This started out as a good 20 feet of top. About 2/3 the length was predominantly aqua, with the last 1/3 having more purples. I wanted to bring down the aqua, brighten the purples and avoid sharply defined striping for an overall softer tone. I spun one single aqua end first. For the second single, I split about an equal strip down it’s entire length and spun purple end first. I joined the next strip going in the same direction (purple first).

The yarn is knitting up exactly as I envisioned--shimmery with soft color changes, so much like tropical waters.

Stupid shifting single YO kept messing me up. I think I’ve got that sucker pinned down now.

3/21: frogged 10 repeats in to begin again with invisible/provisional cast on…duh

3/22: completely caught up to where I’d be if I hadn’t started over

3/24: oh, what the hell, I’ve only got a few more repeats to finish out the first section…done

3/25: begin the second section

and then set it aside for a bit to do some baby knitting

4/14: finish second section, frogging as I reknit in opposite direction because it looks better knit the way the yarn was spun

4/19: 3.5 repeats left of the reknit

4/20: hours of endless picking up stitches…to make it manageable, I divided/marked the long sides into 12 sections and picked up 20 stitches in each section

4/21: eyelet round wtf?
this line makes no sense…

• YO, k2, {YO, k2tog} to marker, YO, k2, repeat from *

I’m either supposed to A: YO, k2, YO, k2tog all the way across to the marker or B: work the YO, k2 in the corner stitches I’ve just worked and then YO, k2tog across to the marker

I searched Ravelry, Googled and searched a Yahoo Group KAL but found no real answer to this. Nor anyone directly pointing out the error. Mostly, it seems, people “just fudged it.”

Since previous instructions read Two stitches flanked by YOs at each corner create a tidy miter, there is no mention of knitting backward and the asterisks and brackets don’t work correctly together, I chose the option that made the most sense…

C: call that first YO, k2 a typo, move the asterisk directly in front of the brackets like this

• {YO, k2tog} to marker, YO, (slip marker) k2 (slip marker), repeat from *

and continue on…which works with the stitch count and the corners

4/22: begin the edging
I’ve never knit an attached edging like this so had a little issue orienting myself. No problem once I realized the stitches I’m attaching to are back in the direction I came from and not ahead…plus, my cable is long enough that I can knit the edging with my original needles, no need for an extra double point as some advise

4/29: I’d set it aside again to work on some other stuff, picked it up for some distraction from a mega painful dental issue and now 11 repeats (one short end and a corner) done

5/2: just past the graft on the first long side, the halfway mark is in sight

5/6: rounded corner #2 and driving down the other short side…more than 1/2 way!

5/10: I’ve got 20 repeats to go and then the graft. Not much yarn left--only .68 oz Decided to do some calculations. One repeat brought it down only to a flash between .66-.67 oz. Going with .02 per repeat and considering some--minuscule, or it’ll throw everything--weight variation in the yarn itself…I should make it through the graft without needing to spin more. It’ll be really close.

5/14: knitting is done! Will try to get ends woven in and block it this weekend

6/3: finally found time to wash and block…it’s done, done, done.

8/8/09: finally got around to tightening up the graft stitches (planned to do it while it was pinned but it was too tight to work comfortably)…the 2” tail grew to around 6” and it’s the graft is near invisible (need a new pic since the graft is clearly visible in the lamppost pic)

8/18/09: Blue ribbon at the county fair..woo hoo