General notes

Once I got into the swing of things, this was a really fun, relaxing, and easy knit.

Don’t pull too hard on the join. Once I started relaxing at the stitch marker, the seam became much less noticeable.

Make sure to lock down the contrasting color on the first go-around (after the final slipped stitch) as you would do in intarsia, but don’t lock it underneath on the second go-around of the row.

Weaving in ends as you go along makes this a lot more fun when it’s done.

I did a wet block in Soak. It didn’t grow much.

Final measurements: 41” circumference, 7” wide. (295 stitches, 11 stripes.)

I used a cable cast on.
Update: I regret this, the cast-on isn’t as neat as the bind off (I used the Icelandic bind off). I would do long tail next time.

Thanks a lot to Raiderfan46 for all her help in the forums.

January 16, 2016

Cast on 295 stitches. I’m using a 22” needle. The 30” was just a bit too short for my liking. The 22 seems a little short but it’s what I have. I may get a needle in between - 27” maybe.

Still debating the color order. Registry is the main color. I might do:
A - table setting
B - old money
C - old copper
D - Sweezy’s pond

January 16, 2016

Changed colors slightly. Final order:
A - Old copper
B - Table setting
C - Tip the waitress
D - Sweezy’s pond

January 23, 2016

Really cooking now. I meant to do table setting after old copper but somehow I put in tip the waitress, so it’s not in the order I imagined it would be, but it’s really pretty.

I had no trouble switching colors on the old copper but somehow I started overthinking it with the tip the waitress - my second stripe. It was helpful to review this video on switching strands for intarsia - now that I remember to drop the yarn over and pull the new yarn from underneath so that it catches the yarn I’m dropping, I’m doing much better!

I’m weaving in the ends as I go along, which should help when I get to the FO stage.

January 24, 2016

I had to re-wind the ball of Registry I was working with (I used a really terrible ball winder initially) and it came out pretty small. Decided to weigh it, and I have 74 grams left. I’m a little concerned that I won’t have enough left, even though I cast on 275 stitches instead of the 337 called for in the pattern.

I’ll have to weigh the next time I do a stripe to see how much of the Registry it takes. I think it’s about 10 grams, which could be a problem - I might need to look on destash for another skein of Registry, or modify the patterning. If I modify the pattern, I plan to do nine stripes, adding Old Money as an “E” center stripe, and doing all the other colors twice in an ABCDEDCBA pattern. This would be nine stripes, rather than 13, which I think will be wide enough and also will not necessitate me buying another skein of Registry.

I think that the stripes will have to take no more than 7 grams of the MC each to make the pattern work as I’m currently knitting it (ABCDCBABCDCBA), but even that is pushing it.

January 24, 2016

So: I weighed my yarn before and after a stripe with registry. It took just under 2 grams to complete a row. If I add 10% to that as a cushion, that means it takes 6.6 grams for one stripe in the cowl.

If I go with the pattern as written, I have 10 stripes left, plus the three rows of purling at the end; let’s call that 11 stripes. I need 72.6 grams to complete the cowl as written… and I have 73 grams. Do I want to play yarn chicken?

In any case, the next stripe (Sweezy’s pond) is going to be the same no matter what I choose to do, so I’m going to knit that up and weigh after each row of Registry so that I can have a more accurate idea of how much yarn a row (and how much yarn one of the three repeats of linen stitch, since linen stitch actually requires two rows of knitting) takes within a stripe. Then I think I’ll be able to plan what to do next.

I have 11.6 grams of Happy Camper that happens to look absolutely gorgeous with all of the rest of these colors, so I’m also considering doing an 11-stripe pattern with that instead of with Old Money (ABCDEAEDCBA) - that will also let me get a third stripe of old copper in, which would be fabulous. I feel like only 9 stripes is going to be too short width-wise - it will turn out to be just about 8.5 or 9 inches wide, which is just shy of what I’d like.

I’m going to keep weighing, but since I’ve used 25% of my Registry so far and I have only made 3 stripes, I have a feeling that the 11-stripe pattern is going to be the best bet. I will think about making a 12-stripe pattern, but I want the stripes to be symmetrical, so I’m not sure if that’s feasible.

Weights per row

Weighing Registry:
Last row of table setting = 1.7 grams for one full row of linen stitch. 26.84g to start; A: 25.85 = .9g used; B: 25.03 = .8g used

First row with SP = 1.68g 25.03g to start; A: 24.17 = .86g used B: 23.35 = .82g used

Second row with SP = 1.69g 21.66g left after both rows

Third full row = 1.51 21.66g to start; A: 20.95g =.71g used B: 20.15

Weighing Sweezy’s Pond:
First full row of linen stitch used 1.98g. 100.75g to start; A: .99g, B .99g used

Second full row = 1.78g 98.7g to start; A: 97.7 = 1g used, B: 96.92 = .78g used

Third full row = 1.24g (hmm, seems odd) 96.92g to start; A: 96.25 = .67 used (weird?), B: 95.68= .57g used

On average, each row of linen stitch (two times around) takes 1.65 grams of yarn.

Notes:
1.7g first row HC
1.5g second row