Downton Abbey MKAL Clue #7- Final Clue!

Well hello everyone! Welcome to the final week of the Downton Abbey MKAL! It's funny, when I set out to do this, I didn't realize that PBS was planning to shorten the DA season by combining episodes 6 & 7 to make last week's mega episode and then airing the Christmas special (this week) as the 7th episode. In any case, the season was actually a week shorter than anticipated, but luckily, I planned to wrap up a week "early" so it all works out in the end!

Check out Rachel's finished gauntlets!

That said, I would like to thank you all SO much for joining me in this journey. It's been a blast and I've learned a lot and I hope you all have too. I am already cooking up the next KAL so hopefully you'll join me there as well.

So here is our final bit of knitting for the DAMKAL!

Thumb Gusset (continue working in the round):

Needle 1: Knit as follows-

• Round 1: k to last 5 sts, pm, k1f&b, k3, k1f&b,
• Round 2: k
• Round 3: k to marker, slip marker, k1f&b, knit to last stitch, k1f&b
• Round 4: k

-Repeat rounds 3 & 4, four more times while also following directions for other two needles.   

Needle 2: Continue working in Rosebud Lace pattern picking up where you left off, starting with round 9. While you are knitting the thumb gusset, you will continue working this pattern for 12 more rounds ending on row 4 of the pattern.

Needle 3: For this section, you will no longer knit eyelets. At this point you should have a total of 14 eyelets. You will now just knit regular stockinette stitch on this needle until the directions say otherwise.

-On the last round (a knit round with no increases) knit to the marker on needle 1. Next, slip the next 16 sts onto a scrap of waste yarn using a darning needle. Finally, knit the rest of the round, making sure to knit the two stitches on either edge of the thumb gusset as snuggly as possible as you join them.  

-The thumb increases take place over a total of 12 rounds and by now you should have just completed row 4 of the lace panel on needle 2 as well. You will leave these live stitches on the waste yarn for later. 

-Continue working the hand portion of the gauntlet for 4 more rounds to finish working rows 5-8 of the rosebud lace pattern while knitting all stitches on needles 1 and 3. 

Finishing the Hand:

-K 5 more rounds
-Try on your gauntlet and measure how close you are to your ideal hand length. This part is customizable. If you only need 3/4" or less to be at your ideal length, move on to the garter stitch portion. If you need more than 3/4", knit a few more rows first.
-Work in Garter Stitch (knit a round, purl a round) for 10 more rounds or approximately 3/4".
-Bind-off and weave in ends.

Finishing the Thumb:

-Using your DPNs and beginning with the right side (lace side) of the gauntlet facing you, place your thumb stitches back on the needles in the following order: 5 on the first needle (needle 1), 6 on the second needle (needle 2), 5 on the third needle (needle3).
-Re-join your yarn at the last stitch on needle 3 and knit 1 round, picking up 2 sts along the opening between the thumb (on needles 1 and 3) and the rest of the hand to close up the gap.

*Note* If your thumb seems significantly smaller than the thumb opening after picking up these stitches, decrease the number of stitches on the thumb when you knit the next round by knitting these two picked up stitches together with the stitches on the right or left of them. (K2tog the first two sts of Needle 1 and K2tog the last two sts of needle 2.) Or, if you think you need more then that, decrease by however many stitches you think you need evenly throughout the row. I will leave this up to knitter's choice. However, you must pick these stitches up in order to seamlessly close up the thumb gap, but once you've done that, it's very easy to decrease back down to a size that works for you.

-Knit 4 rounds.
-Knit 6 rounds in garter stitch (knit one round, purl one round)
-Bind off and weave in your ends.

-Remove provisional cast on and place stitches back on your needles dividing the stitches evenly among the needles and rejoin yarn to resume working in the round. (This is a good opportunity to knit those 4 rounds IFyou missed them at the beginning.)
-Increase to 52 sts if you do not  already have that number on the needles by knitting a round and spacing your increases evenly throughout the row. Use your preferred method of increasing.
-Purl one round
-*k1, k1f&b; repeat from * to end of round. (78 sts now on the needles)
-Rearrange sts on the needles so that you have 26 sts on each needle.

Work Shell Lace Edging pattern as follows:
Shell Lace Edging Pattern

Rnd 1: *k2tog, k9, ssk; repeat from * to end of rnd. (66 sts)
Rnd 2: Knit
Rnd 3: *k2tog, k7, ssk; repeat from * to end of rnd. (54 sts)
Rnd 4: Knit
Rnd 5: *k2tog, yo, (k1, yo) 5 times, ssk; repeat from * to end of round (78 sts)
Rnd 6: Purl

*Repeat rows 1-6 two more times. (A total of 3 repeats)
Bind off and weave in ends. Feel free to block your gauntlet if you'd like. If you do, be sure to pin out the points on your lace edging. 

There you have it folks! The conclusion of the Downton Abbey Mystery KAL. I truly hope you've enjoyed the journey and I can't wait to look through all of the finished gauntlets on the project page!! I will be formatting the KAL pattern over the next couple of weeks into a downloadable PDF complete with photos and charts so stay tuned. I should have that up in about two weeks. I will make sure that it gets a mention in one of our upcoming twice monthly newsletters.

Also, some of you may be curious about our next KAL. Well, we couldn't help but love having a theme based off of a popular series, so starting March 31st, we'll begin our Game of Thrones Mystery KAL complete with it's own custom color of Lorna's Laces! Stay tuned for more info in our Friday, March 1st Newsletter! I hope you'll join me!

With that I bid you farewell, until we meet again.

Happy knitting!
Kristen