The MKAL of Ice and Fire Clue #2

Greetings fair citizens of Westeros! I hope this week has proven fun and productive for all of you! I’ve been lucky enough to attend VK Live in Seattle this past weekend and have had the immense pleasure of meeting some of you in person! It’s always such fun to meet customers in person, but it’s a huge honor to meet those of you who have joined me in this little online community through these KAL’s. Thank you for being here. I am truly one lucky gal to have such wonderful and kind folks supporting my passion. I truly appreciate you all.

Sorry to get all sappy on you, but I thought you should know how much y’all mean to me. :) As a reward, I give you this GoT themed meme. The gals at the JBW office and I got a good kick out of it. I hope you do too:

So, as promised, this week we are knitting some short rows. By now you should have completed Clue #1. If you haven’t yet done so, or you missed it, be sure to check out last week's post before starting this section. 

I noticed some of you struggling with the tension of the garter stitch section and I just wanted to mention that if you are still struggling, sometimes going down a needle size just for the edging is helpful. It might prevent some of the rolling that seems to be occurring.Then, you can bump back up to the regular gauge size for the rest of your work. It’s just a suggestion. Feel free to ignore it. :)

Ok, so onto Clue #2 (if you’ve not marked the beginning of the round with a stitch marker, you’ll want to do so before starting this section):

-Rnd 1: K to 6 sts before marker, yarn forward, slip next stitch, yarn back, slip same stitch back to left needle, turn work.

-Rnd 2: P to 6 sts before marker, yarn back, slip next stitch, yarn forward, slip same stitch back to left needle, turn work.

-Rnd 3: K to 6 sts before last wrapped stitch, yarn forward, slip next stitch, yarn back, slip same stitch back to left hand needle, turn work.

-Rnd 4: Purl to 6 sts before last wrapped stitch, yarn back, slip next stitch, yarn forward, slip same stitch back to left needle, turn work.

*Rnds 5-8- repeat rnds 3 & 4 twice more.

Rnd 9: K to 2 sts before marker (picking up slipped stitch wraps and knitting them together with the slipped stitches as you come to them), yarn forward, slip next stitch, yarn back, turn work to purl back the opposite direction.

Rnd 10: Purl to 2 sts before marker (picking up slipped stitch wraps and purling them together with the slipped stitches as you come to them), yarn back, slip next stitch, yarn forward, turn work to knit back the opposite direction.

Rnd 11: Knit all the way around to marker (picking up slipped stitch wrap and knitting the two stitches together, you will not turn your work on this round.)

Rnd 12: Purl (picking up wrapped stitch and purling the two together when needed.)

*Repeat rounds 1-12 (entire short row section) twice more.

That’s it for Clue # 2! If you are searching for a nice looking way to pick up those wrapped stitches so that they are as invisible as possible, you’ll like this tutorial from my talented friend Julia (Farwell-Clay) over at her blog Moth Heaven. I really liked her explanation and I even used it myself to make picking up the wrapped stitches really nice looking.

Also, if you are new to short rows, aka “wrap and turns” this Instructional Video starring Jeanne is particularly helpful.

Again, please let me know if you have any questions! I’ll try and check in at some point on Sunday, but I must apologize in advance for my absence today. I will be at VK Live working all day and probably not have many opportunities to check in but I promise I’ll be back online on Monday. Thanks so much for understanding. If you just so happen to be in the Seattle area, feel free to stop by the Jimmy Beans/ Cascade yarns booth and say hello or get help on your project. I’ll be there all day. :)

In the meantime, I wish you all a wonderful week ahead and happy knitting!

Kristen