I’ve reached the home stretch on the Juneberry Triangle. This is definitely going to be a test of willpower – the edging. I think it might take longer than the entire rest of the project combined.
I’m actually quite pleased with my progress, though. After my first update, I had to frog the whole damn thing and start over. Somehow, I didn’t pay enough attention to the chart and screwed up big-time. Oh well. It looks much better now.
Right after finishing chart A.
About the pattern itself:
Jared Flood is obviously a modern legend in the knitting world. His blog, Brooklyn Tweed, was one of the reasons I taught myself to knit in the first place. His photography, taste, and style combined make for a magical knitting utopia that fiber aficionados’ dreams are made of.
I just bopped over there to grab the link, and the first paragraph is spot-on:
The minute September arrives it’s like an internal alarm goes off in my head. I think it must be a knitter thing, because most of the knitters in my life have the same impulse. Despite the lagging humidity of summer, the first month of Fall is here and it’s a change you can feel. We are ready to knit again in a serious way, and savor the perfect mix of color, temperature and light that Fall brings.
The patterns I’ve purchased or followed of his have always been top-notch, quality items with plenty of attention to detail. There is nothing more frustrating than a pattern that can’t be followed due to poor writing!
Here are a few things that stick out to me:
- Jared includes helpful notes in his patterns that help explain how it’s going to be constructed. I tend to be a more visual, intuitive knitter, so I love it when notes like “First three and last three (border stitches) are knit on every row. The single stitch between the 2nd and 3rd marker is kept stockinette stitch (k on RS, p on WS) throughout.”are included. These kind of notes have saved me lots of confusion in other projects. They provide a visual checkpoint and, in a way, lets you ignore that part of the chart or pattern.
- Helpful stitch counts at the end of every section. This is such a simple thing, but I don’t know why pattern writers aren’t required by law to provide this information.
- There are lace elements in each row of the pattern, including the wrong side. This is part of the reason I screwed it up the first time – I wasn’t paying enough attention on the wrong side. I personally would prefer that the wrong side of lace work is a simple purl row, but that’s just me.
- The charts are triangular, with each section being repeated on either side of the center stitch of the shawl (typical triangular shawl construction). However, in charts B, C, and D, there is a 7 or 14-stitch repeat. This is helpful, but once you get further on in the rows, there are quite a few sections on either side of the “repeat” that are identical. It’s frustrating, because suddenly you’re needing to pay attention to a long line of stitches that turns out to be another few repeats. I’m not sure how to chart it differently, but it’s mildly frustrating.
Otherwise, the pattern is fantastic and this has been a really enjoyable knit so far. I like how the lace looks in a chunkier-than-traditional yarn, and I think it will be a fantastic addition to my winter wardrobe.
Tags: brooklyn tweed, fiber, Jared Flood, juneberry, Knitting, progress, review, shawl, update, yarn