The frustration of working a pattern without pattern support and an incomplete set of directions has finally come to an end. What I thought would be a quick little knit with my stellar hand painted bulky merino turned out to be an exercise in patience. I don't know if you know this about me, but I am not particularly partial to anything associated with numbers. In fact, I am seriously mathematically deficient. Translation: don't ask me to to figure out the math associated with someone else's pattern if you expect the outcome to be positive.
I give you Multnomah.
On the surface, it's a simple garter stitch pattern with several feather-and-fan repeats. When you get to those feather-and-fan repeats, though, it's math, math, math with every dang row because after the first pattern repeat, the directions fail to take into account the ever-increasing number of garter stitch stitches on either side of the center panel. I only had to tear this baby out about 5 times before I realized that I had to do math to get through every row! I think I must have torn out the repeats after the first two at least 8 times before I finally nailed the stitch count to keep the fans in lineI emailed the designer with questions, but received no response. I suppose that it is bad form to complain about the quality of a free pattern, but I am obviously going to do it anyway. We had a discussion about this situation at knitting club last Saturday, and the unanimous opinion was that if you are going to post a pattern, then you should either post directions for every line OR actually provide the pattern support that is offered at the close of the pattern.
Well, I made it through. (You are seeing it in its original, unblocked condition in these pictures.) In the end, I didn't like the way the front didn't come together--sort or fell away from the girls, you know, and there didn't seem to be enough "front" to warrant a shawl pin; so I sewed the two corner edges, one on top of the other, and added the three faux buttons. I guess it isn't really my style; but I'll wear it to work and around the house anyway. It does seem to be warm and sunny, if not exactly what I had in mind when I started this project. I hope that you have better luck with it if you take on this project.
Happy knitting!
I give you Multnomah.
On the surface, it's a simple garter stitch pattern with several feather-and-fan repeats. When you get to those feather-and-fan repeats, though, it's math, math, math with every dang row because after the first pattern repeat, the directions fail to take into account the ever-increasing number of garter stitch stitches on either side of the center panel. I only had to tear this baby out about 5 times before I realized that I had to do math to get through every row! I think I must have torn out the repeats after the first two at least 8 times before I finally nailed the stitch count to keep the fans in lineI emailed the designer with questions, but received no response. I suppose that it is bad form to complain about the quality of a free pattern, but I am obviously going to do it anyway. We had a discussion about this situation at knitting club last Saturday, and the unanimous opinion was that if you are going to post a pattern, then you should either post directions for every line OR actually provide the pattern support that is offered at the close of the pattern.
Well, I made it through. (You are seeing it in its original, unblocked condition in these pictures.) In the end, I didn't like the way the front didn't come together--sort or fell away from the girls, you know, and there didn't seem to be enough "front" to warrant a shawl pin; so I sewed the two corner edges, one on top of the other, and added the three faux buttons. I guess it isn't really my style; but I'll wear it to work and around the house anyway. It does seem to be warm and sunny, if not exactly what I had in mind when I started this project. I hope that you have better luck with it if you take on this project.
Happy knitting!
I love it! I would never have known that you altered the front on the shawl to fix the fit. It looks great.
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