Another flight, another scarf...again

Another flight, another scarf

Bubbles

I've been doing quite a bit of knitting while on travel, but since I'm partial to lace and I don't have a great way to block I've just been accumulating a bag of mostly finished projects.  My latest is a great example.

Bubblemania is a simple little pattern.  The burnt orange alpaca is just so soft and airy.  About halfway through I decided to turn it into an infinity scarf, but I don't want to graft the ends together until its blocked.  Maybe one day if I get motivated I'll get some straight pins from the store.  Until then, the mostly finished objects will continue to pile up.

Pretty little ribbon

While I was back home last month, I was in need of a new project...or an old project as it turned out to be.  Started way back in August 2012, this faithful desk project had been particularly languishing for the past few months, so I decided to finish it up instead of packing it away again in its sad, half finished state.

2,100 miles of road trip later, we have a fun little scarf.  It will look a bit better once blocked, but that will have to wait until my next return.

The finished product will be a wispy summer wrap of pure cashmere indulgence.  Love it!

The pattern is Lace Ribbon.

Coming along

Two balls of yarn transformed into 70 inches of scarf.  Just keep knitting!

Happy Caturday!  Come Along Pond is coming along quite nicely.  It's about four feet now.

I've started to work on a new scarf, inspired by one of Amy Pond's wonderful scarves in season 5 of Doctor Who.  There are a few different patterns out there that have tried to reverse engineer the look, but I think I like my combo the best so far.

Frostlight

One of this year's Christmas presents was Frostlight by Robin Ulrich.  The pattern was easy to memorize, knitted up quickly, and looks great.

This yarn was recycled from a sweater.  When I saw it on the thrift store rack, my first though on the color was camel.  And I was right.  It's a 50/50 camel hair and lambswool blend.  It has great stitch definition and the color is - for once! - appropriate for a man scarf.  Even Tony approves.

The pattern allowed me to try something new - fringe!  While perfectly easy to apply, I had been avoiding this finishing touch because of the wavy nature of recycled yarn.  Turns out that it wasn't that hard to straighten out sufficiently.  I soaked the yarn for about a half hour.  This yarn particularly looked like ramen in the bowl! Then stretched it out overnight as it dried with my fancy shmancy frying pan.

Overall, a fun knit and a well received gift!

11 of 12: Becca's Clapotis

Unlike some knits that take on a owner halfway through the knitting process, this shawl was designated as a gift from the start.  I think I've claimed every successive project as my favorite shawl of the 12 in 12, but this one certainly takes the prize for the my favorite yarn.  Only the best for the Becca!

The Clapotis (ravelry) is a very popular pattern, and for good reason.  It looks amazing in a variegated yarn and is fun to knit.  It is knit along the bias with a series of dropped stitches, creating a grid of sorts - color stripes in one direction with the pattern stripes in the opposite direction.

The yarn is from hellomello handspun, which I picked up at Crafty Bastards last year.  Since I tend to stick to recycling sweaters, knitting with these wonderful colors was a real treat.  I have another two skeins in a brown/yellow/green colorway that I'm saving for a creativity stroke of genius one day.

10 of 12: Ben's Scarf

Ben's scarf might be my favorite "shawl" of 2012.  I know it's odd to call a men's scarf a shawl, but it more than meets the yardage requirements for the challenge and it's wide enough to be more of a stole than a scarf.

I found this yarn, Anne by the Schaefer Yarn Company, while visiting family in Gainesville, Florida last spring.  With its brown a gray tones, it was a perfect choice for his surprise birthday present.

After starting several patterns, I couldn't find one that worked well with the color changes. Not to be deterred, I fiddled around until I came up with a pattern that I enjoyed knitting and highlighted the color variations.

I'd like to publish this one as my first pattern, but I'll need a catchy name to go along with it. Suggestions?

Pretty in Pink

I like to keep a simple project in my desk drawer at work.  Something that provides a little mental reset when I need a break.  Scarves work particularly well because you can knit a few rows and then put it down.  I present my newest mini-escape: lace weight cashmere.  Oh so pretty and oh so soft!

7 of 12: Shetland Shell Lace Scarf

While on vacation in Florida earlier this year, I picked up some amazing Araucania lonco multy in a great blue/purple colorway.  As soon as I saw it, I knew what it would become: the Shetland Shell Lace Scarf by Frances Goodman (ravelry).

The pattern shows off the great color changes and the cotton yarn makes for a lightweight summer scarf.

Being a bit OCD about my knitting, I worked both sides at once and grafted them together in the middle so that the shells would fall the same way on both sides.

Lest ye be questioning if this counts for the challenge, the finished scarf (we'll call it a "stole") comes in at a generous 12 inches wide and really does lay more like a shawl than a scarf.

4 of 12: Something Borrowed

Now that the gift has been given, I can reveal my fourth shawl of 2012: Something Borrowed by Kathy Lang. 

For Gram's 80th birthday, I had the idea of a diamond theme: the April birthstone.  There don't seem to be traditional birthday gifts, but diamond is also the 80th aniversary.  A birthday is kind of like an anniversary with yourself, right?

I found a white cotton yarn with a strand of silver sparkle.  Perfect for someone who's always cold, but also lives in Florida.

This was also my first beaded project.  I had been a bit intimidated by beading, but it's really quite easy.  Now that I have the hang of it, I can't wait to start my next beaded project.

 

Colonel Mustard in the Living Room with the Knitting Needles

Recently I've been in love with mustard.  The color not the condiment.  Though it is quite nice on pretzels.  But I digress.  I found a lovely cotton/ramie blend at the thrift store and have been knitting away.  Since it's more of a summer blend, some lace work was definitely in order.

First, there was Gridwork by Janelle Martin (ravelry), my Thanksgiving vacation project between bouts of cooking.

Second, we have Summer Flies by Holly and Ella Knits (ravelry), my Christmas vacation project.  This is the second time I've knit this pattern and really enjoy its results.  Can you see the butterfly stitch across the middle?

These two projects used up about half of the unraveled sweater, so look for more mustardy fun to come.

Penalty Gift

Sitting in the office at 5 PM on Christmas Eve Eve, about to leave for my flight back to Ohio, I realized that I had forgotten my sister's gift at home.  With no time to run back, I immediately started feeling guilty as she had so graciously served as Postmaster General for all of my owls dropping internet purchases throughout the month of December.  She had already gotten her knit gift back in November, so I was feeling doubly bad showing up empty handed.

Enter my constant desire to knit ALL the things - a knitspace gift certificate!  Upon making the offer of any knit gift she might desire, she immediately looked at the half-knit scarf in my hand and demanded that I knit faster.  A few weeks and 6 ft of knitting later, voila!

Meet the Carla Pearl 2 by Yarn Market (ravelry).  Knit in a single ply merino wool, this scarf is amazingly soft and fluffy.  While I'm going to take a break after 6 ft, the pattern was fun enough that I'll probably make this one again.  Easy to memorize, enough detail not to get bored, looks great - a winning combination!

Christmas I

Christmas 2011 has come and gone, and how enjoyable it was!  While not as epic of a knit-fest as in years past (see my summer projects and my November delay), there were still a few knit gifts to go around.  We'll start with the scarves/shawls.

Kernel by Bonnie Sennott (ravelry) started as a travel project on one of my many work trips to Jamaica this year.  Here she is poolside soaking up some rays:

The finished project was lovely.  I adore the edging and think I might borrow that section of the pattern in the future.

In my undying shawl obsession, I also knit up Indian Feathers by Alina Appasov.  I really enjoy the quarter moon shape of her shawls.  While traditional triangle shawls lend themselves to great lacework, I find the moons to be a bit more wearable.