Something for a Piratess

I had to make this scarf simply because Fiona's friend has a very piratey outfit with velveteen pants in a rust color with a band of satin along the side seams. Knitted out of Knitpicks Suri, it is a wonderful alpaca blend that is warm and fluffy, and reminded me of a pirate's ruffly shirt. It used not even a whole skein, so I have another skein and a bit to make something else out of. I may repeat this scarf with the ruffle and all, but without the dropped stitch ladders.

I had to do a provisional cast-on for this scarf, which was the most complicated part. The rest was easy peasy.

Manos Cotton Stria = Soft

Oh my gosh, this cotton is so soft. I love Manos kettle-dyed wool, but this is the first time I've tried the cotton. I bought just one hank of this summery blue and knitted it up into a little baby cap. The yarn softened up as I knit it, resulting in a perfect summer fabric. I also loved the knubby texture of the yarn. I had enough left over for some matching booties, which I'll work on next, and I'll definitely buy more of this, maybe for a small sweater.

I also got a delivery from Knitpicks today, so the world is my knitting oyster right now!! I've already cast on for a ruffled scarf and will start a baby sweater for my niece next.

In the middle of all of this, I'm having trouble dealing with my book club book. We're reading Shantaram, which is basically a doorstop with words. I'm about a quarter through the nearly 1000 pages now, all very descriptive, language-y pages. Don't get me wrong - this guy's a great writer and the story is is fascinating, but 1000 pages of what is basically assigned reading (since it's BOOK CLUB) sort of chafes. And it eats into my knitting time!!

Something Blue....

To break up the monotony of my colors, something blue. This is a little capelet from Scarf Style, made with short row shaping. I had to learn to do some crochet for the border! Anyway, Fiona wanted this because it is a little superhero-ish. It's super cute over a little tank top. The flash made the yarn look a little shinier than it is in real life, but it is a silk/wool blend so it does have a little sheen. It's soft and silky to the touch, too.

From the Toe Up or the Cuff Down?

I decided to try cuff-down socks for a change...this is my first pair, in mini size for a baby. I think the proportion is a little strange because I decided to make the foot fairly short, but it'll do. I bound the toe with a kitchener stitch on four stitches; next time I'll probably let the toe be a little wider before I graft. As it is the toes are a little pointy, giving them an Ali Baba feel. I'm definitely going to try this technique on a larger pair, though. It was kind of cool doing the double knitting on the heel flap, so that was something new too.

One thing - since I'm using odds and ends of yarn it's starting to look like everything I make is the same color. Guess I'll have to branch out into more blues and greens pretty soon.

Warm Hands, Warm Heart

Today I finished the second mitten in this pair for Mary. She loves them! The pattern is pretty standard, and the yarn is one of the Sock Garden colorways from Knitpicks. It's a nice merino, not too heavy since it's sock yarn - perfect for chilly mornings without being cumbersome. Now I'm working on a tam to match.

Meetings!

Here's what I've figured out - if I've got something on fairly good-size needles, like 5s or 6s, with a worsted weight yarn and going along in stockinette, I can knit during a meeting without really looking at what I'm doing. And if the project's small enough, I can even finish it by the time we adjourn.

New Year, New Knitting

After considerable downtime off the computer, I'm back to the routine. And of course, I've been knitting! Santa brought some cool yarn and new needles and I cast on for a new scarf for myself - Misty Garden from Scarf Style. It's somewhere in the middle right now, but every couple of days I add a few rows. I have KADD (Knitting Attention Deficit Disorder) so I have to do lots of small projects while working on anything larger than a 6x6" surface area. The scarf will be done by the time it gets cold around here (June). Here in January it's been hot anyway.

So I'm using the very yarn that's in the book because I love the colorway. It's Jo Sharp rare comfort kid mohair, I think in rosebud, in a feather and fan pattern - it's totally cool when you hold it up to the light so the pattern really shows through. I got about 22 inches into the scarf before I read about a phenomenon called "pooling," so there are some place where the colorway kind of clumps, but I'm not going to worry about it. Since finding out about pooling I've read that you can switch skeins every couple of rows to avoid that (but then you've got a trillion loose ends to weave in - what a nightmare!). I'm just going to chalk it up to learning as I go and once I wrap the thing around my neck nobody will notice.