Game ON!

Day I

Day II

Day III

This is (so far) my favorite of all the sampler shawls I've knit.  I hope everyone is enjoying knitting this one up as much as I am.  I love the pattern, the yarn, the beads.....everything!  Can't wait to see your progress!

Nupps: I didn't like the 7-stitch in my lace weight (too much like a giant bobble) so I tried a 3-stitch (couldn't see) and finally decided on a 5-stitch.  I think they look the best with my yarn and will also save me a little yardage since I don't quite have the recommended amount the pattern called for.  Hopefully I can squeak out day 23 and 24 now?

I'm also bumping Morgen's comment about her experience with nupps into my post so it will be easier to find for anyone that maybe hasn't done them before.  She has some great tips if you're struggling with them:

"For anyone who hasn't yet done Day 2's pattern, here are a couple of hints. I have taken a number of Estonian lace classes from Nancy Bush. One thing she always emphasizes about the dreaded nupps are that it is just about impossible to make the (in this case 7 out of 1) stitches too big. In other words, as you are drawing the yarn throught the front and back for the 7 stitches, pull each loop of yarn through towards yourself as far as you reasonably can. This makes it very easy to pick up all 7 stitches on the return row and purl them together. You can also neaten the nupps up if necessary by tugging gently from below to align all their loops.
On this particular set of nupps I have noticed that on the return row, the 7 stitches are purled together, and then the next stitch to be purled is a yarnover. It is very easy to accidentally purl that yarnover together with the nupp thereby messing with your stitch count. I have found it easier to hold that yo out of the way with my lefthand thumb as I purl the nupp. Quite honestly, I find nupps really easy if you just know ahead of timewhat to watch for. I hope this info helps someone!"              thanks, Morgen!

Karen has decided to post progress photos on her own blog so if you want to check hers also, here's the link.  She's already got a photo up, and also one of her finished shawl from last year's kal.  If you want to see everyone's finished 2010 shawl , they are all on this blog in the January & February 2010 postings.  Better get back to my knitting ;)

day 4 errata! ~ heads up ~ day 3 ends with 88 stitches ~ the first row of day 4's spacer section says to 'decrease by 1 st' to get the necessary 86 stitches for day 4....I counted chart stitches, you do need 86 stitches for day 4 so you'll need to decrease the first row of the spacer section by 2 stitches