Cast on 3 extra 13 repeats (39 stitches) since I want a shawl which will wrap over my shoulder. Used knitted cast on to avoid the dreaded “didn’t calculate correctly for the long tail and came up short” syndrome. Plus, I need to make sure I have enough yarn with the added repeats. Since I knit tight, I needed to go to a 10 1/2 needle.

1/19/15. So far, so good. Very easy pattern allowing the color changes of the Noro Silk Garden to do all the work. My first time using this yarn. I have always loved the vibrant colors but have always thought it was way way way overpriced. Bought this yarn at my LYS from the clearance bin.
The color is discontinued and there were 3 skeins of 346B and 1 skein of 346A. The A skein doesn’t have the rich purple. I bought it anyway since all the other colors matched. Took a while to find a pattern which would show off the color and didn’t require a lot of yardage. So far, loving how it’s turning out. However, this yarn is really tearing up my already chapped winter hands.

1/20/15. Repeated chart B 3 times. Noticing that the balls are all different regarding the color placement. I will need to use the 4th skein so I broke off the last small bit of purple and navy and saved it for breaking up the huge amount of green. This skein was deceiving as it only contained a very small amount of blue and no purple. It was mostly green and muddy golds. Like others have mentioned. I did find knots in each skein. Instead of knitting them, I took out the knot and spit spliced them together making for a smoother and sturdier join. It was very easy to do. I also found the organic matter others have posted about. I tried to pick it out as I knitted. Not sure about buying more of this yarn for a large project unless it is on sale with a big discount. Also, wouldn’t buy online as I feel i would rather see the colors in person and match the skeins since the colors seem to vary. For small projects, I think the it would be great. Wish they would make the yardage more generous per skein.

1/21/15 - Ready to block. I see where it states dry clean only. Looked all over Ravelry and found others block it in wool washes like Soak or Eucalan. Spoke with LYS and was advised to use Eucalan and was told that I could also use a lavender hair conditioner to soften it up further if Eucalan wasn’t enough. Lavender repels bugs as does eucalyptus but lavender smells way better. Was also told of a proficient knitter who uses only blue Dawn and lavender Suave conditioner as her go to for all her knits…interesting. I’ll have to research that one more….

Aggressively blocked and love how the lace opened up. Photos show the progression. With remaining scraps, knitted a flowered broach for embellishment.