08-16-2012 (From my old blog)

This is the first time I’ve knit a pattern by Ysolda, so I don’t know how it compares to her other ones. But in her defense, this is a really clever and lovely design, and not difficult to knit – but it’s very complicated to explain in writing. Since she’s providing both written instructions and charts, it makes the pattern even more complex. Some people seem to have had no trouble at all with it, but our brains all work in different ways, and it’s impossible to come up with something that works well for everyone’s different ways of thinking and learning. This is one that just doesn’t work for my brain.

I prefer to work from charts when I can, and although part of Marin is charted, the charts don’t represent entire rows, and some sections aren’t charted at all. Trying to bounce back and forth between the written instructions and the chart were confusing, and trying to work from the written instructions wasn’t any better, because you still have to bounce back and forth between sections of the pattern. Plus, there are no row numbers, just “next row”, “next row”, “next row”, ad infinitum. I kept getting lost as to which “next row” I was on. (Yes, sticky notes or check marks would probably have helped a lot, but I wasn’t that smart.)

The first section of the pattern was particularly difficult to wrap my brain around, because there’s no chart, and no good image of what the starting end should look like. I couldn’t really visualize how the first chart fit into it. I guess that for knitting, my brain just works much better on a visual level than a written one. Monkey see, monkey do.

I also had trouble figuring out whether or not I’d done all of the appropriate increases, since there weren’t any intermediate stitch counts for a really long stretch of knitting. I ended up calculating what the stitch count should be every 10 rows, and found that I had missed a bunch of increases. Fortunately, I was only about halfway through the section of increases, so I was able to just throw in an extra one every few rows and get back on track.

But then I got to the short row section, and brain fog set in. That was when I decided to stop and rewrite the pattern to suit my own brain. I charted the entire first and last pieces of the shawl that come before and after the main pattern chart. It was too late to help me with the start of the shawl, but it will be handy for the end.

Then I carefully read through all of instructions for the main portion of the shawl, and divided it into three sections, one for each of the three wedges of the shawl. Within those sections, I changed all of the “next row” instructions to numbered rows, so that I could refer to specific row numbers when having to repeat certain rows. Plus I put a chart of expected stitch counts for the increases on the main chart. (I’m planning to do the decreases, too, but haven’t gotten to it yet.)

Whew!

It was a lot of work, but it will make it much less frustrating for me to follow from this point forward – at least, as long as I haven’t made any mistakes in my translation. I think now I’ll be able to just breeze along.

One positive thing already – while charting the final section, I found what I’m pretty sure is an error in her stitch count on one row. Probably just a typo, but at least I won’t be confused when I get there.

It occurred to me that the chart I did for the beginning section might be really useful for other people who are having difficulty understanding how the written instructions and the chart fit together. For me, it was sort of an “aha” moment. Of course, I don’t want to give away any of the actual pattern design, so I removed all of the stitch symbols from the chart. But the color blocks might help visualize the pattern, so here it is See 2nd photo from top.

The white sections along the left and right edge are the top and bottom border stitches (top edge on the left, bottom edge on the right). The yellow sections are the garter stitch sections, which increase and decrease to form the main body of the shawl. The black vertical lines on either side of the yellow section represent the stitch markers. The pink section is where the “beginning edge pattern” chart goes. After finishing that chart, you keep continuing on in the same manner, substituting the “centre edging pattern” chart for the pink section. The pink section is what forms the pretty scallops along the bottom edge of the shawl.

09-24-2012 (From my old blog)

I used fingering-weight yarn instead of sport-weight yarn, so it’s a bit smaller than intended for the pattern, but it’s still a nice size.

Because of the garter stitch and the short rows, it looks very small before it’s blocked. I should have taken measurements before and after, just for fun.

I really like the shape and the clever design. It’s totally reversible, so you don’t need to worry about which side is the right side. I would seriously consider making another one, using DK or even worsted-weight yarn for a larger shawl.

As I mentioned in my previous Marin post, I found the instructions a bit difficult to follow, and ended up charting the points and rewriting the pattern a bit differently for my own use. The original pattern is 6 pages, and does include charts (plus complete written instructions), but the charts are just for the scalloped edging. Because of the short rows, it’s not really something that can be completely charted out in full. Whether you’re using the charts or the written directions for the charts, you have to jump back and forth between pages a bit to follow the body instructions and then the chart – so even if you use just the written instructions, it’s still not a line-by-line pattern.

However, the actual knitting of it is not difficult. Once you figure out how it goes together, you really don’t even need to look at either the instructions or the charts for long stretches of knitting. Once I got past the first repeat, the rest pretty much flew. If you like the design, don’t be put off by any pattern complaints and give it a try. Just take it a little at a time.

Modifications: When doing the M1s, I did either a make-one-knit or make-one-purl, depending on whether the stitch would normally be a knit or purl.