Tittle Tattle Shawlette: Test Knit

Now that Zach is back home, I recruited him to help me take a whole bunch of pictures of finished projects.  Some of these are older finished projects that I finally have "Project Completed" pictures to share, while others are ones I've done in the past year or so.  At any rate, I now have a ton of knitting projects to finish writing up.  Expect a flurry of knitting posts coming your way (You have been warned!)

This first one is a test knit I finished up about a year and a half ago.  I do enjoy those test knits, and hope my schedule calms down enough to start picking them up again.  They are after all (a) fun, and (b) keep me on a schedule.  I'm trying to be good about knitting regularly and from my stash. Yarn diet!  Since the test knits all have a due date, I have to keep at it, you see.  No projects slipping into hibernation.  And that strategy does work - lots of finished test knit projects on my Ravelry page :)

 

This test knit is a shawlette pattern.  I know I've mentioned before that Zach laughs at me about that - I think he thinks that all I knit are cowls and shawls!

The yarn

A good classic, Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Sock.  This particular skein came from a Ravelry swap a few years ago and had been lurking in the stash, waiting for a project that would be worthy of it.  The colorway is Mountain Stream, but it reminds me of sunsets.  Whatever you call it, though, it's a beautiful combination of jewel tones.  I love how the bright blue just pops out with the garter stitch.  Just lovely.

Shepherd's Sock is one of those yarns that people gush about, and with good reason.  The colorways always are gorgeous, and it's soft and easy to work with - no splitting or anything obnoxious like that.  And from what I've read in comments, it wears beautifully too.  As a shawlette, this won't be getting hard wear, like it would if this was used in socks, but it's still nice to know that it won't be pilling immediately or anything like that.

The pattern

Tattle Tails Shawl by Jeannine Hoeffler.  I just keep calling it Tittle Tattle because I watch too many British mysteries.  A character in the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series talked of 'tittle tattle,' and the phrasing stuck in my head in the character's voice.  So, on reading the name of this pattern, the voice came to my mind, and just stuck after that.  However, if you're looking it up on Ravelry, it's Tattle Tails, not Tittle Tattle :)

The pattern itself is a lovely little one-skein project, though you could make it larger if you wanted, I suppose.  With the pattern as-is and the amount of yarn I had, it's a good shawlette size - drapes across my shoulders, or wraps around my neck a time or two, but not really enough to bundle up in.  The tails are knit as you go along, which is rather fun, really.  The rest of the scarf is garter stitch, with just the increases along the sides.  It makes for a portable, relatively mindless project, but producing a lovely result.  Always a nice combination!

  

I added a big button at the end, for when I wear it all wrapped up around my neck.  I can button it in place, and it'll stay tucked up as I want it.  The button's a bright blue, about the same shade as the bright blue 'pops' in the yarn itself, so it's a flash of color itself.  You can see it a bit in the picture below (sorry it's dark; even with the shadows, though, you can see the blue of the button).

 

Raveled here.

Notes, Alterations, Etc.

For my skein (215 yds, an older skein - skeins now are 435 yds), I was able to fit 24 tails before beginning the end fringe.

It's a very easy pattern - all you really have to think about is keeping track of your rows to know when to make your next tail.  I found that tracking my stitch count at each tail helped.  You are increasing along the neck edge (the smooth side), then cast on for a tail at 10+ stitches from the previous tail.  You should end with 3+ stitches from the previous tail when you're done with that tail's bind-offs.  So, for you algebraically-inclined types:

x= stitch count
x+10 = stitch count when you’re ready to cast on for the next tail
x+3 = stitch count when you’re done with the cast off from that tail

With real numbers:

tail 1 ended with 4 stitches left (x = 4)
tail 2 was cast on at 14 stitches (x+10)
tail 2 post-bind-off was 7 stitches (x+3, new x=7)
tail 3 was cast on at 17 stitches (x+10)
tail 3 post-bind-off at 10 (x+3)
and so on… (13 stitches, then 16, 19, 22… hut hut HIKE!)

And if you want to make things really numerically fun (read: dorky), the number tail you are on is stitch count after the tail's bind-off minus 1 divided by 3

N = (x-1)/3

So, when you finish the tail with 61 stitches left, you will have 20 tails on your scarf

20 = (61-1)/3

I realize this might not help the majority of people who read this (there are a surprising number of knitters who are math-phobic), but it helped me keep the counts straight.

And of course, my helper: