Abbot

You might say finally.  Abbot is done and released - available for purchase through Ravelry.  It's amazing what a learning experience it is - developing a knitting pattern.  I'm quite happy with how it turned out.  And at what a great experience having it test knit was -- it's a thrill to see someone else's finished object.

Abbot Shawl - Carrying Unused Yarn

Another question I got from the Abbot test knitters was about carrying the unused color. The unused yarn is carried over 3 stitches and up 2 rows.  Not a particularly long length, but one that needs some care to avoid holes and keep the tension even.  You definitely don't want to cut and sew the ends for every color change!

When switching colors, I brought the new color up from under the old one, creating a simple wrap.  Then worked the first three stitches (k1, slip, k1).  Then took both strands and gently tugged them to the right, evening the tension.  It's important not to pull too hard to avoid puckers.  And not so loosely that you have yarn loops on the back.

When worked evenly, the back of the shawl looks like this (hard to read, but it says "yarn carried on back").

Abbot Shawl - Lace to Linen Transition

One of the benefits of having test knitters (in addition to a tech editors for a pattern is finding out where knitters might be confused about the instructions.  Or if not confused, just looking for visual confirmation that what they're doing is, in fact, what was intended.

When test knitting the Abbot Shawl, one of the knitters asked about the slip stitches in the transition between the lace and linen sections.

The transition section has six (6) rows.

Row 1 (MC) closes the open yarn overs and finishes the lace.
Row 2 (MC) creates a garter stitch ridge on the right (public) side to form a distinct break between sections.

Rows 3-6 continue the garter stitch pattern (knit each row), but alternate colors (MC and CC).  Alternating the colors creates a smudged effect that helps blend the alternating color strips of the linen section.

Row 3 (CC) is worked by knitting every other stitch in CC while slipping the unworked stitches with the yarn held in back of the work (wrong or non-public side).

Row 4 (CC) is worked by knitting each other stitch (same stitches as those worked in row 3) in CC while slipping the unworked stitches with the yarn held in front of the work (wrong or non-public side).

Row 5 (MC) is worked by knitting every other stitch (not worked in rows 3 and 4) in MC while slipping the unworked stitches with the yarn held in back of the work (wrong or non-public side).

Row 6 (MC) is worked by knitting each other stitch (same stitches as those worked in row 5) in MC while slipping the unworked stitches with the yarn held in front of the work (wrong or non-public side).

This is how is looks on a sample shawl.  Note that the solid color is the MC and variegated is the CC.  All the slip stitches appear on the back (wrong or non-public side).

Front (Right or Public Side)

Back (Wrong or Non-Public Side)

Abbot Shawl -- Casting on How Many Stitches?

Some knitters won't consider a pattern requiring a long cast on. But casting on a lot of stitches is really the same as casting on a few. You do them one at a time.  But you can make the process a little easier.

Markers

The first thing I do is make little stitch markers from lightweight scrap yarn.  One marker for every 50 stitches to cast on.  I start with the exact number needed -- when there are none left, I just have the final (less than 50) stitches to go.  It's an easy way of knowing where you are at any point without needing to count.  I like to use 50 stitches between markers because a) it makes for easy arithmetic and b) I can count to 50 without losing my place or getting distracted.  You can chose any number you want.  For my 745 stitch cast on I made 14 stitch markers.

Type of Cast On

There are books written on various ways to cast on.  For shawls, I like one that's somewhat stretchy and looks neat (many stretchy cast ons tend to be sloppy and loopy).  One of my favorites is the Old Norwegian cast on (in part because it's the one I learned as a young girl).  Typically in a long tail cast on you have to estimate how much yarn you'll need before starting.....not easy to do with lots of stitches.  Too long a tail is wasteful (and prone to tangling).  Too short a tail....and you'll run out before you're done (argh!).  To eliminate that problem, I use two separate yarns -- either from separate balls or opposite ends of the same ball.  In this case, I used two separate balls -- one in the main color (solid) and one in the contrasting color (variegated).  The yarn over your index finger will be the yarn forming the stitch on the needle.  The yarn in the "slingshot" position will be along the edge.

I don't know how long it took to cast on the 745 stitches -- I worked at it over the course of a few hours -- 50 here, 50 there, fitting it in around other tasks.  Not hard at all.

Abbot Shawl - Swatching and Choosing Colors

I highly recommend swatching for the Abbot Shawl.  While swatching is typically done to check stitch gauge, in this case, that's not the primary purpose.  For Abbot, swatching does two things: 1) checks the relative gauge between the lace and linen stitch portions and 2) allows you to see how you like your combination of colors.

Here's one of the swatches I made.  You can see that the linen stitch pulls in much more than the airy lace stitch.  For this sample, I used a US size 5 (3.75mm) needle for the lace portion, but a US size 7 (4.5mm) for the linen stitch to achieve a fabric where the body and lace edging "fit" together.

I designed Abbot for variegated, short color run yarns.  I love them, but find them very hard to use.  I found that I preferred combinations that either highly contrasted or were very similar.  To check, I took pictures of the potential combinations in black and white.  If the two yarns were black/black, white/black, or white/white -- they were candidates.  Similarly, if they were both gray, they were candidates.  But white/gray or black/gray were not.  In those combinations, the white or black simply overwhelmed the gray and that's all I saw.

Here's what the above swatch looks like in black and white. Pretty much all gray except for those streaks of yellow.

My next sample is even more subdued -- see the color and black and white versions.  You can see that the pink will stand out when it's knit up -- but it's mostly gray.

Remember - color is very subjective.  There are no color combination police -- the important thing is to find a combination you like.