The Cat Knits...

A singular forum to discuss knitting as craft, therapy, and way of life (with or without the benefit of cats).

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Brandywine Lace Scarfle

I am almost back to the beginning with my Brandywine Scarf. Mind you, at the end of last week, I was at the 14th repeat of the pattern with only one more repeat to go before the final panel, bind off, blocking and completion! Then I noticed the odd step ladder effect on the left side of the scarf. As it was not mirrored on the right side, I must have done something wrong with the increases at only a few places. Yes, not done consistently throughout, which might have made it okay to keep going and say, "I meant for that to happen." So I tore it down to the life line... and noticed something else was amiss a little further down, etc., etc. I'm not back to the very beginning, but I'm beginning to entertain thoughts that I could just bind off now and have a Brandywine triangle scarfle.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

More Stash Busting

This was one of my favorite balls of yarn in my stash (Crystal Palace Yarns Musique-Monet). I bought it at a closeout sale quite a while ago. There wasn't a lot of yardage (approx. 65 yards), so my logical self tried to dissuade my emotional self from getting it, but I loved the mixture of muted colors and purple. Of course, I reasoned that I would find another ball and make something. It took a while, but I finally found and bought a second ball for this project. True, I could probably have knitted up the one into another lacy cowl, but I wasn't sure that I liked this yarn against my neck. It seemed a little too delicate for that abuse. So, I fell back to one of my favorite patterns the Ruffled Scarf (by Nancy Adams). I like the straightforwardness of the ribbing that is balanced with the feminine ruffle. Since the balls were purchased at different times, I knitted them both up together, but I could not see a noticeable difference between the dye lots. This is another favorite yarn that I am having to get used to as a knitted object. The muted tones were too subtle and what happened to the purple strand? I'm working really hard to love my new scarf....

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Do the Gods knit?

I began knitting a lace shawl this week. It was going very welll. So well that I started feeling that I was really getting the hang of lace knitting. I even told people what I was doing and how much I was enjoying it, yadda, yadda, yadda. Need I say more? Last night when I looked at the work, there was a big mistake about 2" down involving a yarn over and the k2tog or was it the ssk? (There's also an sk2p and a k3tog somewhere.) I'm not good enough to rip out just the erring section and fix it so it was Ribbit-ribbit-time. Hubris does not lead to happy knitting. Although, I think the Gods were having a good laugh on me.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Stash Busting


My stash has grown and multiplied so that I no longer feel that "stash" is an adequate term to describe it. It looks like a mini-store if only I would sell some of the skeins. I confess that I tend to buy the last ball, skein, hank of yarn in a shop. I have joked about opening a store called the Last Skein Stop. (Need one more ball of some yarn? I probably have it.) It was funnier at one time.... Well, with the discovery of the lacy cowl/ neck warmer pattern over Spring Break, I have kept knitting the cowls with a few of those lonely balls in my collection. An interesting thing happened. Yarn that I adored and hoarded became something quite different when knitted up. I was a little surprised with the appearance of the black cowl. It didn't seem as rich when it wasn't wound up in a ball. On the other hand, the light green looked exactly the way I thought it would. It reminds of a a garden trellis, and that is perfect for this time of year. Dark yarn is 100% wool Froehlich Wolle Swiss Chalet (95yds/ball) and the other is a wool blend from Sensations Canditi (Lime, 87 yds/ball). Yes, there is one more ball of that one left!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Travel Knitting

As promised, here are a couple of the neck warmers that I knitted up while on Spring Break last month. I did most of the knitting in the car as my husband drove us from one location to the next. I was a little concerned about knitting a lace pattern while on the go in traffic, but managed pretty well. In fact, I made most of the mistakes while knitting in the hotel rooms. Go figure! The pattern (Lacy Luxe Cowl) is a freebie from Lion Brand. As usual, I left the ends to last, and finally forced myself to knit them in. They still need to be washed and blocked. I got the yarn on sale from Knitting in La Jolla. Yes, the last skeins in the shop. They are both Lana Grossa, Mega Stoppino, 50 g balls, 90 meters, a blend of wool and acrylic. They knitted up really well and feel nice and soft. Of course, it's too warm to wear them full time now....

Monday, April 05, 2010

How did it get to be April already?

I was going to pose that question last Thursday, but it was more than I could bear to do. I have vague memories of being sick for the month of January. Was it bronchitis? The doctor was never quite sure, but antibiotics cured me. February is so short it shouldn't be it's own month. March just got blown away as I was rewriting my job description. (Not my idea....) I do remember springing forward with Daylight saving time. I hope April won't dissolve away as I do my self-evaluation at work. Somehow, the powers-that-be do not think that Yarn Goddess is a suitable job title or that my skill with lace should count as excellent job skills. Sigh!

One should not think that I had a totally miserable start to Spring, though. There was Stitches West to attend and I actually bought yarn this time. And for Spring Break in March (!) we took to the highway and drove along the California coast. Do you know, there are fabulous yarn shops in almost every city and town. Each shop I got to visit was populated with knowledgeable and friendly knitters, and filled to the rafters with different brands and kinds of yarns, accessories, etc. Truly, there was something new in every shop...and I needed it. The sales were fabulous, too. I was glad to be able to keep knitting and knitting the whole time. I'll try to post pix of the actual knitting and/or yarn next time.

Thank you to: Knit & Pearl Boutique, Santa Barbara; Knitting in La Jolla; and Black Sheep Yarn, Encinitas. There were many other shops, but we ran out of time.

Image: 4th C, BCE, Greek Fresco, Santa Barbara Museum