Ocean for a seaman’s scarf.

CatBookMom’s  Plaited Cables Seaman’s Scarf   –  I had to learn a new technique for this project!   The provisional cast on.   Its a fiddly little cast on at first, but got faster and faster as I practiced.    Definitely, one to practice before trying it in a project.     I checked it out in both my Stanley and in the Knitter’s Magazine handbook – neither set of instructions or illustrations was 100% for me,  but the two together did the trick.     I measured out about two feet of my project yarn and of a smooth cotton yarn – slip knotted together at one end.  I was able to practice the cast-on, unravel it, and try again.

This picture is of the first swatch for this scarf — cast on with the provisional, knit a few rows, cast off, picked up the provisional, knit a few rows, cast off.   The jog where the cast on was is clearly visible.  The yarn is Caron One Pound acrylic, the colorway is Ocean.

 

And this is the main project cast on – the cast on is still visible, and I’ve completed one repeat of the cable pattern.    The pattern suggests picking up the cast on now and knitting the ribbing, so I may do that – or I may work more pattern length.   To put off deciding, I’m blogging about it.  The waste yarn I’m using is visible at the bottom, ends tied together to anchor it.   It’s a #10 mercerized cotton from my stash – sheer coincidence that the color matches.

State of the Knitting Basket, August 2009

Since I haven’t done this in a while, here is an overview of my current works in progress.

Kelly’s wedding shawl. This is the Lady’s Circular Cape in Shell Pattern from Victorian Lace Today. It is over due – the wedding was at the end of May. I would have finished it the week before the wedding, but the bride asked me to organize her wedding reception instead. It was a very nice reception. This is being knit in KnitPicks Gloss laceweight, with added seed pearl beads.

Travelling Roses scarf, for Carey. A beautiful lace scarf for my cousin, being worked in Malabrigo laceweight.

Alpaca afghan, for Moses and Stephen. Being worked in Joseph Galler Peruvian Tweed, 100% alpaca yarn. Also overdue – I had meant it to be a Yule gift for them last year. Maybe this year.

Green socks, for Michael.

Tesselating fish afghan. My slow project. Current fish count 15/150.

A periwinkle scarf. Plain, ribbed, warm, soft, lovely. Cascade 220.

Stella Maris. I think this may actually be finished. I keep meaning to put a border on it, but since I’ve been meaning to put the border on it for about three years now, I may just block it and be done with it. It’s my own pattern, and the colorway is Tidepool — it’s a Knit Picks yarn, but I don’t recall which one.

Bridget socks. That was a lovely orderly ball of wool, before the dog got to it.

She really wants her socks!

A frenzy of finishing.

I finished a One Row Scarf – Classic Elite Renaissance, US size 8 needles.

I finished a nice hat – US size 8 circs and dpns, in Philosopher’s Wool, light purple heather. No particular pattern.

And I’ve started a sock. Toe up with a heel flap, for dasHusband. US size 1 needles, Lane Cervinia Forever sock yarn.

Travelling Roses

Isn’t that a great name for a pattern? I have just started the Travelling Roses Lace Scarf. Leanne designed the pattern(pdf) and generously shared it with the world. It’s gorgeous.

Here she is after an hour of knitting – that’s 17 rows there, folks:

And a close up:

Size 1 needles, Malabrigo lace in a lovely dark blue.

Question of the day – is this delicate? Or insane?

Liesel progress, and a hat.

Liesel is coming along okay – the Lopi that I am using is a pretty scratchy yarn, so I’m not marathon knitting it – just a couple of pattern repeats a day. The lace pattern is really lovely, and it’s perfect in this color – all bronze and coppery, like autumn leaves. And once I block it and give a dip in some conditioner water it will be soft enough to wear – not soft soft, but soft enough. I experimented on the swatch, and it worked up fine.

Liesel (scroll down) is on size 8US needles, being knit in Lopi Lite, from Reynolds.

I also knit a hat today – dasHusband is off fishing with his dad, so the Bee and I have been watching LOTR, having a tea party (complete with the good china teacups!), and knitting. My MIL has asked if I could send some simple kids knits her way for her school – they try to keep a box of hats and stuff for kids that need them, so I’m making plain hats and ribbed scarves, and I’ll do up a few sets of mittens too.

Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick, on size 11 needles. Ann Budd’s basic hat pattern from her great book “A knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns”. I knit it flat and seamed it, since my supply of DPN’s in larger sizes is inadequate.

A little knitting news.

Here is the FO picture of the Reilly Irish Hiking Scarf — it never did make it to the family reunion, because it didn’t dry out in time. This yarn took up a ton of water, and stretched amazingly when I blocked it. Size 10.5US needles, Araucania Nature Wool chunky, the Irish Hiking Scarf pattern from Hello Yarn, slightly modified.

And this is the beginning of my AGG knitting! The sweater sampler from Jacqueline Fee’s book The Sweater Workshop. It is worked in the round (I’m using size 8 us 16″ needles) and takes you through all the various techniques you’ll need to knit a sweater in the round. I’m using a skein of Naturally Aran 10 Ply that a swap partner sent me! It’s perfect for this project.

Knitting Fast.

I started this Monday night, and I’ll finish and block it today. It’s the Irish Hiking Scarf, modified slightly. I’m working in Araucania Nature Wool Chunky, on size 10.5US needles, and I dropped a cable repeat so it wasn’t too wide.

This for the family reunion I have tomorrow, for the auction. The family colors are green and white, so I thought the mottled green would be perfect.

The Fana Cap.

This is the Fana Cap from Hats On – I’ve completed the body and am ready to start the crown decreases on the next row. This is on size 6US needles, and is being knit in Cascade 220 (red) and Patons Classic Merino (grey). I really enjoy the way these two yarns are working together – the Cascade is a little crisper, so the colorwork really pops, and the softer Patons lets the background stitches blur a little.

Also started – Liesel, in Lopi Lite. Here’s the gauge/pattern swatch. The color does not come through at all – this yarn is a gorgeous coppery heather.

Why is Anna blogging at 1:43 am?

Because tonight I watched this with the Bee:

And I can’t get the scarf out of my head – I think it’s crocheted.

Google turns up Tammy, who agrees with me about it being crocheted, and Jenn, who has crocheted something very like it. Not quite like it though – the original has a different stripe pattern, and seems a little lacier and much drapy-er to me. I think it’s probably a softer lighter yarn then Jenn used. I’ve also found a few photo’s of this thing good enough to share. It looks pinkish in these pictures, but sort of orange on the television.

Jenn’s version is here: http://findingher.blogspot.com/ – you need to scroll down a little – its the Sept. 2nd entry.
The scarf:

And having now sated my momentary obsession through the wonder of google, and then shared it with you, Gentle Reader, I should now be able to sleep.

Unless I somehow get the idea I need to work up a pattern so I can crochet this.