Choke: A FO

Having reviewed the posts on the first page of my blog, I am pretty embarrassed at my seeming lack of productivity! But you know, in the last month and a half, I finished a joint honours degree, started a new job, and have been promoted. So, I've been busy -- but I have also been knitting. I am in this weird stage of life where I come home from work, and there's nothing to do. Sure, there are always more dishes to be washed and more laundry to be sorted, but this is the first time in my adult life where I have not come home and had to go straight to schoolwork or a contract. I have always, since my second last year of high school, been working. The only summer where I did not take summer classes at University, I worked two jobs. Every other summer, I have worked and taken a load of summer classes. So now, when I get home from work, the only balancing act is: Should I knit? Should I read -- for pleasure? Should I do housework?

It is beautiful.

On to knitting! Here is a FO I finished over the summer: a dragonskin scarf for my mother.



Project: Choke, by Ailsa Daly
Made for: Mum's 50th birthday
Yarn: Tanis Fibre Arts fingering weight in Royal Flush

I really liked the pattern (so cool! Dragon scales!) and have gushed about this yarn before.. Both are highly recommended! I intend to make this scarf again, but not with a hand-painted yarn -- as beautiful as it is, I felt like it hid the stitch definition. And, I stand by my earlier assertion: So cool! Dragon scales!!!!!!!


Ooh, look at how beautiful the yarn is!!!!!! The yarn is from the same fibre artist as the yarn I used to knit Jenny's Scarf -- I vowed to never again knit a scarf with sock yarn, but holy moly, it is so beautiful and irresistible! One day, I'll knit socks.. Maybe.

Corbin (wip)

I estimate that I will have 100 ends to weave in when this is done.

Feather & Fan Scarf

I wanted to knit a light, lovely scarf for my Great Aunt Jenny who is dying of cancer. She lives in England and I can't go visit, but I wanted to send her a tangible expression of love, comfort, and well wishes.


Project: Jenny's Scarf
Pattern: Easy Lace Scarf by Knitters Review
Made for: Aunt Jenny
New skill: Lace knitting, beaded fringe

I had a moment of panic while knitting -- what if wool is irritable to cancer patients? Would a lace scarf be appropriate for springtime on the southern English coast? I was reassured, and finished knitting it a few days later. I used some lovely sock yarn that was hand-dyed by a local fiber artist. I highly recommend the yarn -- the colours are gorgeous, the price is right, AND this 80% wool -- 20% nylon blend is machine washable and dryable. Check out Tanis Fiber Arts on Etsy.

After blocking, the scarf measured 6' (before blocking, it was as long as my desk at work, I'll have to measure that on Monday!).

I decided it could use some embellishment, so I headed over to the neighbourhood bead shop and picked up some pretty gold beads, figured out how to wrangle them onto the yarn, et voila.

I wrapped up the scarf with a nice bar of Verbena-scented soap and mailed it off on Wednesday.

Old Shale

Yes! I finished knitting on Monday, and blocked it tonight. Should be dry in the morning..

I'm thinking I will add beaded fringe, so I'll need to head over to Bidz soon.. Probably won't have a chance until this weekend -- maybe tomorrow, if they're open into the evening.

I'll tell the story of it when I post the final pictures.

Matilda

I started this blog with the intention of showcasing my creations, but phew, I am so tired lately. I will use this post to show off a project I finished in November:



Project: Mosaic scarf
Pattern: Matilda by Silke Hupka
Made for: Jack
New skill: Double knit, slip stitch, working with two colours

This scarf is amazing, I am so happy with it! It was my first serious, wanna-make-it-perfect project. I made it as part of Jack's Christmas present and put a lot of time and effort into it. The doubleknit took exceedingly long (I worked on this DAILY for over a month) but makes it so cosy. I chose the brown-grey Kureyon because it looks great with a variety of his jackets.

Yarn: Noro Kureyon, 100% wool, colour 149 (2 skeins); Inca Gold Marra, 70% merino 30% baby alpaca, black (3 skeins). The Kureyon pissed me off, I probably won’t use it anymore: BOTH skeins had that issue where it wasn’t one consistent string of yarn but had been tied to another. This happened in TWO places in the second skein which was spun terribly uneven to the point of near-breakage! Bah. The other yarn was lovely though.

One of the first people to compliment Jack on the scarf were two old ladies who coludn't believe his girlfriend had knit it for him. They told him it was well done and a beautiful pattern -- I think it was good to hear that from someone other than me!

Hand-wash only.