River Along: August 2005 Archives
As the official kick-off date nears our numbers keep growing -- we're almost up to 50 KALers!
Note: If you left a note asking to join and you're not on the list please reply to this post. I'm so sorry but it means I somehow missed you!
I got my Knitpicks yarn in this week and I'm very pleased. It's going to be light and airy and wonderful as a more casual day-to-day type scarf. I'm hoping once I wrap it around a couple times it will even be casual enough to wear with a denim jacket. I'm not a frilly girl but I love knitting lace -- if I can pull this off I'll be thrilled!
Beads in the Shawl Too?
UPDATE: Agnes heard back from Rowan and there are no beads on the shawl itself. Only the holder.
Julia left a comment that she thought there were beads in the shawl itself and that Rowan missed putting them in the pattern. Julia -- I don't see them in the pic in the magazine, but it's a horrible pic so maybe I'm missing it. Can you let us know why you think there's beads in the shawl?
New Beginnings
Hazel cast on and has also contacted Rowan about the possibility of beads being in the shawl itself. Last I heard she hasn't received a reply yet. Once I hear back I'll be sure to post it here so everyone knows.
Heather G has determined that she can get a whole repeat of River done in less time than the full playlist from her Rufus Wainwright CD. Impressive!
Jackie cast on this week and gave a rave review of the Pony Rosewood needles she's using.
Liz cast on for River and decided to use beads on the cast-on row. But since it's 103 degrees out she's decided to put it aside and wait for slightly cooler weather. I don't blame you Liz!
Norbu has cast on and knitted most of the setup rows. That new blushes color is beautiful!
A Finished River
Update: Our first KALer is finished! Tracy is done! and it is gorgeous. It's blocked and everything. Beautiful work, Tracy, and you finished in no time!
Hazel finished her earlier this week. It's gorgeous! Go on over and take a look.
More Needle Talk
Yahaira plans to use Clover Ivory.
Jackie is loving her Pony Rosewoods!
Jessica prefers Crystal Palace Bamboo for mohair. She reports they have super pointy tips and are polished so they have a nice glide. She did note that the join can be a little obtrusive though.
Dawn ordered some Bryspun needles for her River.
and Julia mentioned that she prefers Bryspun straights for her mohair projects.
Blogless?
If you're in the KAL and don't have a blog, feel free to email me progress pics and I'll post them with the regular update. We'd all love to see your progress too!
It seems there are 2 things that are troubling some of you, so I thought I'd post a few links here.
What's this lace cast on?
I'm not positive of the origins, but it may be a British term (please someone tell me if I'm right). I've only seen it listed that way in Rowan books myself. The lace cast on is the same as the knitted on cast on.
If you're not sure what that is, here's a good illustration.
Beading
After my post earlier in the week a few of you left comments with some beading links (thanks!). Here they are:
Deb's tutorial for knitting with beads without pre-threading them onto the yarn.
Wow we've grown quickly! We're almost at the 40 mark. I hadn't read much about River in blogland so I wasn't sure how much interest there was -- clearly I was wrong!
Since most of us haven't started yet I thought I'd tackle a couple of questions that seem to be popping up, and invite comments from everyone.
Yarn
It looks like almost everyone is using KS (Haze, Spray, or Night). I'm really interested to see how the 2 new ones make up. I've heard one of my LYSs will be getting them in next week (yeah yeah, you girls across the pond have already seen them).
Since about half of you have yet to pick a yarn I thought I'd mention a few other potential substitutes.
Julia emailed and suggested Douceur et Soie, and fellow KALer Denise (no blog) is using this in hers. This one has the same fiber content and KSH and is a couple USD less expensive too.
Julia also suggested Karabella Lace Mohair, but mentioned that there's no silk in it. The fiber content is 60% mohair/21% polyester/8% wool. It's a great buy though. For a couple dollars more than KSH you get more than twice the yardage! One ball of this would do River.
Another option is Imperiale. It's about a third less expensive than KSH, also has a great color palette, and similar to Karabella is missing the silk. Its content is 80% mohair/20% polyamid.
Fellow KALer Donni is using Crystal Palace Kid Merino. At about a third of the price of KSH it's a nice alternative too. Its fiber content is 28% Kid Mohair/28% Merino/44% Nylon.
Of course, you don't have to do this in mohair (I'm not!). Knitpicks has some great Laceweight yarns to choose from. I went with Alpaca Cloud in Tidepool (dontcha love that name for River?). Once I get my yarn I'll swatch it up and let you know what I think.
As for colors -- pink is winning bigtime. Between Blushes (softer pink) and Candy Girl (shocking pink) 6 of you have opted for a pink River.
Needles
Evangeline had asked in the comments about needles. I typically like to stay with bamboo when knitting mohair, but my normal Addi Naturas just seem a little dull for the job. Any suggestions?
Knitting with Beads
A couple of you have mentioned that you've never knit with beads before. I had wanted to include a good link for you to visit but I cannot find one! If any of you know of a good online tutorial please let me know. I was hoping to find one with pictures.
Another River WIP
Hazel left me a comment that she's almost done with her River (in Dewberry). The link is to her latest post which shows it just shy of the halfway point. Pretty!
Yarn Swap?
Jessica mentioned in the comments that she has some leftover KSH in Toffee from her Birch that she'd like to trade with someone. Any takers?
Alright, it looks like there's enough interest so let's have ourselves a little knitalong!
I'll get the list together and post it on my sidebar tonight. If you left me a comment on the last post then you're in. If you didn't, please leave me a comment here or on the previous post and I'll get you added.
Added later: Here's a link to a PDF of the chart. I intentionally left out all WS rows (they're the even ones). If you look at the pattern you'll see a few different rows for the even rows. It should be pretty easy to figure out if you have the book.
If you find any problems with the chart please let me know!
Answers to a couple of questions:
Start Date Let's make a start date of September 1st, although whenever is absolutely fine. If you're itching to get started now -- go for it! If you can't start until November -- that's fine too! I'll try to post updates once a week, probably over the weekends. If you want to be in the update feel free to email me, although I'll try to visit all your blogs at least once a week (assuming we don't get too big).
How much yarn? The pattern calls for 2 balls of Kid Silk Haze (just under 450 yards)
Curious what it looks like? Kirsty left a comment that she's 3 repeats in, and she posted a few pics on her blog. It's beautiful. She reports it's an easy knit. I can't wait to see it blocked!
If you leave a comment let me know what yarn you'll be using. KSH is gorgeous but I'm sure some of you will be substituting. If we get together a big enough list of substitutions I'll post that as well.
