Tina Shawl KAL Progress

I've been working on the Tina shawl (Fiddlesticks Knitting) center, and finally finished that part of the shawl. Then, knitted the extra row as per the instructions, and now I'm ready to pick up the stitches along the remaining three sides, to begin working in the round (or square, to be more accurate). The cast-on was provisional, so the stitches at the beginning of the center square are being held on waste yarn. That leaves the two sides, which will need to have 120 stitches picked up from each side. Because of the lace pattern used in the center, the sides of the square are wavy, and the entire center is very three-dimensional. This should block out. I hope.

Joy, who is leading the pack right now, & is doing the shawl in a lovely soft rose alpaca, had the following suggestion:

"The way I worked out how to pick up the stitches along the sides is this:  I picked up 13 stitches in each scallop and 3 for the half scallop.  Since I didn't slip a stitch at the beginning of the row I just eyeballed the placement to even things out, but I found dealing with 13 stitches at a a whole lot easier."

So I plan to proceed, changing now to size 4 needles from the size 6 used in the center of the shawl, and pick up the side stitches, then the stitches from the provisional cast-on, then the remaining side.

I should also note that there are supposed to be 120 stitches on the top and bottom of the shawl as well. The cast on was 113 stitches, so I will need to add 7 stitches on the top and the bottom to bring the number up to 120.

Don't even ask me about the sweater. It's living in a bag right now.


Just for fun, I thought I'd include a couple of photos from our weekend outing to Skagit Valley. We stayed at the LaConner Thousand Trails campground, and the drive by the daffodil fields was lovely. We took a little break from camping to meet up with friends & attend "The Barber of Seville" at McIntyre Hall in Mount Vernon - a fun production which brought back fond memories of Bugs Bunny, and then we had a sumptuous dinner at the Rhododendron Cafe. . . still my favorite.