The River Stole from Rowan 38 is underway, only a few days after the official KAL start.

This my first time working with Kidsilk Haze. It is a bit tricky, isn't it? The stitches really want to stick together. They are all best friends. And they are all practically weightless, just floating around, a couple of them bound to the needle, and the rest going about on their way. Maybe it will get easier as the scarf progresses and weighs more. So far its not my favorite yarn ever, but it is certainly challenging. I am reserving judgement on KSH for now... perhaps post-blocking it will be love.

Jody mentioned going down a couple needle sizes. This makes total sense, as the yarn overs are huge on this US size 10.5 needle.

I am using a 24" Addi Turbo needle. Something with a pointier tip might be better, but rampant laziness prevents me from going on an all-out needle search. Addi Turbo, its the choice of champions, not just the choice of those who happen to already own one in the necessary size. Just go with me on this one.

I am down with following directions. If a pattern specifies a needle size, I really love it when I can get gauge on the same size. River is a scarf/stole, so I didn't even check gauge, just started out on the 10.5 US needle it calls for.

But, the thing is, well... I don't really like the fabric the 10.5 produces. It is all loose and airy, and truthfully, it reminds me of a novelty yarn scarf. The resulting stole would be exactly like the image in Rowan, no question about that. However, It seemed a bit too much about the yarn for my taste. It said: "Hey, I totally knit this!! Doesn't this yarn rock??"

So, I did something drastic, something I noticed a couple other people doing with River. I went down to size 7 US needles. Quite a difference.

Top: Size 7 needles.
Bottom: Size 10.5 needles.

Now, on the 7s I prefer to think it says "I casually purchased this at a really nice store.. yes, its gorgeous and I plan to wear it all winter."

This is all a matter of personal taste, of course, but since I plan to wear River as more of a scarf than stole anyway, it works.

This weekend I'm heading upstate and hope to capitalize on two train rides worth of River progress. and if I'm lucky, get to that magic point in lace knitting where you memorize the repeat.

Yes, River is only supposed to be 12 repeats. Mine is at 17 repeats, and I plan to keep on going until nearly running out of yarn. No yarn added to the yarn stash is a good thing!

I decided to knit River as an alternative to joining the shawl-knitting bandwagon. I was uncertain if I'd ever wear a shawl, though I'd love to knit one and probably will at some point. This looked like a happy medium, plus a good chance to try out Kidsilk Haze. The jury is still out about KSH, but this scarf/stole is going to be lovely. I tried it on last night, and its already a favorite. I can't wait for the weather to be cold enough to wear it!

The first ball of KSH got me through about 10 pattern repeats. if my calculations are correct, there's only 3 more to go!

I cannot for the life of me memorize this pattern repeat. I still move a little post-it note on the chart with every row! It must be non-memorizable, that's all there is to it.

River... its a scarf one minute, a wrap the next:

The Specs:
Pattern: River, by Sharon Miller, from Rowan 37
Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze, 2 balls, in Trance
Finished Size: 14.5" wide by 66" long
Needles: Size 7 circs

Pattern Modifications:
Used size 7 needles rather than the size 10.5 called for. Knit to 20 pattern repeats for a longer scarf that used up almost all the KSH. I also did not knit the beaded knot.

Thoughts on KSH:
Knitting the KSH was not really stellar, but the results are so gorgeous, I'll probably use this yarn again. It may be better suited to bamboo needles.

Blocking:
I wet-blocked River. This is what KSH looks like straight out of the bathtub:

When pinning River out to dry, I pulled out a scalloped edge along all the edges. The BO edge was a bit tight and not nearly as stretchy as the CO edge.

Thoughts on the pattern:
This pattern seems easy, and doesn't involve any advanced knitting trickery, but its somehow very easy to make a mistake. I had to go back and fix misplaced YOs a couple times. And memorizing the repeat was impossible until Yahaira mentioned the secret way to remember it:

"Just memorize the first K# since it goes 3, 4, 5, 6, then 5, 4, 3, 2 and round and round it goes"

That's what got me through the last couple repeats! So glad I did too.. River is sure to be a favorite this fall.