Shapeshifter Shrug - Part 1

I have been dying (no pun intended) to knit this shrug.  It is called the Shapeshifter Shrug from a knit book called Vampire Knits.

I bought this book for myself for Christmas last year and have been wanting to make almost everything in it.  The author states that it was inspired by Twilight but is not limited to Edward and Bella projects.  It goes into the history of vampires, werewolves, witches and all kinds of eerie phenomenon.  It is a great book to have in your library. 

I finally decided on the Shapeshifter Shrug which is a convertible garment that has buttonholes on one edge and buttons on the other to allow you to "shift" it into other forms such as a shrug, shawl, scarf or whatever.
It was originally knit in wool, but I decided to keep it cheaper and a bit less itchy by choosing Wool-Ease from Lion Brand.  It is an acrylic/wool blend; worsted weight in heather forest green.  I had coupons fowr Joann's so this so far has totaled about $12 for 5 balls of yarn (yippee)!

I'm knitting this on size 8 bamboo circular needles.  There are a ton of sts, so circulars are the most comfortable way to knit this garment, in my opinion.  I have to keep track of the pattern row and the cumulative row because I have to place a buttonhole every so often, so I am tracking this with two separate row counters.  High maintenance, for sure!

Another challenge with this is that it has a cabled look to it but they are achieved by yarn overs (yo) and decreases.  My history with yo has been a bit rocky (Aloha Maddie Baby Blanket) so I was being cautious this time by making flash cards of each row so my eyes only see that row.

Don't mind the stars over the cards; there is a copyright on the pattern so I cannot give it out.  I just wanted to illustrate my flashcards and how they are very helpful.

So here is the start of the pattern and a few buttonholes.

I just love the look of this pattern.  I have to use markers in this pattern so that I only perform the pattern repeat stitch on the stitches that are between the markers and work a garter st at the edges.  The marker set I'm using were made by my friend Crystal as a Christmas present.  They are polymer clay snowmen on jumprings with a post down the center.  How creative, huh?  I love them too.

As of today, I have completed up to the end of the pattern repeat and now I will do just stockinette st for awhile.  Here is another close-up of how this cool pattern has worked up:

Once I block this, the cross-over area will not be puffy or raised but will lay flat.  I am working everyday on this because I'm obsessed with it right now, so I hope to be done with it in a snap.

Stayed tuned!