FO: Family Tree Shawl

I've got finishing fever here, not only have I finally finished my Family Tree shawl, 4 Months after the MKAL finished but I'm actually nearly done on a cardigan that Ravelry tells me I started in 2010! More about that in a couple of days though.

A couple of clues into this mystery knit it became clear that, while the shawl was pretty, it wasn't going to be quite my style. As I knitted I became fairly sure this would be a great gift for my mum. I attempted to get it done for Christmas but, despite having no trouble with the Latvian braid first time round I completely lost the plot on the second one and ended up putting the whole thing aside again and bought my mum a gift instead. No worries, there's always her birthday to aim for instead I thought. My mother, being completely inconsiderate however was born on 4th Jan, so unsurprisingly I wasn't finished by then either. When I finally found time to pick it back up again I found that actually my Latvian braid had been correct but for some reason it just looked weird and when I ripped back and tried again it was even worse so all I needed to do was knit it again the way I did it the first time and it was fine. Finishing from there was super quick and my mum got her shawl a mere week after her birthday.

I was very pleased to see that she had posted a picture of it on Facebook the morning after she received it, so I think it's safe to say that it was well received. There were lots of lovely comments too, so I'm really pleased. That said, I'm going to try and be strong and resist the call of MKALs this year. I have so much I want to knit without adding in complete unknowns. It is fun and I really enjoy the knitting along aspect but I really want to make a dent in the queue this year and maybe just watch a few MKALs as they progress and live vicariously through other mystery knitters.

 

Family Tree MKAL: Clue 3

I'm so far behind on this MKAL that there is really nothing mysterious about it any more, so knowing what was coming ahead I had a bit of a decision to make. Clue 4 gives the option to either repeat clue 3 on the opposite side or to incorporate a second stitch pattern to make an asymmetrical shawl. Now I knew that there was no way in the world I could do that, I have a strong need for things to be matchy matchy. My brother wears odd socks, on purpose, every single day and it makes me so twitchy I don't know how my SIL puts up with him! However, I had a notion that I might use the stitch pattern from clue 4 and alternate it with the clue 3 pattern just to add a bit of interest.

In the end I decided not to bother, I prefer the stitch pattern from clue 3 and, as both patterns involve knitting 3 together through the back loop a whole heap, the second stitch pattern was no less fiddly to execute. I'm perfectly happy with it but my next post won't be terribly interesting I'm afraid.

 

Family Tree MKAL: Clue 2

Well not only did Cassie's new pyjamas last the night but they still looked pretty good throughout the whole of the next day because she refused to take them off! Now that she's 2 1/2 she is very much asserting her own opinions and if she really wants to wear her jim jams all day and we have no plans otherwise then it is not really worth the argument to me. Of course I was secretly really pleased that she liked them and was comfortable enough in them to want to keep them on. I think we can say they are a great success.

So on to the Family Tree shawl, I'm now a whole 2 weeks behind and the final clue comes out today but I have finally finished the second clue.

Yes, it's a tree! The pattern suggested using beads at the end of each branch, which I thought would be really lovely but unfortunately I wasn't able to get hold of any in time. I figured I can always stitch some on later if I really feel like something is missing.

At the moment I'm feeling like this shawl is really pretty, but not entirely up my alley. I have already have an inkling as to where it's going to end up come Christmas time so I'm not terribly upset. It will be really nice to have a Christmas gift sorted already and I have so many other shawls I want to make for me that it's probably a good thing that I don't think I'll keep this one. I guess this is all part and parcel of mystery knitting.

The next two clues look far more simple, each row is the same all the way across with just a few rows being repeated so I'm looking forward to being able to just knit without worrying that I'll get distracted and confused which happens a lot in this house. I wonder how quickly I'll be able to catch up?

 

Family Tree MKAL: Clue 1

I promised myself that if I finished Felicity's Baby Bubble before the second clue of the Family Tree MKAL arrived then I would go ahead and knit along. Liss got her new top on Thursday and the clue wasn't due to to arrive until the next day so I got to casting on and 336 stitches later I was ready to go.

The cast on was a two colour cast on so I've got this rather lovely pop of my contrasting colour right from the beginning.

After a few rows it was time to start a Latvian braid, something I've not done before so I was quite looking forward to it. It was actually really easy once I got into the rhythm, although it got a bit awkward towards the end of the first row because my yarns were OMGsupertwisty. Similarly the beginning of the second row was a bit fiddly until the yarns had unwound themselves a bit but it turned out really nicely in the end. I did the whole thing sat in my parents garden while my mum and sister played with the little misses. I'm pretty sure that if I'd attempted this at home it would have been a very different story!

I'm also really pleased with my colour choice, I decided to make this one a bit more high contrast than my last shawl and I'm really glad I did. I was undecided on whether to have the white or the teal (which seems to be looking more blue in the photos but I promise it's a dark teal colour) as my main colour. I plumped for the teal in the end because I figure it'll hide dirt better. It's as good a reason as any other!

Clue 2 has now arrived and there's a bit more to it that the first one, but hopefully I won't fall too far behind after my late start.