New WIP's

As promised, here are the new projects I started last week. They are both scarves so I was obviously craving the simplicity of a project that required no shaping and could be quickly worked. Similar to the unfinished green sweater, the first scarf is also using yarn I got two Christmases ago, and the pattern comes from the same Vogue Knitting magazine. I had started several projects with this yarn and was never very impressed since I didn't ever get far. I believe I have finally found the perfect project for this yarn.

I love the broken rib pattern at the beginning and have a feeling it will be showing up again as I have started itching to design something new! I can’t wait to see this scarf finished, I'll let you know how it turns out.

The second scarf is the Honey Cowl and I am hoping it will be an acceptable replacement to the infinity scarf I gave Megan for Christmas that makes her break-out. No more acrylic yarn in her gifts! 

I think the pattern is beautiful and love that it won’t need to be blocked since it's basically a modified garter stitch and won't curl up on itself. I am, however, slightly worried that it will not be long enough. I an trusting, for now, that it will be as long as it looks in the top picture once I get it off the needles, but I still have a hard time gauging my stitches for projects that are bunched up on a circular needle until they’re done and you can really stretch them out. 

On the plus side, you can see after only one day of knitting I was nearly halfway done so even if it doesn't end up being as long as I’d like, it won’t take long to whip up a second (or third, or fourth!) once I've got the stitch count right.

Scarf

I almost forgot to share another homemade Christmas present. In addition to the socks and the fingerless gloves, I made a scarf for my Aunt Anita.

It was a little tricky because she's allergic to wool and acrylic so I used Lion's Brand Nature's Choice Organic Cotton which worked even better then I had anticipated. I love the way the pattern came out after I blocked it.

The pattern is Saroyan scarf available on ravelry if you'd like to make one of your own.

Old School Slumber Party

Junior High wasn't a great time for me, but who didn't have an traumatic experience trying to survive the mandatory awkward stage that most people have to suffer through? There was, however, a bright spot in the otherwise awful time I spent in 6th grade and her name was Denise. (No, I won't be sharing any pictures from back then.)

She was my best friend through junior high and we spent every weekend in her basement, watching movies and eating a very specific variety of junk food; a family size bag of doritos, chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, and the 3 liter store brand lemon lime soda. That was enough sugar and cheese powder to keep us awake from the opening credits of the first movie to the first rays of morning light.

Now Denise has two girls of her own, and with the release of the last Harry Potter movie on DVD we decided it was time to bring them into our old weekend tradition and have an old school slumber party. She made sure we had our doritos, lemon lime soda, popcorn, and she upgraded our cookie dough ice cream to vanilla ice cream and a tub of chocolate chip cookie dough.

I brought to the party pizza, fries, mozzarella sticks, wine, and some knitted Harry Potter scarfs to add to the theme. We were totally set!

We started with Deathly Hallows part 1 where Eva fell asleep, and Denise and I warned Isabella we were not answering questions during part 2. We are not as young as we once were because all of the sugar just put us both to sleep before the end of part 2!

It was still a good night and I know Denise and I enjoyed the flashback to the best part of our childhood.

Ruffled Edge Scarf Pattern

Materials:

• 150 yards of a chunky yarn
• 1 skein of Tonic in the color of your choice (220 yards)
• Size US 6 straight needles
• Size US 9 circular needles
• tapestry needle

Abbrevieations:
K1 - knit one stitch
P1 - purl one stitch
SS - slip stitch as if to knit
PSSO - pass slipped stitch over the last stitch worked.
RS - right side of work
WS - wrong side of work
M1 - increase by knitting into the front and back of each stitch.

Finished Length is 32" which makes the hole necessary to keep the scarf in place when being worn. If you want to double your yarn and make a full length scarf, don't knit the short rows, just continue in seed stitch until you reach your desired length.


Scarf Instructions:

• With the Tonic yarn, cast on 25 stitches onto size 6 needles.
• Work 4 inches of seed stitch: all rows, [K1, P1] repeat to last stitch, K1
• First short row: starting on RS,
  Row 1: [K1, P1] repeat for 12 stitches, turn work
  Row 2: [P1, K1] repeat to the end of the row
  Continue to work these two rows of seed stitch pattern over these 12 stitches until the short row measures 5". End on RS and break yarn.
• Second short row: On the RS (finished short row should be on your right needle, unworked 13 stitches on your left needle) pick up yarn.
  Row 1: SS, P1, PSSO, [K1, P1] to last stitch, K1
  Row 2: [K1, P1] repeat to slipped stitch
  Row 3: [P1, K1] repeat to end.
  Continue rows 2 & 3 till both short rows are equal length, ending on a WS with both short rows on the same needle
• Joining short rows: [K1, P1] to the end of the first short row, cast on one stitch, [P1, K1] to end.
• Seed stitch all rows: [K1, P1] repeat to last stitch, K1; until piece measures 32" or desired length.
• Bind off and weave in the ends.

Ruffle Instructions.

• Pick up 125 stitches along the long end of the scarf with size 9 circular needle and chunky yarn
• Row 1: Purl (125 stitches)
• Row 2: M1 in each stitch (250 stitches)
• Row 3: Purl (250 stitches)
• Row 4: M1 in each stitch (500 stitches)
• Row 5: Purl
• Bind off loosely
• Repeat down the other side
• Weave in all ends.

Please email me if you have any questions or corrections for this pattern. Thanks!

Ruffled Scarf

Two years ago for Christmas I got a beautiful skein of alpaca yarn in one of my favorite shades of green from one of my best friends, along with a great book, One Skein Wonders. After carrying it around for a while; it was so soft and lovely it begged to be touched; I set it aside, determined to knit it into something special. It has been patiently waiting for me to decide on its final resting place ever since.

Don't think I've actually left it be all this time. I have unraveled it, played with it, searched the pages of One Skein Wonders, more than once started knitting something only to be unhappy with the result or to realize there just wasn't enough of it to finish and it would get set aside again. I even finished an entire scarf about 6 months ago; a skinny garter stitch thing with ruffles at either end; but I never wore it because I still felt like it just wasn't special enough for this lovely yarn. I really wanted to show it off!

Finally I came to terms with the fact that I was going to have to give it a friend and knit with two yarns to get a finished product I was satisfied with. I chose a cream colored yarn from Tonic, knit the middle of the scarf in seed stitch, and then knit ruffles down each side with my beautiful green yarn.

I still didn't want to make the scarf too long for fear of running our of the alpaca yarn, I only had about 120 yards, so I decided to knit a hole at one end so as to not have to wrap it around my neck several times as I do with the rest of my scarves.

Now I am so happy with this scarf and I actually don't mind the weather turning cooler because it means I will get a chance to wear it!