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Knitting Friday

 

#1 Sheep scarf

As last week was unproductive knitting-wise, this week will fill in the gap.

 

First, I finished the scarf in #1 in one evening. It's from that farm sheep wool I mentioned on Wednesday that looked like it needed more spinning (big fluffy balls of wool along the strands.) I sort of used a pattern but I was always going to work every row as *YO, K2tog* since I didn't have much yarn. That's what I did on US 17 metal needles. I bolded "metal" because you only want smooth metal as the yarn will drag badly on plastic and wood. My dimensions are 8" x 60" with just the tiniest tug width and lengthwise. If you have just a little good yarn, give it a try. I added a small K border on the long sides but I bet you don't need it. Oh, and don't do: slip the first stitch as a P and K the last stitch to create a smooth edge. Just knit normally since the beginning slip stitch causes pulling.

 

#2 Advent Scarf 2012

On the left, is Advent Scarf 2012. It's 16" x 104" and has been worn whenever trips out do not include pasta and red sauce. Love, love, love it. This will probably be my last year of knitting this scarf, though I will probably still collect the patterns. Right now, I have two Advents in scarf-size and one in shawl-size. How many fancy neck coverings do I need? (I'm sure many of you would answer: A lot!)

#3 Toke Stitch Shell

 

Finally, a full picture of the Toke Stitch Shell. You might remember that this beauty took me so long and so many froggings. But it is a beautiful stitch though DH, who took the picture said: You made this for a child? since it (and so many of my shells) look so small. But that's the nature of lace: it stretches.

 

http://waggledancing.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/free-pattern-for-friday/ 

 

Above is the link to the toke stitch. As you can see, that top only uses it for the yoke. Which works, but I am always working with "just a little less yarn than called for" so a whole garment in lace always works better for me.

#4 House Shawl

#4 is a full shot of the House Shawl I had mentioned before. Remember, this is the one which was re-knitted from a shawl which was too long and narrow to be used for warmth?

I worked it in knit with every row as a garter row ending in 2 increases. Then once I got to my length, I bound off and continued straight in double and half crochet to width. #4 shows the shawl spread out so you can really see how compactly warm it is. There are no wasted areas, like long tails, and a shawl pin holds it in the front so you get double warmth there. 

I decided to post a better picture of this shawl since on Xmas Eve, someone got a short ruana type shawl which works in very much the same way. I'm going to make this again in DK weight. If you are interested in making this shawl, go to my 12/14/12 post and scroll down to Many Yarned House Shawl. I'm beginning to think I could dress this baby up and take her out of the house. More on this another Friday.

 

And finally, a picture of my Lace Sampler. The Advent Scarf gave me the idea of taking all the lace patterns I collect for possible use in a top and work them into a scarf so I could decide which ones I really liked.

#5 My Lace Sampler

 So I gathered some leftover KP Palette fingering yarn of the same hues and spliced them together. Then I printed out all the lace patterns I have and decided that a CO of 35 would work. I tweaked each pattern to fit. For example, if the pattern was 9 stitch I would work: 3 K edge stitches + 27 pattern sts (9 x 3) + 3 K edge stitches for 33 stitches. Since I still needed two more stitches to equal 35 stitches, I just worked K 1 stitch back loop on each side after the 3 st K edge. If I need more stitches, I can use YO, K2tog for two extra stitches, etc. Also, I separate each pattern with 4 rows of K. Oh, and be sure to make a list of the patterns as you use them for future reference. It's a fun project and never boring.

That's it for today.

 

Next week, I'll show you a new top pattern I'm working on.

 

If you are interested in a free knit summer shrug pattern, be sure to go to Ravelry for:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/new-years-shrug

It's called New Years Shrug and it will only be free through December 31. It's a very nice, different lace pattern.

 

Final thoughts: Knit Picks at http://www.knitpicks.com/knitting.cfm is in the final days of its interchangeable needle sets sale so Harmony and Sunstruck sets are $70 from $84 and the nickel and plastic sets are discounted 14%.

Interchangeable needle choices differ vastly but I'll tell you what I've discovered: I'm very happy with my Knit Picks needle sets (I have all of their interchangeables.) You do get some problems (defective cable, needle is sized wrong) but their customer service is more than excellent (you do not have to return the defective product) and the price is definitely right.

I'm sure sales will come again but if you're thinking of buying a set now you still have a few more days of sale at KP. If you were to ask me which set to buy, I could only say that I seem to be using the Sunstruck more right now (blunter than Harmony which is very sharp but fine with complicated lace stitches (P 3 tog.) However, I like them all and even did my first ruffle scarf on the see-through Zephyr in US 11. Also, I love the sharp tips on Harmony but it can be difficult to see dark yarn on them.

Well, that's it for this last Knitting Friday of 2012. Hope you've had as much fun as I've had with our knitting/crocheting projects this year. 

See you for another Knitting Friday in 2013. Happy Knitting and Happy New Year.