Category: Scarves, Hats, Gloves

Most of my available needlework time over the past few days
was taken up by hand sewing. Quite
frankly making tiny little hand stitches in a hem satisfies my need for calming
handwork just as much as knitting and I was content.

However, on the weekend I did need a car project in a hurry,
and so I started this:

Yarns are Great Adirondack Ballerina and Plymouth
Carombolo. I fell in love with the
colors of the ballerina when my mom and I were in Great Barrington. I was very happy to find the Plymouth yarn to match.

Sometimes all that is wanted is perfectly mindless
knitting.

Sharfik was finished and left for G to find this morning:

Pattern:  Sharfik by Grumperina .
Yarn:  Karabella Aurora 8 in color #12, dark Green, 4 skeins
Dimensions:  7" x 60" before fringe

G admits that he does not often wear a scarf but he loves this one.  He can’t wait for an opportunity to wear it and states that he feels very dapper having a scarf to match is favorite coat.

There are far too many things that I want to knit in the coming year to enumerate, in fact there are far to many things I want to knit in the coming month to enumerate.  As usual my dreams are far bigger than my available knitting time.  At any rate, it is nice to have a new year, but I really have never gotten the point.  The years move on, my life moves on, and it has never really conveniently fit in yearly increments, or if there has been a pivotal date, it does not revolve around January 1 (or my birthday for that matter).  Aside from the requisite black eyed peas and greens, New Years tends to be quiet around here, although we leap at any excuse for a little champagne.

Several projects from 2005 are about to be finished:

Tesla is completed except for finishing the neckline.  I do not like the bind-off using the Tesla yarn and am going to do something with a complimentary yarn, if I can find one.  There is nothing in my stash that will work.  Shopping is required.

The lovely green sharfik is still on the needles.  It turns out G likes his scarves long.  Who knew?  I am determined to finish it and set it to block this afternoon. He has also informed me he would want fringe.  I had guessed he would not.  No problem there is enough yarn.  It is nice that we can still surprise each other.

The second sock of the carnival-bright socks was started during a brief interlude when I thought I had finished the scarf.  We were catching up on movies we had meant to watch but not gotten ‘round to – at that moment it was COLD MOUNTAIN.  Excellent movie by the way.  The scarf was still a couple of inches too short..

My mom, however has finished several things since she has been here, as well as playing with various designs and patterns:

First, she knit me this wonderful ruffled scarf, a simple thing you see around a great deal right now, but no less nice for the exposure:

The yarn is 100% virgin acrylic picked up at Michael’s.  Chosen for the color.
Pattern:
    cast on 100
    Row 1: knit all stitches
    Row 2: K1, *yo, K1* repeat to end
    Repeat these two rows until you have knit a row of 1600 stitches.
    Bind off.
When mom finished binding she did not cut the yarn but continued down around the sides and the original cast-on edge with single crochet.  We agree that we think the scarf looks more finished this way.   

Next, she knit this scarf:

The yarn might be familiar, I previously posted it Here.  This was planned as a last minute gift for Caitlin, my D2SGD (DSD’s DSD) who I was expecting for Christmas.  I had other gifts, but thought she might need more to open under the tree.  When we were informed on Christmas Eve that she would not indeed be coming, I somehow failed to wrap this gift.  After Christmas, mom knitted this up according to the directions in the kit, which I will not post, as they are a copyrighted part of a kit, even though I probably have at least 3 books with this same pattern and have seen it practically everywhere:

Yarns: Anny Blatt Victoria, Anny Blatt, Muguet, Anny Blatt Angora Super
Pattern, according to leaflet, although it is very similar to the one above except the yo’s are not knitted but are dropped on the subsequent row and a couple of extra rows of garter stitch are added for separation between the floats.

And for all of you who celebrate, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sharfik is progressing slowly, primarily because G only works three days a week and my secret knitting on the long weekends has been pretty non-existent.  Come to think of it, I did very little knitting while he was at work Monday either, although a bit more got done yesterday simply because Tuesday night is knitting group and I also got another repeat done at the airport waiting for my mom’s plane to arrive.

In terms of presents this is not a crisis as I have more than enough goodies for G under the tree and this was a last-minute inspiration anyway. 

As today is G’s last day of work until the 30th, my knitting time may not be adequate to the task: Several option’s present themselves:

1.  Knit the scarf openly assuming that he will not ask what it is.
2.  Tell him I am knitting a scarf for him and just give it to him when it is done.
3.  Keep it secret and give it to him on 12th night.

Number 3 is a good choice as I don’t yet have anything for the Wise Men to leave in his boots on 12th night and it saves me having to run around to find something.  I have more than adequate time to finish the 12th night gift, especially considering he will be back at work by then and the holiday house guests will all be gone.

I started a last minute Christmas gift for DH.  Call me crazy, but the right combination of pattern and yarn just conspired against me.

Pattern:  Sharfik  by Grumperina.
Yarn:  Karabella Aurora 8, color 12, Jade

I loved the pattern and was inspired to knit the scarf even though I am not really sure if DH will wear it.  He is not much of a wearer of scarves and then he likes them small and thin.  But once I started looking at all the colors of Aurora 8  and saw the green, my fate was sealed.  It is the perfect deep green, the same shade as his favorite green down coat.  I think if anything will encourage the man to wear a scarf this just might do the trick.

A perfect project for one afflicted with a severe head cold:

Scarf for the Morse Box, to be donated.
Finished size 5" by 50"
Rowan Spray, 1 skein, 87 yards
needles size 15

No pattern.
Cast on 12 stitches. 
Rows 1-3, Knit
Next row, Knit
Next row, Knit 2, purl 8, Knit 2.
Repeat last 2 rows until scarf is near to finished.
Knit 3 rows
Bind off..
Finish 3 rows garter.  Bind off.

Perfect for those lacking in attention span or whose thought processes are temporarily clogged.

A little simple knitting for the general Thanksgiving Festivities:

Another scarf for the donation box. 
Seed stitch, 6 inches by 46 inches
Tahki Cotton Classic in bright pink held together with Trendsetter Dune

Thanksgiving was wonderful.  The company was really great and the food was excellent as well.  I also made the best cranberry sauce ever; well, it was really more of a cranberry compote this year.

It is really a combination of fresh cranberries, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, golden raisins and bosc pears cooked in tangerine juice with a dash of sugar with a generous glug of sherry added at the end.  It was one of those things I kind of made up as I went along, but it turned out really well.  Luckily I wrote it down after everyone left so I can recreate it next year.

Tesla waiting to be made whole:

It was not always an easy path, the second sleeve had its adventures and misadventures, see the weekend entry at Sew Distracted (how weird to be blogging myself).

But she waits.

My resolve to remain a one-project woman has failed.  I strayed, tempted by the siren call of another yarn previously sitting quietly by the sidelines, tempted by the lure of practicing a new technique, lured by the call of cool weather and the onset of winter.

The affair was brief:

Short row scarf.
Yarn: Noro Kureyon, slightly less than 1 skein, leftover from a previous project
Finished length: 34"

First project of this season for my “Morse Box”. (actually there are a few projects already there, left over from last spring waiting for the return of winter)  Each year I try to knit scarves, hats, mittens and gloves for the children at one of Poughkeepsie’s elementary schools.  They go to a school downtown with a large population of poorer children.  The nurse keeps a box in her office with scarves, hats, and mittens for children who have none. We all know kids can’t keep these things through the season.  Many of these children never get a second pair, if they had any to begin with.  When I worked downtown it always broke my heart to see the little ones without gloves, h*** little ones without coats or warm clothes on bitterly cold winter days.   I never manage to knit enough.  I suppose I am too selfish.  I always end up supplementing the hand knits with a few purchased goods just to help ease my conscience.

I think the original pattern was in Knitter’s but so many have been made over the years I have forgotten.  The original was shaped more like a wide V with a curve meant to hug the base of the neck, but I did not have enough yarn.  Besides I think this will be long enough for a 4-7 year old, at least I hope so.

And what new technique was used?  Not short rows.  I knit this Continental, carrying the yarn in my left hand.  I decided to give Tesla a break from from the constant back and forth.  It worked well.  At first it bothered me to carry in the left and pick while knitting Western, through the front loop, but I eventually got the hang of it.  Wool was much more forgiving.  Garter stitch helped, no purls, and the wrap and turn portion of the short rows actually was easier and made more sense with the Continental orientation. I don’t think I will ever master purling with the yarn in my left hand, except using Combination knitting, where it seems perfectly logical. 

I don’t think I will ever be a one knitting-style woman again.