Viennese Shrug Finished!

This pattern was in INTERWEAVE KNITS magazine, Summer 2005 issue. I fell in love with this shrug, but wasn't sure I was up to the challenge. Nothing like jumping in with both feet! First of all, it's made with sport-weight yarn, which I found at the IK website. I used Dale Tiur yarn instead of the Morehouse. The shrug was made using a provisional cast-on down the mid-back, knitting the left half to the cuff. Then, picking up the stitches from the provisional cast-on, I knitted the right half to the cuff.

Although the Leaf Spray lace pattern varies in width from 17 stitches to 31 stitches, it was pretty straight-forward. As a relatively new lace knitter I had few problems. And surprisingly few tears. My only point of confusion was in picking up stitches for the second half of the shrug. I counted, and re-counted, and somehow came up four stitches short in each lace repeat, plus one. I was counting the four YOs, which, at this point, were not *there* yet. And (you probably already know this) if you're picking up stitches going in the *opposite* direction, you lose a stitch, so need to make one up somewhere.

I used markers to separate the seed stitch edge, and between each lace pattern repeat. I also enlarged the Leaf Spray lace pattern, laminated it, and used extra-sticky Post-it notes to keep track of my place in the pattern. If I were to make it again, I'd probably make the cuff a little less snug - maybe 50-52 stitches instead of the 48. It was a relatively quick knit! And, best of all, it's very comfortable to wear. (The slight scowl in the photo is from squinting in the sun. The shrug is great!)