I've spent most of the chilly season wrapped up in my favorite scarf, the reversible Irish hiking scarf that I made a few years ago. When I went to visit a friend last month, though, I left it behind by accident. This was all the excuse I needed to knit a new scarf! I flipped through a stitch dictionary, found a pretty cable, swatched, cast on, knit a few rows, frogged back, started over, made tons of progress, and... then I hit the black hole section. I go long enough between knitting scarves that I somehow forget that there's this chunk between the first foot and the last few rows on a scarf that takes forever but feels like it's going nowhere. The scarf still isn't finished, and I've got the old one back now, but I want these needles for other things, so it's going to be finished soon, whether it likes it or not.
At least it's pretty! The yarn is a former sweater (100% cotton) that my wonderful mother unraveled for me. I make my daily-wear scarves out of cotton because I'm sensitive to mammal fiber, and for something I'm going to be wearing all day, it needs to not irritate my skin.
Remember these needles? These are the Suzanne ebony needles I got at Webs ages and ages ago, and even though they're showing some wear, I still love them. I do need to re-point them, though... this scarf has shown me how dull they've become, so they'll meet some super-fine sandpaper very soon.
If you saw me at NH S&W last year, you may remember this cute little slouchy beret. It's also made of recycled cotton, and the flowers are some scraps of Green Mountain Spinnery's Mountain Mohair in Edelweiss and Pink Pink. The whole thing is crocheted, and the pattern (minus the flowers) is Brooke's Slouchy Hat (Ravelry link). To get the unusual texture, DCs are worked under all the bars, instead of just through the top two.
Let's see, what else... oh! One of the nice ladies at the knit night I've been going to lately gave me a mini batt of some fiber she's been dyeing and carding. It's a little crunchier than what I usually spin, but the color is gorgeous.
I think it's a wool-mohair blend, and I've turned it into less than a hundred yards of 3-ply DK. I have no idea yet what I'll do with it, but it sure is pretty.
Speaking of yarn I didn't know what to do with, I finally found a use for Red Heart Super Saver! I had this green kicking around from a vest I'd made for a friend who wanted to dress up as Wallace from Wallace & Gromit, so when I decided to knit something to express my love of the Green Mountain Derby Dames, it was handy. Add some white acrylic for the star and some scraps of white wool for the felted mohawk (able to be easily re-felted without ruining the rest of the hat), and boom, I'm a superfan.
Remember when I was musing that one knows one's a knitter when one pulls unnaturally-colored hairs out of one's tea?
I wasn't kidding about how bright the blue was. And, by the way, this is what a reticule looks like. I made it to go with the runway outfit I wore for a fashion show back in February, and while it may not get any more use, it's still very cute and was a fun, quick knit.
And now, for the pièce de résistance: Rose of England is finally finished! Darned thing only took me two years.
There's one huge, glaring mistake that I'm doing my best to ignore, and it's a little smaller than I expected (about 38" diameter), but I'm quite happy with it. Remind me never to do a complicated shawl on #2 needles again, though. I'm so thrilled to be finished with the bloody thing.
Okay, I think that catches things up for a bit. I'll try not to leave it so long next time!
