American Beauty, Take Two!

I hope many of you have successfully worked the cast-on and Chart A, and are waiting for the next step. This week we are working on Chart B1. If you are new to the party, please take the time to review all previous posts with the "American Beauty" tag. Much of the basic information for this project has been posted already. Chart B1 is a continuation of our rose petals, with a stylized rose bud/heart at the center. Every Chart B1 row is worked twice. That is once for each side of our triangle. The edging charts continue repeating from our earlier charts without change. There are no recommended row repeats, so just knit through this new chart once.

You will notice one of my favorite stitches in today's chart. We used the same maneuver for one of our Summer Sampler patterns. I did a step-by-step tutorial on the maneuver, and you can refer back to it if you need a refresher. You knitting should look something like mine (pictures above) when you finish Chart B1.
This will be a good time to do a gauge check. You can run a ruler along the "spine" of your piece to see how many rows per inch you are getting down the center back. This will help you decide how many rows you want to add or subtract from your project. Don't worry about it this week. We will get back to the idea in the future. Again, there are no extra rows to add this week.

I thought you might enjoy seeing a few on my birthday goodies. I admit that there were some other outrageous edibles and drinkables which are now gone, and I didn't get pictures. You will have to trust me when I say that they were very yummy.

I got these gorgeous spindles from myself, via Golding Spindles. They both have whorls that were hand painted in Russia. The smaller(lower) one is painted abalone on ebony. The picture on the whorl has a lot of depth which is hard to photograph. They are both for spinning lace-weight yarn.

I got a hand knit scarf from my darling daughter. Yes, there is a lace pattern she snuck in there!
I got this gorgeous pot and lovely hand lotion from my brother's partner.
I got beads and this chocolate from my sister and her family. I got a knitting kit from my friend Jane. I got a shopping trip from my mom and dad, which included an afternoon shopping and lunch with my mom. I refuse to model anything, but I got a few things that will be perfect for Barbados (more to come about that.)

Could it get any better? I don't think so, but I'll be back next week and we can discuss it... Until then, knit on!