1/30/13: Have only knitted a shawl once before (25+ years ago in worsted acrylic), have never knitted with lace weight yarn before, have never used lifelines (but will in this project) and have never knitted from a chart either. In addition, I will also be using the newly purchased app for Ipad called KnitCompanion, and will add beads (never knitted beads before either). This will be many firsts for me. I have to make all this work and come together nicely as this is a wedding shawl for my soon to be daughter-in-law. Good thing I have several months as I am a relatively slow knitter and have a very demanding job and work many hours. I’m up for the challenge!!!

2/2/13: I cast on differently than provisional cast on. Find this method easier and looks almost as good:
CO 7, k rows 1&2,
Row 3 k1, incr, k3, incr, k1
Row 4 knit
Row 5 k1 incr, k7, incr, k1
Row 6 knit
Then begin Set Up Chart instructions

The Plan: Cross between Shawl and Shawlette since I am using lace weight and sz 3 needles. 8 Yucca repeats, 1transition, 1 Agave, 1 Final Agave & Edges. Beading with 4mm white pearl beads since those are only ones I can get my smallest hook (sz 10) through.

2/2/13: I absolutely LOVE working with charts instead of having to read through type written text. Not sure what took me so long to make the leap. KnitCompanion is making it easier than papers, pencils and magnet boards to track where I am and where I’m going. I may never go back to them unless forced!

Improvised: decided not to slip first stitch ea row. Hope I don’t regret that.

Note: I am a stitch counter and like knowing on purl rows that I am on track. Drawback to this pattern (for me) is the lack of regular stitch count after rows. Here is mine for shawlette:
Yucca rows, repeat 1; 1-2 59, 3-4 63, 5-6 67, 7-8 71
Yucca rows, repeat 2; 1-2 79, 3-4 83, 5-6 87, 7-8 91
You get the idea. Add 20 to each repeat depending on which row you’re on.
Transition chart after 8 Yucca repeats: 1-2 219 st, 3-4 223, 5-6 227, 7-8 231… After transition I had 315 st.

I will come up with stitch counts as I make progress.

2/2/13: finally finished 1st Yucca repeat without many glaring mistakes! Have had to frog and start over from scratch 3x’s because I couldn’t recover. Neither time had I put in a lifeline. :( I am now re-naming it to an Idiot Line cuz I was an idiot not to put one in after transition. Hereafter, I will be putting in an Idiot Line after each repeat. Idiot Line in and starting 2nd Yucca repeat.
2/3/13: Completed 5th yucca repeat. Funny thing, I haven’t had to rip back since putting in my Idiot Lines.
2/4/13 Should have kept my mouth shut. Counted stitches after 5th yucca repeat and missing 4, have to tink back 1.5 rows to fix.
2/6/13: Fixed mistakes and finished yucca repeat 5. On to 6. Have ordered Addi Turbo Lace needle because these KnitPicks needles do not have smooth joins and I have to keep stopping to shove this fine yarn over the rough spots. Very frustrating!
2/7/13: completed repeat 6 of yucca. 2more to go.
2/9/13: All 8 Yucca repeats complete! Marching to Transition
2/10/13: Row 15 of transition. Tried the first few nupps after watching the video listed above. They aren’t so bad. Just time consuming. I imagine I will get faster with more practice. Doing the 9-stitch nupp. Finished Transition Chart 315 st.
2/11/13: Started Agave Chart. After doing some nupps, it makes you thankful to go back to beading. Lol!
2/11/13 update: I am tending to lean towards someone else’s thoughts on here that nupps are evil! Plus I don’t really like the looks of them either. I stupidly did not put in my Idiot Line before nupp row and again after the transition chart and now have decided to rip out the nupps. That means I have to tink back 6 rows. Another hard lesson learned. :(
2/12/13: What I have learned today… The only thing worse than having to tink back 6 rows with well over 300 stitches, is to tink back 6 rows with beads and nupps in them. Not done yet.
2/13/13: finally done tinking back. Replacing evil nupps with beads like many others. May practice with nupps later. Maybe I should have done the 5 stitch nupp instead of the 9. Not willing to try it again on this shawl. And… My Addi Turbo Lace needles showed up in the mail yesterday! No nupps, new needles, Idiot Line soon to be in place, I am almost in heaven. :o)
2/14/13: finished Agave Chart. Only doing 1. Still working on first skein. On to Final Agave. 2/14/13 finished Final Agave! 391 st (hope thats right) Now for the scary/fun edging.
2/15/13: merged edging charts in knit companion.
2/16-3/6/13: had company and screwed up several rows because I couldn’t concentrate with many distractions. Then travel, so it’s hibernating til I can get to a point I can focus. In the meantime, I have started another Aeolian in stockinette instead of yucca’s and skipping beads. Once I get to the edging chart(s), I “should” be able to tell how things line up better and whether I need to frog this one back to lifeline.
3/17/13: frogged back to beginning of edge charts and started over. Rows 1-7 completed.
3/18/13: Rows 8-10, lifeline added, Rows 11, 12 & 13
3/19/13: Row 14 421 st, rows 14-18 429 st.
3/20/13: Rows 19-20 435 st 21-22 441 st, add lifeline.
3/21/13: Rows 23-24 447 st row 23 was a rough one in the beginning. After the first section, ended up moving stitch markers an adding beads on all stitches then went back and knit the row. 22 of the roughest rows to go. Hoping to have project ready to block by the time bride comes to visit on 4/6 so she can see it and help block.
3/22/13 Rows 25-26 453 st rows 27-28 423 st
3/23/13 rows 27-28. Started row 29 but had to stop in the middle and revise my KC charts as I hadn’t lined the main edge chart correctly. All fixed now and revision is in photos on left.
3/24/13: Rows 29-31 469 st. Doing 9 st nupp with dbl wrap method. We’ll see how those go on the purl row. I imagine not any difference from 7 st nupp.
Rows 32-36 Only 10 more rows til bind off!
Rows 37-39
3/25/13: Rows 40-41 561 st
3/26/13: Row 42 done. Row 43 has tested my patience. On the right Edge Chart, every other st is a decrease with a bead in between YO’s. I wasn’t paying attention and did ssk’s instead of k2tog. Tinked back, which took a while. All going well until center chart where I again wasn’t paying attention and spent an hour trying to pick up stitches after dropping when tinking back. All fixed, then onward when after the 1st repeat, I realized I had the wrong number of stitches. DRAT! Started tinking back to error and mangled up a spot or two. Gave up in frustration and went to bed. Tomorrow’s another day…
3/28/13 Finally done with what has been the most challenging row (so far)… 43 & 44 are done!!! 675 st.
3/29/13: Row 45-46 are complete. 753 stitches. Beginning bind off per instructions and using 2 strands. Went up in needle size too.
3/30/13 bind off done. Took over 4 hours. Now to get it blocked.

4/6/13: Finally getting it blocked. It turned out so nice, in spite of a few small booboos. Jodi didn’t want the sharp edges, so we intentionally made them rather scalloped.