Georgetown Farrow Rib

Another finished object.  Yippee.  This is another scarf, knit in the movies.  In the summer, I have more opportunities to go to movies, and I love to take simple knitting with me.  Scarves fit the bill!

Yarn: I brought the yarn in Alexandria at Fibre Space.  It's from Neighborhood Fiber Co., and I love love love this yarn.  It is a superwash merino, worsted weight.  The colorway is Georgetown -- all of their hand-dyed yarns are named after neighborhoods in the D.C. area.  When we were in Fibre Space, I gravitated toward this yarn.  I didn't buy it at first, because it was ANOTHER blue yarn -- I buy so much blue yarn.  But the color called to me, and we went back to the store, and I bought it.  Very glad.  It has this great weight and drape.  Love it. 

Needles: Size US 7, Knitpicks aluminum interchangeable circular needles.

Pattern: This is a farrow rib scarf, based on the advice of Lara Schmidt. Click that link -- it's a simple three stitch repeat, the same on both rows. It makes the scarf easy to knit and reversible.

All the scarves I've made, and this is the first time I've added fringe. 

End of Chart 3

This is a terrible picture.  We're on vacation.  I wanted to catch the shawl between charts 3 and 4, so I took the picture late at night in the hotel room.  This is the only one that is not too blurry.

Moving on to Chart 4.

Ten Things Blue

One of the blogs I regularly read is Carole Knits.  She routinely does a Ten on Tuesday post.  This week's post intrigued me, probably because I had just taken this picture.  She posted Ten Things that are your Favorite Color:

My favorite color is blue, and here are ten blue things:

1. The ocean, at least last night.  A storm was coming in at twilight, and it turned everything a beautiful shade of blue.  I don't know the couple walking on the beach, but I thought it made for a romantic image.
2. Yarn.  As Carole says, yarn comes in all colors, but blue is my favorite, especially when mixed with purple and green.
3. My little iPod nano.  I love this little piece of technology when I'm at the beach -- listening to lots of podcasts and books.
4. The cover on my phone -- Yep, blue.
5. My current "movie" scarf project -- that's the project I take with me to movies, so that I can knit while I watch.  The current one is knit from a yarn by an independent yarn dyer in Maryland called Neighborhood Fiber Co.  The colors are named after Washington neighborhoods -- this one is Georgetown.  Great color; great yarn (top left in this picture)
6. Our minivan -- blue, yes.
7. Vacation sky -- it has been sunny and almost cloudless -- except for last night's storm.
8. A bathroom that doesn't yet exist -- We are in the middle of planning a bathroom remodel, and I'm hoping for blue walls.
9. Shawl -- I brought one with me to the beach to use in the room.  It's this one.
10. Our dishes -- the set of dishes we use everyday is Fiestaware in a dark blue -- a West Virginia Company.

End of Chart 2

Peacock Feathers Shawl at end of Chart 2. 
Yellow line is lifeline at the end of Chart 1A.

Thoughts about Peacock Feathers

I'm moving along with my Peacock Feathers shawl. It isn't fast knitting, but it is moving along. A few things I've noticed:

The yarn I'm using is stored on a cone. I like it! It's such tiny yarn (see the single strange coming off the cone?) that I'm sure it would be a horrible mess without the cone. It is disconcerting to knit with what feels like thread, though.

In a previous post, I mentioned that I had finished Chart 1, and that I was going to try to make myself put a lifeline in. I did install the lifeline -- after Chart 1, and then a second one after Chart 1A. I am so very grateful that I did! On the fifth row of Chart 2, I noticed that I had dropped a stitch and the drop had made a giant mistake. It's laceweight with lots of yarnovers. No way I could work my way back to fix it, so I just frogged back to the lifeline and reknit the rows. It was more than easier -- it made fixing the mistake possible. Otherwise, I probably would have had to restart from scratch. I'll keep using lifelines, at least between each chart, and maybe more often when the rows get longer. (See the yellow lifeline in the picture? End of Chart 1A -- that's the very lifeline that saved the shawl.)

I love to read charts. I much prefer charts to written out instructions, but I have never had to reverse direction of decreases while working the chart backwards. It's not too bad, really. I have gotten used to it. To keep myself straight, I printed out the charts (I bought the downloadable version of the pattern) and took them to my Office Supply store to have them laminated. I am using a piece of painter's tape to keep my place on the chart as I knit each row. I used a Sharpie to mark the direction of the symbol for the knit two together decrease -- on the right of the chart for the normal direction and on the left of the chart to remind me as I go backwards. That's saving me lots of grief.

It is also a cool aspect to this pattern -- so far -- that the row number equals the stitch count to the halfway point of the shawl. So row 61 has 61 stitches to the halfway point and then 61 more stitches for the rest of the row. I think of each row in two halves, so it makes counting my stitches for accuracy easy. And believe me, I count stitches at the end of each row -- also made simple by the use of stitch markers.

It's not an easy knit, but the designer has kept it from being frustrating by very excellent instructions and charts. It makes doing something difficult a fun challenge rather than an impossible task.

Peacock Feathers, Chart 1

Moving along on the Peacock Feathers Shawl -- Chart 1 is complete.  And, wonder of wonders, the stitch count is correct.

Now if I can just convince myself to add a lifeline.

Summer Knitting

On my other blog, I sometimes use a blog post starter from RevGalBlogPals called Friday Five.  Each Friday there is a set of five questions posted that readers can answer in their blogs.  This week's question:

Please tell us five things you are doing this Summer.  Bonus? One thing you're not doing, but WANT to be doing.

I answered that question on my other blog, but I thought I could come up with a knitting answer, too:

1. Finish the pair of Pomatomus socks.  I have one done, and half of the leg of the other one done
2. Knit the peacock feathers shawl.  I have it started -- about 20 rows, but it starts with 3 stitches, so 20 rows is nothing.  This monster takes concentration.
3. I'm sure I'll be knitting some scarves.  I hope to go to lots of summer movies, and I like to take movie knitting with me.
4. Clean up my stash and get it organized.
5. Read Principles of Knitting, which I just bought for Kindle.
6. Catch up on my Interweave Knits magazines (also on my iPad).  I'm still reading the spring one.
7. Knit a red scarf for the Red Scarf Project.  I'll combine that with #3.
8. Knit a pair of socks from Knit Sock Love (I think that's it's name).  It's a Cookie A book.
9. Visit at least a couple of Local Yarn Stores (which will have to be out of town -- we don't have any here).
10. Wash and block my son's Mitred Square blanket before he goes back to school.

So that's 10 - I knew I could do this for knitting!

One thing I won't be doing that I would like to be doing?  Knitting more!

Currently on the needles

I'm halfway through another pair of socks -- maybe more than halfway, since I have one sock completed and one leg halfway finished.  I'm using the Dragonfly Djini sock yarn I bought in Alexandria with the Cookie A pattern, Potamtomus socks, which was published on Knitty. The pattern is named after a genus of fish, and it does resemble fish scales.

It's a great pattern, so good that I haven't suffered from second sock syndrome at all.  I would be all steam ahead, except that something else is looming.

I bought the Peacock Feathers Shawl from Fiddlesticks Knitting.  I'm planning on using Jaggerspun yarn, Zephyr in the Peacock colorway.  I've knitted the gauge suggested in the pattern using US size 3 needles.  This is, once again, smaller than the suggested needle size -- I knit looser than the usual knitter.    I had to order circular needles to begin the project.  My handy dandy interchangables from Knitpicks doesn't go smaller than size US 4. 

So, this new project may distract me from the Potamtomus socks.  Maybe I'll be able to work on them both at the same time?

Virginia Scarf by way of Uruguay

One of the yarns I bought in Alexandria was a Manos del Uruguay in a deep green.  It's an unplied yarn.  I bought to hanks of it, each of them 219 yards.  I knit a scarf with it.

Pattern:  Yarn Harlot's One Row scarf -- my "go to" scarf.  I love this pattern.  It usually creates an interesting play of color, although this time, not as much.   This one is 34 stitches wide (instead of my usual 38) because the yarn is thicker than my usual worsted.

Needles:  I just finished this scarf this weekend, and I can't remember if I used size 7 or 8.  We'll say 7.

Yarn:  Manos del Uruguay Maxima, 2 hanks 100 g with 42 grams left over.  I'm hoping to use that to make something to match the scarf.  Or at least to trim something to match the scarf.  Hat?  Mittens?

DC Yarn

During my younger son's spring break, we went to Washington, D.C.  When we planned the trip, the assumed we would be arriving earlier than the peak for the Cherry Blossoms, but because of our odd weather in early 2012, the peak was early, and we hit it exactly.  It was a beautiful trip!  We had a gorgeous day to walk around and enjoy the trees.

We stayed in Alexandria, and I found Fibre Space, a lovely yarn store.  Above is the yarn I bought.  Starting in top left, and going clockwise:

1. This is a beautiful yarn that I skipped the first time (yes, I visited the store twice), and then went back for.  It is dyed by a local company -- Neighborhood Fiber Co.  It is the colorway Georgetown and is a rich, deep blue.  It is a superwash merino, worsted weight.
2. The next yarn is a sock yarn by Dragonfly Fibers.  It's bright greens and dark blues -- beautiful colors.  It is called Djinni Sock in the colorway Weather Girl. 
3. The next yarn appealed to me solely because of its color, which is a warm, heathery teal, edging toward blue.  It's Berroco Vintage DK, half acrylic, 40% wool and 10% nylon. 
4. The next image is of a set of needles I bought.  I can't remember the brand now, but each size is a different color.  These are US size 4 DPN.  Pretty. 
5. The last yarn is Manos del Uruguay Maxima, an extrafine merino wool, kettle dyed, worsted weight. It's a blend of deep greens.

Great yarn store.

Where have those socks been?

Have you seen on the Yarn Harlot's blog how her sock in progress will travel with her, seeing the sights?  Famous people have held the sock in progress -- famous scenes have been photographed with the sock.

My latest finished socks didn't meet anyone famous,but they are foreign born, and they did enjoy a relaxing few days on a beach.

These socks began their lives at a resort in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic during one of the most relaxing few days I have ever spent.  It was a work trip for Steve, fun for me -- and I did nothing but sit by the pool or beach, read, listen to audio books and knit.

Pattern:  Once again, the Yarn Harlot's pattern:  A good, plain sock from Knitting Rules.  I cast on 68 instead of 64 and used a smaller needle size than specified.  Other than that, no changes.

Yarn:  Berroco Sox in colorway Liverpool.  This is a self-striping yarn, so it was fun to watch the colors appear.  The socks are not exactly alike -- off by just a couple of stripes.

Needles:  US size 1 (2.25 mm).  I like this size for socks.

I finished the first sock on the plane on the way home -- knit in four days.

Hat, finished and Scarf, interrupted

I bought the book 60 Quick Knits from my "local" yarn storn in Lexington (two hours away).  It's sixty patterns knit with Cascade 220.  I thought it would provide a helpful reference for patterns using standard worsted wool - scarves, hats, and mittens.

I have knit Twisted Toque hat:

Yarn:  Black Wool of the Andes from Knitpicks. 

Needles:  US size 7.  I started with double pointed needles, but switched to two circulars, and found that much easier and faster.

Pattern:  Twisted Toque in 60 Quick Knits

I blocked the hat on a bowl, and I think it's blocked too large.  I think I need to reblock it smaller.

I also started the Ruffled Scarf from the same book, using Knitpicks sugarbunny yarn in a pale blue.  I like the ruffled boarded, but the scarf body rolls.  And the yarn is very hairy.  I'm not sure I'll finish it. We'll see.

Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf

I'm still knitting! This project was finished in time to give as a Christmas gift to my mom.

Steve and I were in Asheville, North Carolina, and we went to Yarn Paradise, a great yarn store.  I've posted about this trip before.

In the middle of one of the rooms of the store was a round table on which sat a large basket of Koigu yarn and several examples of this scarf.  The sales clerk showed me that pattern and helped me to choose the yarns.

Pattern:  Koigu Linen Stitch scarf by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas.  I bought it and the yarn I used to knit the scarf in November of 2010 while Steve and I were visiting Asheville, North Carolina.  The store is Yarn Paradise.

Yarn:  One skein each of Claudia Handpainted yarn in Plumicious, Koigu KPPPM 581, and Koigu KPPPM  470.

Needles:  U.S. 6 (4.0mm)

Timing:  I started the scarf in February of 2011 and finished it in December of 2011.

The fabric created by the linen stitch is very different from regular knitting.  It has an almost woven feel.  Great pattern, and I love the result.

Deep Water Socks

My Deep Water Socks are so named because of the Knitpicks yarn I chose for them.  They took a long time to knit -- from April 2011 to February 2012 -- not because of their difficulty, but just because of my time devoted to them.
Yarn:  Knitpicks Stroll Tonal in the Deep Water color.  It's a blend of blues and purples, and it appeals to me both because of its color and its name.
Pattern:  The Yarn Harlot's sock recipe from the book Knitting Rules. 

Pattern changes:  I cast on 72 stitches instead of 60 and reduced the needle size down to a US 1 so that the fabric is thicker than the Emmaus socks.  I changed the heel to a short row heel from the Rockin Socks pattern from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  I had trouble with the heel the first time I did it, but the second time was better.  I'm not sure I would use this heel again -- might not be my favorite.

Needle:  US 1, DPN, Harmony.

I finished these socks on the plan to the Dominican Republic and grafted the toe in our hotel room.

Alaskan Scarf

When we were in Alaska, I bought several yarns.  Two of them were from Rabbit Run.   I used them to start a scarf, which I talked about in this post.  You can actually see the colors better in the picture associated with that post.  The scarf is finished now.

Yarn:  Rabbit Ridge Columbia Worsted Weight Wool in Wildberry and in Water.  The two colorways are almost the same except that that wildberry has raspberry in it in addition to the blues and greens.

Needle:  US Size 7

Pattern:  No real pattern -- just a 2 x 2 rib of stripes two rows wide.  It doesn't look striped since the yarn is so close to being the same.  I think it's 42 stitches wide.

It has been one of my movie scarves -- I would grab it when I was going to the movies to have something to knit in the dark.  I like how this turned out.