• Working through small remnants from deep stash on this one. This one is the blue version…

• Note that this time I’ll be doing the Italian CO without working from 2 needles, so this may impact my gauge but I’m still going to estimate that the CO is the looser than the BO so I’ll work this “bottom up”…

• At first I thought I’d make my 7th Saturday Shrug and then it occurred to me to try a Friday Shrug Fade (bought the pattern).

• There’s not a lot of intel on how much yarn is required per shrug variation but that’s no doubt because this is a very flexible project and depending on what you do, and what size you want, you’ll need more or less yarn. I do wish that it gave estimates in grams per colour for the fade.

• I’ll use a US 6needle. I’ll cast on 160 stitches. I may switch to a US5 needle 6” from the top of the shrug. I first tried CO 174 on a US7, then 166 on US 7 and both felt too large…

• Based on the fade chart, I’ll need:

A 19 rounds worth of single-held fingering (Rowan)
B 20 rounds (Arbon)
C 39 rounds (C1 Alpagas / C2 Colourmart / C3 J&S)
D 44 rounds ( D1 WM / D2 Colourmart / D3 J Asselin)
E 59 rounds (E1 Woolfolk / E2 Woolfolk FAR / E3 J Asselin)
F 32 rounds (Quince)
G 10 rounds (Alpagas Carmilla / light taupe)
H 10 rounds (ET light grey)
I 8 rounds (Classic Elite blue grey - DK weight)

• To maximize yarn, figure out how many g each round uses of each colour and determine how far you can get it to go. Perhaps use the extra in the single colour segments (AA / BB etc.) for ease - but if it’s too many, then maybe inc each segment by a couple of rows, which will only work if you have consistent amounts of “extra” yarn in the segments where 2 colours are marled.

• I can only guesstimate amounts of each yarn required as, for this version, I’ll be working at a new gauge with slightly thinner yarn at a higher stitch count. But, since I have to start somewhere and I only have so much of each colour - SINGLE STRAND, alot for 20g for A and B, ~40g for C and D, 50 plus grams for E, 30g for F and 10g for G, H and I.

• Note that I actually have 21g of the Rowan because I’ll have to hold this lace-weight double.

• It’s apparent that I’m going to have to be flexible and use small amounts of yarns that work similar vibes if I run out of my initially proposed ones. I’ll aim to clarify this , for future reference, but it’s going to be a bit fluid…

• Rowan: 9g for 9R (held double) - 1g per round

• Arbon: 3g for 3R (held single) - 1g per round

• Alpagas: 7g for 3R (held single) - 2.3g per round (not optimal from yardage perspective) - I will use 18g of Colourmart mid blue and 15g of J&S dark grey to pad out this yardage given that the Alpagas is much thicker and heavier than most, if not all, of the other yarns I’m using in this object. My assumption is that the Colourmart and J&S will use 1g of yarn per round given that they’re quite thin and light-weight.

• Woolfolk: 4.2g for 7R (held single) - 0.6g per round (this will give me 66-68R held single

• Quince: 7g for 7R - 1g per round.

• If I opt to use the 10g of Classic Elite grey (DK-weight) then there will be a slightly thicker fabric for a couple of rounds when you marl it with the other colours…

Final Thoughts:

• This sort of colourwork is optimized by flexiblilty. It’s prob best to just bring every colour in a particular scheme and see what works best with what. Don’t be afraid to change things on the fly.

• It’s pretty impossible to keep track of how much yarn was required for each colour - in the instances in which I used multiple colours in a single segment (because I ran out of one yarn or didn’t like how certain colours marled). Having said this, I would have minimum of 45g for C, 45g for D and 60g for E, unless you are comfortable swapping in other colours / deviating somewhat from the pattern instructions…

• In the end, in this shrug, I used the following amounts of yarn per colour (A, B, C etc.), noting that a) I worked 17 more rounds than the pattern called for and b) for colours C, D and E I mixed multiple yarns, sometimes over 2 “stripes” / the amounts for each have been averaged:

A 19g
B 16g
C ~53g - note that 42g were worked with a heavier yarn /sport 2.3g per round vs ~1g per round
D ~47g
E ~41g Part of this was worked with worsted weight held single, both FAR and Tynd are very light-weight for gauge
F 27g
G 11g
H 9g
I 8g (note that this was a light-worsted yarn held single)

• It takes experience and aptitude to fade. I am fairly new to this variation of colourwork but I sense it’s important to find the right colour balance in marl segments to make it appear that the colours flow seamlessly from one to the next. I can see I have a lot to learn.

• There’s no way to determine the cost of this FO because the yarns are mostly small remnants used in one to multiple previous projects. They were bought, in many instances, 5-7 years ago. Given the innate scrappiness of this version (something I may opt not to like in the end as I went off road), it’s legit free, IMO.

• This is shorter than the Saturday Shrug and also narrower, but there’s more give because I’ve worked more stitches in a slimmer gauge. Depending on how this blocks, I may opt to CO 164 st next time.

• Because a lot of these yarns bleed, given that they’ve been indigo dyed and are dark blues, I’m going to block this in cold water with a colour catcher and vinegar for not too long. Hopefully it won’t stain the white tip. Update: The combo worked and there is no visible colour transfer.

• Use 237g of yarn altogether - a bit heavier than anticipated.

Preblocked Gauge: 18” depth / 22”-25” wide, wider at CO edge and gets narrower.

Post-blocked Gauge: 18” depth / 24-28” wide, wider at CO edge