MHK Suzanne Bryan interviewed me a month after I received my MHK certification. I hope it can help or inspire others in the program:
https://youtu.be/Ce9y_SMfiGs

Level 2 Vest:
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/heyKerrianne/cable-and-r...
Level 2 Argyle Sock:
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/heyKerrianne/top-down-ar...

Sep 2, 2020: Ordered Level 1
Sep 23, 2020: Submitted L1
Nov 9, 2020: Received feedback
Nov 12: Resubmit Sw 7 & 16; Q 4, 8, 11
Nov 23, 2020: Passed MHK L1
Took a month off before ordering Level 2.
L1 140/759/264

Dec 31, 2020: Ordered MHK Level 2
March 5, 2021: Submitted Level 2
May 8, 2021: Received feedback

1. Re-knit 1/4 of the button swatch—watch continuation of seed st on other side of vertical buttonhole.
2. 1/3 of the wristlet to show better contrast
3. Clarify a book as a design book
4. Add a phrase to instruction sections Waiting for a skein of Finullgarn to arrive in the new color to show better contrast between two of the colors in the wristlet. May 18, 2021: Resubmissions sent May 28: Notified that the Resubmits maybe lost in the mail. My local post office claims that packages passing through the Pennsylvania Office are often lost and it is known to be “The Black Hole”. Reassembled the requested items again for review.

June 5, 2021: Passed MHK L2
This time ordered the next level the same day of passing the previous level. Projects, swatches, and papers are getting more interest!
L2: 75/272; 175/273
120/158

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Timeline for MHK L2:
Jan 2:
First weekend, I went to Office Depot to get my 3” binder, heavy weight sheet protectors, dividers, and labels.

January 7: Ordered the following books:
Richard Rutt’s History of Hand Knitting
Meg Swansen’s Knitting w Two Colors as a technique book
Janine Bajus’s The Joy of Color as a design book

Wrote book reports on:
Therese Chenoweth’s Norwegian Sweater Techniques as a design book
Melissa Morton-Oakes’s Toe-up TAAT as a technique book

Swatches 1-9, 12-13, SIS and Q&A
Patons Classic Worsted Weight in colors: aran and meadow.

Chose yarn for vest with oldest son before he headed back to college. Yarn’s on back order.

January 14:Ordered yarn for wristlet and argyle socks
Bought Fingering weight 2 yarn for lace
Swatches 14-19, SIS and Q&A

January 21: Swatches 10-11, SIS and Q&A
Chose Superwash wool for lace swatches as the non-elasticity helps open up the yo and the fluidity helps give the lace drape and swing.
I would normally use US6 for working up lace in non-superwash wool. With Superwash fingering weight, I preferred US5 knit at tighter gauge to help give seed stitch structure.
https://www.moderndailyknitting.com/its-not-you-its-the-y...
https://roundtableyarns.com/blogs/knitting-tips-and-trick...
https://pattern-duchess.com/choosing-yarn-for-lace-project/
Wristlet
Used the Purl Long-Tail CastOn with US 2 and Finullgarn
Colors: gold 403, Mediterranean 472, sky 4406, natural 401, red 428.
Did not vertically carry up the yarn if it wasn’t used within two rows so it wouldn’t distort the end stitches.
I had 30 ends to weave in. Wove them in with one duplicate stitch to anchor, then weave through a strand’s plies.
Continental knit and purl:
https://youtu.be/XuRLFl36tDY
I have found that if I wrap the wrong way at the beginning of the knit row and the end of the purl row (right selvedge side), the problem disappears.

Jan 23: Started argyle sock—using Jennifer Doze pattern
West Yorkshire Spinner yarn on US2
Colors: Hydrangea, nutmeg, turmeric, milk bottle.
When changing colors for Intarsia along vertical and diagonal edges, bring new color underneath and to the right of color just used to twist them.
Used Duplicate Stitch for diagonal lines
Jan 28 Seamed and blocked sock

Jan 29 Wrote rough draft of History Report
Wrote half of last book report: Color of Color/ Fair Isle (design book)

Jan 30:Received yarn for vest —College son doesn’t want a pastel vest and looked for blues near a denim color. Found Wool of the Andes Sport weight in Baltic. Know from experience that their heathers are fairly subtle. I hope this color is acceptable. Saw an old response on Ravelry MHK Level 2 where Suzanne said they don’t like heathers for swatches but they may give leeway of color choice and some heathers on the vest project.

I am designing my own vest pattern to satisfy college son’s ideas for what he wants in a vest.
I just heard that, in a few months when they update the MHK program instructions, they will no longer accept self-designed vests.

I made 66 sts swatch of some cable patterns.
Wet block swatch.
Choosing a combination of rib and a 6 stitch Cable.
Cable will have a cable leg pattern of (k,p,k) crossing over (k,p,k) to compliment the single ribbed hem, neck and arm bands.

Feb2: Started vest. Worked the back panel and took a unblocked gauge and a blocked gauge of the Cable rib pattern and the single rib.

Using the back panel blocked gauge, determined how deep and wide to make the V-neck and shoulder shaping.

Swatched shoulder shapings:
Bind off back neck then work short rows at shoulders and neck edge or follow Roxanne Richards video of binding off back of neck after the Short row shoulder shaping.

Feb15:Work on the front panel of vest.
Feb 22:Work up a second front panel with less decreases at armholes so the shoulders are wider (4.75” instead of 3.75” before ribbing)

Feb 27 Seamed shoulders and sides.

Used ribbing at hem to guess the number of sts pick up so the pickup edge is slightly stretched and lays flat at distal edge of 1” band along the curves.

Tested pickup ratios: 5 sts per 7 rows, then Alt 4/5 and 5/6, then 5/6
Chose 5 sts per 6 rows for armband
Chose 4/5 and 5/6 for neck band.
Mar2 finished vest and now blocking.

Proofread History and book reports.

Mar 4 Contacted TKGA to find the first address to sent the portfolio. It was late Thursday evening and I thought I’d hear from them the next day and hoped to get it in the mail that weekend but Carolyn Vance replied immediately that same evening!

Mar 5 Vest was made for my older son who is away at college so my middle son modeled the vest for the photo to be submitted with the L2 portfolio and vest. I picked up photos for vest project on the drive into KittyHawk to mail the portfolio.

In June, my oldest was invited to play piano at The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and he wore the vest I designed for him!
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May 8: Received binder back today.
All swatches were accepted except for one buttonhole.
Vest and argyle sock accepted.
Wristlet needs smaller gauge and change one color to be darker.
Resubmit: one of the buttonholes and half the wristlet.

SIS pages: my instructions were too brief so I need to elaborate more on instruction section of the pages. Need to add a phrase in the instructions section.

I reviewed a book listed as a design book on TKGA main bibliography but when I discussed its limitations as a design book, they said I convinced them that it served better as a technique book so now I need to write up more reviews— Oops!

History paper passed

Vest and argyle sock passed with very kind praise.
Vest was my own design. Right after I submitted the binder, the newsletter came out that they would no longer allow original designs for L2 Vest so I was afraid I’d have to knit another vest. So relieved the vest passed!

I was very pleased with how the vest turned out but I have an awful tendency to keep redesigning a project as I’m finishing it. I was almost ready for the shoulder seam when I decided to re-knit the front and back panels again because I thought of another way a change in the shaping could make the finishing fluid with the stitch design. Problem was I usually had to give up another area of finessing I had been proud of. I’d plan the placement of a cable crossing a cable and the bind-offs to follow the curve of a cable with a nice frame of surrounding stitches or to carry a column or row of stitches into the ribbing or edge stitches along the picked up bands. I did make careful notes so I could reproduce those ideas in other future designs.

The feedback on the vest couldn’t have been more encouraging: the finishing was exquisite, great design and fit. They gave me kudos for how the pattern design was carried over the seaming and how the chain at the shoulder seam carried into the stitch design. Also nice remarks on the v-neck ribbing. I was impressed that the examiners even noticed the smaller design elements in addition to the areas listed for them to critique!

May 8 Researched and took notes on topics to be resubmitted. Order a skein of Finullgarn in DarkOcean 438.

May 9 Mother’s Day —Brunch at Red Sky w Chef Wes w Lox, ahi tuna w trio of sauces, Greens w Balsamic, Strawberries, rock fish, sherry crab bisque, medium rare beef w mushrooms and horseradish sauce, grilled lamb, shrimp and grits. Walk on the boardwalk in Duck.

May 10: completed all the written work to be resubmitted.

May 11: worked up the longer vertical buttonhole in seed stitch and the wristlet is worked up on smaller dpn needles to the point I need the darker blue which is ordered and being sent by USPS and the acceptance at the place of origin is Pending Acceptance!

I am now waiting for an order of printer ink and a skein of DK blue Finullgarn for three rows on the wristlet— tough to wait.

May 16 The skein of Finullgarn arrived. Reknit half the wristlet for resubmit with medium and dark blue instead of light and dark blue. Blocking the wristlet.

May 18 Contact CoChair to let her know the resubmitted work was mailed.

May 28: CoChair just notified me that my resubmitted work never arrived. It should have arrived by the 21st.
I went personally to the post office. Even though there are lots of transaction type numbers on my receipt, they don’t track envelopes. If I had known that, I would have sent it in a package box. The post office has no way of tracing at what location the package hadn’t showed up in its route. They said it probably slipped behind something and may remain there until it’s spotted and sent on its way. I had so many “accepted” swatches I sent so they could be compared to the revised pattern writing and charts. So upsetting this happened! I was so excited to be hearing the feedback on the submits and hopefully downloading the Instructions for Level 3. A couple days ago I had even ordered more colors in Finullgarn to start swatching how the colors worked together for Fair Isle and ordered a magazine for one of the reviews. I’ve been so optimistic and excited—this is a tough blow.

CoChair suggested emailing her the written work which is the bulk of the remittance.

I did all my written work on my middle son’s computer so he sat with me late into Friday night of Memorial Day weekend converting all my documents into four PDFs and helped me apply the specific knit chart symbols and type the text to accompany the pattern charts.

CoChair kindly acknowledged receipt of the PDFs even on the start of a holiday weekend!

Design: design Aran sweater Szabo
Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns

Magazines Reviewed:
Knitty - online
Piecework
Vogue Knitting