I’m using a different yarn (Malabrigo Merino Worsted, not Manos del Urugay Clasica) and wool (merino, not merino and corriedale), so I just could not get my gauge to match the pattern gauge. Since I’m tall, have broad shoulders, and do not want a skimpy capelet, I decided to include another repeat of the reindeer to reach the intended width of the piece.

I used a size 8 needle for the ribbing and then a size 9 for the body of the piece.

I cast on 116 stitches and then decreased to 111 after the ribbing (6 repeats of 18 + 3 edge stitches) for the pattern. I followed SusanMarie’s forum post for stretchy cast-ons and used long tail cast on for the Ks and then twisted German cast on for the Ps, but then wondered if I did it backwards because I cast-on on the “wrong side” and then knitted and purled back. In the past when I’ve done this I’ve knitted in the round. I bet I did it exactly backwards…! Overkill anyway, since this is not a sock ankle or hat brim. Goes to show how long it has been since I knitted anything but a hat or sock that I even bothered!

I had never done purl row color stranding before. All of my stranded colorwork was done in the round, knitting only. I gnashed my teeth some, but kind of got the hang of it. I still prefer colorwork in knit, but my left hand is learning slowly not to just come along for the ride.

I first wove in the stranded color too often (catching the stranded yarn every other stitch). This helped my gauge not pull but the caught bright strand showed through the body of the black reindeer in between stitches. I decided to only catch the stranded yarn every 4th or 5th stitch in larger runs, and not catch the yarn at the same stitch in a vertical column. This second approach works better, much less “bleed through” of the stranded yarn into the right side of the piece. My gauge on the stranded yarn is imperfect, the reindeer pull and buckle ever so slightly here and there, but I hope I can block that out.

I knit the body of the capelet to 29” a side (longer than the pattern calls for). For this reason, after blocking the capelet, I picked up 240 stitches on one edge, but decided to go for 238 on the second edge to end with a knit pair of columns on both edges. Just used the traditional cast off with a size 10 needle.

It’s odd, the cats are approaching me very reverentially to gently chew the corners of this thing. They’ve never seen a wool garment before (they were born in the spring) and they were quite excited about the yarn (so I had to put it away carefully when not in use)!

I love love love love the colors. Its like my sweet reindeer are prancing silhouetted against a beautiful sunset or a Northern Lights show.

Nothing like knitting to make me wish for winter scenes and drafty spaces even before Spring turns to Summer.