Long Overdue!

I found this pattern and typed it up -- thank goodness for cut & paste!

The .pdf version is here, complete with photos.

Short Row Scarf or Wrap

Materials:

1 skein Audrey by Schaefer Yarns (or 700 yards light fingering weight 50% silk, 50% merino yarn)

Size 4 needles, straight or circular

 

Finished measurements: It’s really, really long, like 6 feet, and quite wide when unfolded. Unfolded, it’s wide enough for a small wrap. I like it folded in half for a scarf though; the little scallops lay not-in-synch with each other and it’s quite pretty. Play with it to see how it best suits you. I gave it away as a Christmas present; I’ll get the measurements if I ever make it again.

 

 

 

Cast on 60 sts. 

Work in segments as follows:

Rows 1 & 2: K 58, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 3 & 4: K 1, inc in next stitch, K 54, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 5 & 6: K 1, inc in next stitch, K 53, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 7 & 8: K 1, inc in next stitch, K 52, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 9 & 10: K 1, inc in next stitch, K 51, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 11 & 12: K 1, inc in next stitch, K 50, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 13 & 14: K 1, inc in next stitch, K 49, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 15 & 16: K 1, inc in next stitch, K 48, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 17 & 18: K 1, inc in next stitch, K 47, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 19 & 20: K 1, inc in next stitch, K 46, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 21 & 22: K 1, inc in next stitch, K 45, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 23 & 24: K 1, inc in next stitch, K 44, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 25 & 26: K 1, inc in next stitch, K 43, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 27 & 28: K 1, inc in next stitch, K 42, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 29 & 30: K 1, inc in next stitch, K 41, turn, knit back to end.

(begin decreases)

Rows 31 & 32: K 1, K2tog, K 39, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 33 & 34: K 1, K2tog, K 36, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 35 & 36: K 1, K2tog, K 33, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 37 & 38: K 1, K2tog, K 30, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 39 & 40: K 1, K2tog, K 27, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 41 & 42: K 1, K2tog, K 24, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 43 & 44: K 1, K2tog, K 21, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 45 & 46: K 1, K2tog, K 18, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 47 & 48: K 1, K2tog, K 15, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 49 & 50: K 1, K2tog, K 12, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 51 & 52: K 1, K2tog, K 9, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 53 & 54: K 1, K2tog, K 6, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 55 & 56: K 1, K2tog, K 3, turn, knit back to end.

Rows 57 & 58: K 1, K2tog, turn, knit back to end. 

Rows 59, 60, & 61: Knit across all 60  sts. (You can make adjustments to the stitch count here if you’re off; I was off by a stitch or two here and there, having forgotten an increase or decrease when whatever was on TV distracted me. It’s a very forgiving pattern!)

 

Continue making segments until you have reached the last segment that you have enough yarn to complete, or end after any segment once the desired length is reached.  Bind off very loosely.

 

Disclaimer: I was halfway through knitting this when I had my stroke. It was going to be for the next Evans cruise (sorry, guys). After I found I could knit again, I dug it out and finished it. I do not know if the pattern I had written before the stroke, and which is written above, really works or not; in reading it through, I *think* it does, it sounds right, and it ought to work, but I don’t really know if it does til I knit it again, or if someone test knits it for me. And I have to wait until I run across it in Audrey before I will knit it again, that’s just the way I am, hehe.

Modular knitting like this is wonderful for knitting with hand-dyed yarn. Every little scallop comes out differently, each one is unique. You can really see how the short rows change the colors. I hope you enjoy knitting this as much as I have! Try different yarns, different weights, see what you come up with. Knitting is always an adventure!

 

Beth Collins

 

 

Juno Regina So Far

I've got 25% of it done. I've got to knit 18 inches a week for two weeks on the center section, and another week for the other end, and blocking. But honestly, I tend to just put my head down and sleep. Much easier than knitting!

Poor Nicky

The yarn fumes overcame him.

     

Nora thinks that's a good reason to stay outside!

Nicky Snuggles with Cashmere

That's my boy :)

What Comes Around ... Keeps Coming Around

Progress so far on my Indigo Waves scarf:

I wish we had a "Touch" button so people could feel what 100% silk feels like.

My progress so far on the Juno Regina stole:

It doesn't look like much, and it doesn't feel good compared to the silk scarf, but it will be beautiful and feel lovely when it is blocked.

I just figured out why this Juno Regina project makes me happy :) Look at this:

The colors remind me of my last spinning project:

Those were the days; I loved to spin a lot, and I miss it terribly. But this orange yarn and hot pink needles make me feel better. Hot pink and orange, gotta love 'em :)

Shiny Things

I recently had a visit from my friend Barb (hi!), and we were sharing what we had knit and what we are gonna knit, and she pulls out this roll of plain gray tape it looked like, and asked, "What can I do with this?"

Seems her daughter in law heard about it and asked her to make it into a scarf. I told her some ideas and she's going to try a bunch of them and end up with something truly spectacular. (I know you will Barb, you always do!)

Then she sent me a link to the website. It's called Retroglo and it's from 3M, maker of all things cool. Like sticky notes, who knew something so simple would be so indispensble. Retroglo is sold by the yard, so it is used sparingly, but hey. It glows white when reflected, people! It's awesome! 3M has found a way to place thousands of glass beads per square inch on this yarn, and it reflects like mad. Think of safety wear, you could make joggers or people working in outside in the dark really happy with a hat or mittens or a scarf with a simple stripe of this stuff. You could make a daytime sweater into a glam sweater with this. The possibilities are endless! Forget lamé baby, you'll stop the show with a sweater made with a little of this.

OK. That's enough. I get so excited by shiny things :)

The Road Comes to an End

Here's my Road Not Taken, at its end:

It was fun to knit; I might make it again someday.

Since I finished it on Friday, and I don't start my Juno Regina until today, I started a silk scarf:

This is another scarf I've been wanting to make for a long time. I bought the yarn on my fabulously horrible trip to Bar Harbor one October (and my yarn-buying spree). I bought it and the pattern in the Lilac Lily in Southwest Harbor. I put it in my bin and left it there, because I didn't have time to knit any yarn I didn't sell .... you know the drill. It's Great Adirondack Company's Silk Delight, in the Rocky Mountain colorway, and the pattern is "Indigo Waves Scarf" from Pousto Designs. It isn't listed on Ravelry. But trust me, its very pretty and it's knit on size 9 needles, which is a good change. Knitting with silk is different; it feels very loose and sloppy compared to the alpaca/wool/silk laceweight I've been knitting. However, it seems to be coming out good. We'll see.

My other project you'll hear me whining about for the next month is the Juno Regina Stole, pictured here before I cast on the 3 stitches to start it:

Today is the 15th. I have 1000 yards of laceweight Shetland wool. I have a pattern to follow and I have a plan. I have 30 days to finish it. Ladies, let's start those needles clicking!

Hmmmm

There's a new project that I'm gonna work on; it's the Camp Loopy Project Three (I didn't do all three projects, and I'm not using The Loopy Ewe yarn). I read about it on Wendy's blog. Basically, it's knit or crochet anything with at least 800 yards of any kind of yarn, and do it in a month. I happen to have this bagful of pretty rust-colored laceweight Jamieson & Smith 2-ply yarn, and I thought I'd make the Juno Regina Stole and Wrap. To knit it in a month, I'd have to work pretty steady on it, but it's certainly do-able. Seems easy, really, since I have nothing else to do.

But wait ... I just found out that Wendy Gaal (of Knitter's Brewing Company) is designing the next KAL, a shawlette -- and it's gorgeous, of course. I must knit it. Will the design be done in the middle of the Loopy Ewe project? Will schedules conflict?? And what about my laceweight fingerless gloves I have to knit! Stay tuned to find out!

The Loopy Ewe project starts in about a week, enough time to finish and block my Road Not Taken scarf. It's so pretty I want to hug it forever. Sometimes I find myself just wanting to pet it. As you can tell, I love the yarn and the pattern a lot; it's the perfect combination. Besides, any pattern named for a Robert Frost poem is cool. Here is a picture:

  

See the markers? The orange marker is where I started yesterday. Every day I move the marker just underneath my needle, so I can see how far I've knit today. (I haven't worked on it yet today.) It's good to play these little mind games, no? The green marker cleverly is positioned half way through the total length of the scarf, so all I have to do is fold it in half, and if the marker falls on the fold, it's done. Much better than measuring, I think. But I might just make it a little longer, because it's so much fun to knit :)

FO Pics and The Other Green Scarf and EntreKnits, Oh My!

Here's my fuzzy picture of my socks and the green multidirectional scarf I finished yesterday:

And here's a fuzzy picture of my scrap yarn blanket so far:

And here's a fuzzy picture of my Road Not Taken scarf:

I'll be glad when my pictures are not fuzzy anymore. 

 

In other news, I got a digital copy of EntreKnits from Interweave.

(Go here for EntreKnits for a Mac.)

EntreKnits is a special edition magazine. From the description: "Explore modular, entrelac, and mitered knitting with the downloadable EntreKnits eMag!" It's pretty cool; they have a piece by Jenna Wilson about who invented modular knitting (and got a patent for it!), and Meg Swansen  wrote about how to make 2-color entrelac blemish-free, and Vivian Hoxbro wrote about 3D Domino knitting, and Annie Modesitt wrote about knitting and math. The patterns are a mix of good and bad, like all magazines, but I am interested in the cowl, and the blanket and a couple hats. All good stuff.