It makes my neck itch and get red splotches. It’s superwash wool and I dyed it in a plant-dying class I took over a year ago. Maybe it’s one of the dyes that I’m reacting to. I’ve never had any kind of allergy or any sensitivity to fiber so this is disturbing. I’m going to try washing it again and see if that helps. I really want to wear it!! I love the way it turned out and it’s sad to see it just sitting there.

The size of the hexagons goes from almost the size of my hand to itty-bitty and the spiraling makes it wrap around my neck so nicely. I also love the way it twists and turns when it hangs. It has so much movement and life to it! Have I mentioned that I really want to wear it without getting all itchy and uncomfortable? Do you think there’s any hope? What should I do with it if I can’t wear it? The sad thing is that I still have more of this yarn but if I’m allergic to it what can I knit with it?

At least I have something new that I can wear! I have never knit mittens and lately my hands have been cold so I decided it was time. I had two balls of Rowan Felted Tweed so I pulled them out, along with some size 3 needles and started knitting. I love Felted Tweed so much! I like the tweedy bits and the lumpy bits and the hairy bits and all the tiny flecks of color.

I wanted stripes but needed something to keep me interested as well so I modified this cabled fingerless mitts pattern Stulpen. I shortened the cuff section and started the cable section later so that it would be on the back of my hand instead of on my arm. I started the thumb gusset at the same time as I started the cable chart. I also made them full mittens instead o the fingerless kind. When I thought I should start decreasing I had to just wing it and I’m really happy with how they turned out!

I know the stripes obscure the cable pattern. I wouldn’t normally do that but the cables were more something to keep me interested than to be the major design element. After knitting the stripey mess for Sairshe, I didn’t want to knit any more plain stripes. And you can see the cables if you’re looking for them. They’re warm and they match and I used stash yarn so I don’t know how they could get any better. Oh, and I even have yarn left over! Any suggestions on what to do with less than a ball of felted tweed?

Don’t forget to enter my contest if you haven’t already. No one has guessed the correct number yet so there’s still a chance for you!

I had a little bit of yarn leftover and I decided to use it to knit the baby a hat. We went to visit my dad this weekend and I knit it while I was there. I was distracted by visiting with all my relatives and, of course, by a crying baby, so I didn’t try it on her while it was in progress. Bad decision. It’s really cute but a little too big around. The best thing to do would be frog it and start over but I have so little time to knit nowadays that I don’t know if I can do that. I thought of taking out the top seam and frogging an inch or so, then decreasing for a few rows when I reknit it. That way, I can flip it over and have the narrower “top” be the bottom so it’s snug around her head. I can seam the cast on edge to then be the top. Or, I could just leave it alone and knit a chin strap to keep it on her head. What do you think?

Here’s a picture from our trip. This is the southern CA part of my family. That’s my 94 year old grandpa on the right! I’m so happy he got to meet his great granddaughter. My dad is next to my grandpa. To see more cool photos (some of my fam, but mostly not) visit my cousin’s blog. She’s an amazing photographer!

Now that Christmas is over, I’ve been knitting for myself. I finally finished my Over-the-Knee Socks, though not by the Christmas deadline I had set for myself. They are so pretty, if I do say so myself! I have also started a new sweater for myself. It’s a maternity sweater from last summer’s IK. I’m using Knitpicks Wool of the Andes and I’m really liking it. The bump in the front is because it has short rows under the bustline to accommodate a baby belly. Here’s a modeled picture of the front. I can’t believe I’m half done with being pregnant! One good thing about being back from my beach vacation is that I get to go to the doctor tomorrow and see if baby Sesame is a boy or a girl! I’m really excited but a little nervous too. We call the baby Sesame because when I first found out I was pregnant, I read that the baby was as big as a sesame seed and the name stuck. It’s a lot bigger than a sesame seed now but my family is starting to think that maybe the baby should actually be named Sesame!

I need to say a great big THANK YOU to my secret pal! She got me a ball winder!! I have already used and I love, love, love it. I don’t know how I went this long without one!

We saw a lot of great yarn and a lot of great fiber that made me with I could spin. The highlight, though, was the animals. Alpacas are the cutest!! Just look at this one munching his hay. How could you not want to take him home?

This pretty trio was for sale. Each a different color. I wanted them. I still want them. The weirdest animal was the Jacob Sheep. Look at all the horns! We weren’t allowed to pet them. It was probably so we didn’t get impaled by all the horns. They looked friendly but we followed orders. I got a great deal on some Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. They were seconds so each skein was only $3! I have been wanting to knit Rusted Root for a while now so I bought some cotton fleece and started knitting. It’s a quick knit so hopefully I’ll get to wear it before the weather gets really cold. I also bought a big skein of organic Inca cotton and knit a quick little washcloth. It’s so soft! I wish you all could feel it! The pattern is from Mason-Dixon Knitting but the pattern is free on the web (that’s how I got it!) here.

When I realized last weekend that Mother’s Day is coming up soon, I decided to knit something for my mom and my mom-in-law. I needed something quick, since I have to send it early enough for it to get there on time, and easy and pretty so I decided on the Airy scarf from Last-Minute Knitted gifts. Mike helped me pick out the color and it’s kid silk haze in a pretty seafoam green. I didn’t even think about it being a project spectrum color until today. I finished the second tonight and there’s enough yarn left over that I can probably knit a 3rd and have a matching scarf too! I followed the pattern almost exactly. I added a selvedge stitch on each edge and I did a few extra repeats because it was shorter than the pattern said it should be. I haven’t blocked them yet but they’re about 6″ wide and 34″ long. Still 2 inches shorter than the pattern says to knit it but they’re long enough.

I know this because I tried one on.
I hope my moms like them! I know I do. I’ll knit one for me in a while. After cranking out 2 of them in only 3 days, I’m not really in a hurry to knit a 3rd right away. Besides, I have my corset pullover to get back to. I had about 4″ of a sleeve done but then I ripped it out and started over because I didn’t like it. Now I only have less that an inch done. The scarves were a nice interlude but back to the sleeves I go.

Yarn: Rowan felted tweed. I used 2 strands held together. I really, really like this yarn. It’s not the softest yarn for a scarf but Mike picked it out (he wanted tweed or nothing) and he’s really happy with it. If it weren’t so expensive, I would knit myself a sweater out of this yarn. Every picture I take makes it look like a different color but this picture is the best (color-wise). It has flecks of white, light blue and dark orange which really gives it a lot of depth and interest. Needles: Size ? bamboo (I set them down and now they are lost)
Pattern: My own. It’s a saxon braid cable with 5 stitches of garter stitch on each side. Here is a picture that shows the cable pattern clearly.
All in all, I am really happy with it and, more importantly, so is Mike. I’m also happy that my next project will not be a scarf.

As I’ve been knitting this brown scarf, I’ve been very envious of all you project spectrum participants and your lovely pink and red eye candy. My next project will be red and just to prove (mostly to myself) that I am participating in project spectrum, here are my favorite pink and red things from my house. The first is Cradle. She is a fairy and was named by the artist I bought her from because she looks so comforting and watchful. Like she’s cradling the viewer. She’s really big- about 3 1/2′ x 4 1/2′- so it really is like she’s watching over us. It’s actually dark pink fabric that was marked off with tape and the negative areas were bleached lighter. It’s very cool and I love her. Here are some other things.

It’s so light and airy and I love it! I really like the Kidsilk haze and I didn’t find it difficult to knit but I don’t think I love it the way many of you out there do. I would use it again, though.

This olympics thing has been fun and I really like the challenge to finish something in a timely manner but I am more than ready to get back to my usual multiple project self.

Speaking of multiple projects, I have branched out beyond knitting! Kirsten and I took a drop spindle class today! It was so fun and the teacher was great and we made yarn!!Check out my first yarn! It’s so pretty and even and not lumpy like most people’s first yarn. It’s not spun perfectly, though, because it doesn’t hang straight. It twist on itself a little. I feel like I should knit something with it but it’s such a small amount that I don’t know what to do with it. Any ideas? Lest you think I’m over here gloating over my pretty first-yarn-ever-made, let me show you what I did next. The whole reason I want to learn to spin is because I want to spin the fur from my angora bunny, Phoebe, that is starting to pile up in my basement. So, when I came home from the class I decided to spin her fur. It’s is a lumpy mess!I must point out, though, that’s it’s the softest lumpy mess that I have ever touched! Angora is slippery and has short fibers but I am determined to spin it well. I owe it to Phoebe to make something pretty out of her lovely fur. I am encouraged that although much of my mini-skein looks like this or worse:there are some short sections that look like this:Do you see the perfect twist and the smooth edges? It can be done and I can do it!

Because I’m on a scarf kick, here’s a photo of the 1st scarf I ever made. (That sounds like I’ve made a lot. No, only 3). It crocheted because I am one of those knitters who converted when I realized crocheting was very limiting. A crocheted sweater? I don’t think so. It wasn’t for me, anyway. I love this scarf and crocheters always want the pattern but hell if I remember it. I don’t even remember how to crochet. The yarn is Plymouth Encore which is 75% acrylic and 25% wool. I don’t knit with acrylic anymore, but for those of you who like it, this is a really nice yarn. I’ve had this scarf for almost 10 years and it’s held up really well and it’s really soft.

I was going to give my 2 cents about Lolly’s project spectrum but I’m tired after all the scarf blogging so that’ll have to wait until tomorrow. I’ll just tell you to go check it out, it’s cool.

Row 1 (ws): purl across until last stitch, slip last stitch
Row 2 (rs): K2, yo, K2, sl 1, K2tog, psso, K2, yo, K2, yo, K3, sl 1, K2tog, psso, K3, yo, K2, yo, K3, sl 1, K2tog, psso, K3, yo, K2, yo, K2, sl 1, K2tog, psso, K2, yo, K1, sl 1

Slipping the alst stitch on each row makes a nice, smooth edge on each side.
Repeat these 2 rows until you reach your desired length. See notes below about knitting in one or two pieces.
Wash and block, being careful to pin each point so they will end up nice and defined.
Sew on beads, if desired. I just used thread in a matching color to sew them on.

To help you visualize the pattern a little better, The blue font shows the small edge shells and the red font shows the larger, middle shells. This pattern is easy to modify. You could knit just one large panel instead of two in the center or knit only 1 knit stitch in between the yo’s separating the shells for a more delicate look. Play around with it and you’ll get a beautiful scarf tailored to your yarn.

If you want the ends to match perfectly, knit scarf in two pieces then graft together. If you choose to graft, I recommend ending each piece with a right side row and then grafting. This makes the pattern at the join more continuous. You can use a 3-needle bind off to attach pieces but that will leave a seam. I grafted my pieces together and you could tell that something was going on there although it looked neat. It’s the part of the scarf that will be at the back of the neck and not really seen so I wasn’t bothered by my less than perfect finish.

If you don’t want knit the scarf in 2 pieces, it will still look nice knitted in one piece. The red line in the picture below shows how the bound off edge will wave if you knit it in one piece. You will end up with 1 more point on this edge than on the cast-on edge.

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John Muir Scarf

More pictures can be seen here.
I used 4 skeins of Knit Picks Andean Treasure: 100% baby alpaca, 110 yards / 50 grams

I used size 5 needles. Guage isn’t important as it’s just a scarf! I was in such a Christmas hurry to send this off, I forgot to measure it. I think my finished scarf was about 7 inches wide and you can see it being worn if you click the link above to give you an idea of it’s length.
CO 54

Row 1: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P44, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1

Row 2: K1, P1, K1, P1, K46, P1, K1. P1, K1

Row 3: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P44, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1

Continue working 5 stitches on each side in seed stitch for the rest of the scarf.
Rows 5-?: work 5 stitches in seed stitch, P2 (K2 on wrong side), work chart, P2 (K2 on wrong side), work chart, P2 (K2 on wrong side), work 5 stitches in seed stitch

When you reach your desired length, repeat rows 1-3, bind off.

On my chart, empty squares are knit stitches on the right side and purls on the wrong side. Squares with dots represent purl stitches on the right side and knits on the wrong side.

Twist 6 Left rib: Slip next 4 stitches onto cable needle, hold at front of work. Knit next 2 stitches from left hand needle, slip the 2 purl stitches from cable needle back to left hand needle and purl them. Knit 2 stitches from cable needle.

Twist 6 Right rib: Slip next 4 stitches onto cable needle, hold at back of work. Knit next 2 stitches from left hand needle, slip the 2 purl stitches from cable needle back to left hand needle and purl them. Knit 2 stitches from cable needle.

(Cable pattern taken from The Harmony Guide to Aran and Fair Isle Knitting, edited by Debra Mountford. )

Several people have commented on my little stocking Christmas ornament that has the star of David on it. It’s for my friend David who is Christian but since his name is David, he likes the star of David a lot.