in vinegar. That might help mordant the dye.

Edited by oh_hunnihunni at 9:12 am, Fri 9 Jul

oh_hunnihunni - 2021-07-09 09:10:00