Knit-along with the library: Falling Leaves Lace Scarf

This is going to be fun. My library is doing a knit-along to go with a class on Creativebug, which we get free with a library card (Yay for EVPL!!!) and after ripping it out a few times, these are the first stitches which I didn't mess up.

Looking forward to finishing this one!













METHOD:
Coming

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Coming

Spring Charity Knit Scarves during Isolation

I am stash busting during our isolation, in the hopes of getting rid of the old to buy NEW yarn when we can safely shop again!

METHOD:
Done in whatever suits my fancy. 

The pink fringed one is leftover Lionbrand Homespun from Jen's Poncho, done in a repeat called "Purse Stitch" which gave it a neat lace look. 

The blue chenille is a skein of Lionbrand Chenille Thick and Quick in garter stitch. I started to crochet a scarf in this, but it's a nightmare no matter how you try to work with it.

The taupe is a basketweave stitch alternating garter and stockinette, extra wide but short enough to tie around your neck, probably wide enough for a man.

The unicorn puke color is a child's scarf done in Bernat boa. 
(I actually intended to make three of these, but Little Bear said he loved the color and the feel and wanted an extra long one for himself. I think I am raising a fabric-oholic.)

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Marie Kondo all your yarn. Seriously. It sparks joy, getting rid of it. 

Charity Knit Scarves - Sashay

Okay, this is one of those "seemed like a good idea at the time" kinds of things. While I was in grad school, I ended up getting drunk one Friday and insisted my husband take me over to Michaels, where they had a bunch of this ribbon yarn on clearance. I picked up about 10 balls for 15 dollars and was real proud of myself until I realized I had no idea what to do with the stuff. My first thought was to make scarves out of it and sell them on Etsy. Then I made the scarves. There is nothing about these scarves that makes me think I'd have any luck for selling them at anything over $1 online. People at the craft shows can't even give these things away.

So now that they're all made, I'm thinking I will just give most of them away, unless I can find something else to do with the yarn. I made my mom a blue one, which she likes, and Little Bear cabbaged onto the Christmas red one, so I guess the others will be Christmas charity donations or gifts for the unsuspecting.

METHOD:

This one got frogged.

Done in the pattern on the label, with Red Heart Boutique Sashay multicolor lace yarn. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Never buy yarn when you're drunk!

Traffic Hat and Scarf

I found this on LionBrand's website and the pattern looked so cute! I made both of them for Little Bear and he said he wanted the matching sweater! He's very into "transportation" right now, but I'm afraid he'll be in college by the time I get a sweater finished. 

METHOD:
Done in LionBrand Vanna's Choice, in the recommended colors, with the recommended needles. I did change the garter stitch road to stockinette because it looked weird in garter stitch. Bear wanted a red pom pom for the hat, which looked great until the dog ate it. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. This was my first experience with Intarsia, and it was a mess. When they say use spools, do it! Don't leave the strings hanging.

2. The scarf is a bit shorter than I like and it curls like mad, but Bear seems to like the "tube" shape it wants to take. 

3. I have the coolest kid.

Victorian Lace Scarf

I had leftover yarn from the Knitted Lace Edge T-shirt and the Teddy Bear and thought this would be a good way to use it up.

METHOD:
I found the pattern on Ravelry, called "Victorian Scarf." Knit on the recommended, with the KnitPicks "Crayon" yarn in Periwinkle.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. The thing about lace knitting is that you really have to pay attention to what you're doing on each row. I didn't, so this thing is weirdly off the pattern repeats. I'm still happy with it. 

2. I probably should have scalloped the final finished edge, but I was just so done with it and so ready to get it out of the WIPS bag that I took shortcuts.  3. I'm still confused about something that happened on a slip, k2, passo. I'm never really sure which strand to pass over. Need to look into that. 4. There is no way this cotton yarn will block or keep itself from curling. This pattern could have benefited from a stiffer yarn.

Lace Amore Scarf

I made this for a lark, out of the leftover "Amore" yarn from the Bow Ponchette. The lace pattern was just one of the samples from the Knitting for Dummies book.

METHOD:
Just done in whatever needles happened to be handy, from a lace repeat pattern in the For Dummies book. Nothing complicated. I think I finished this around June 24, 2009, but I didn't get around to taking pictures until later. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Have fun and play with your yarn! Also, for acrylic yarn, this is really soft.

Tinsel Scarf

This is cute. It looks like a garland of tinsel. This was easy to make, but it took me almost a year to finish, because I put it aside for the summer.

METHOD:
One large skein of YarnBee gilteyelash yarn in color "twilight." Might have looked better with a more silver version. Done on #10 needles, from LionBrand Pattern.

I had leftover yarn so I made the dog a scarf as well, which he models here like a pro!

 AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?:
Leaving a project in the sewing room for a season is really depressing. From now on, I'm not putting stuff aside.

Jeff's first gift: a Dr. Who scarf

I kept bugging Jeff to tell me what he wanted me to make for him. (Of course, from the looks of what I've made so far, I'm not surprised he hesitated to ask for anything!) I finally pinned him down to "a scarf, in earth tones." Of course, it couldn't be like any normal scarf -- he wanted a really long one, down to his knees, a la Dr. Who.

Cool.

We settled on a skein of LionBrand HomeSpun in color "olive" and a skein of Bernat Soft Boucle "Earth Shades," which is a lovely blend of chocolate and very dark browns. Each stripe is around 8 inches, although I didn't count the rows, and sometimes one stripe would finish on a right side, while others finished on a wrong side. Oh well. He wears it a lot. I'm proud :)


METHOD:
22 stitches across, on #11 needles. I really just sort of pulled that number out of the air, and as such, the fabric is a tad bit loose, but he says it's warm enough! It certainly drapes well. The colors look good together, especially althernating solid colors and textured ones.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
How to change yarn colors at the end of 8 inch rows. And to remember to count the number of rows I knit.

Too long long scarf

I wanted an extra long scarf, but I think I went just a bit too far on this one. :) It's very warm, I have to admit.

METHOD:
Done in LionBrand Fun Fur, 2 skeins of violet and two of raspberry, on #11 needles, this was going to just be alternating colors, but then I got all creative and decided the end of the scarf should look lilke they were dipped in the other color. So I had to rip out the cast on stitches, and knit backwards, which was interesting.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
How to pull out the cast on stitches and knit from there. I had some issues, so I ended up frogging back about two inches of work, but I've learned how to fix that for the future. The "dipped" ends didn't come out even. I'm not sure how to figure out how to fix that, but for ripping it all out and cutting the ball of yarn in half. (edited to add: the simplest way to do this would just be to count the rows! And to think, I actually enjoyed math class!)

First gift- for Mona

The easiest thing in the world is to make a scarf for a friend. Especially a self-striping one.

METHOD:
Two balls of Fun Fur in the color "Mexicana" makes a festive enough birthday gift for a bellydancer. Thes are consistently shorter than I want, but they work out okay.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?:
The perfect $6 gift takes just a few hours to make, and people seem to really enjoy hand-knit gifts!

LAST Hat and Scarf set

METHOD:
This is a hat and scarf set from the LionBrand Boucle pattern in "Snowcone." I like this color, but for some odd reason, the yarn seemed to fuzz up more than usual. I DON'T like the scarf, which curled even though I added the garter stitch edge, and I don't particularly like having the "hole" design. I'd really like to give this set away.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
I must remember to NOT watch "Gladiator" while knitting. Joachin Phoenix is waaay too distracting. :) Can you see the whole line of incorrect stitching? Probably not, but it's there. Now every time I see this hat I will think of Joachin. Hmm, maybe I won't give this one away...

P.S. Dad came over for Christmas and was admiring my work, and he thought this was just the neatest design -- so I gave the set to him! Mom said he actually wears it! That's the highest compliment I could be given! :)

Thanksgiving Project 2: Deep Sea stripes

I was hoping this would knit up longer, but this is a decent length. It's a very soft scarf, even though it took a longer time to knit than the boucle ones. This piece was started and finished on Thanksgiving day.

METHOD:
Made from the LionBrand pattern on the yarn, I used two skeins of self-striping Fun Fur in the "Deep Sea" color. Done on #10 needles, it took longer than the other boucle scarves. The whole piece is done in garter stitch.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
ALWAYS check the dye lots. I got these two skeins at two different stores, and the difference in color is VERY apparent. I'm not throwing it away, though. I'm going to pretend I'm NOT mad at myself for not checking the dye lots, and instead attribute the off-colors to "character."

I think this scarf could be more narrow and still look good. That would also give it more length.

I also think I might get some more of this Fun Fur and knit some Christmas presents. It's so soft and warm!

Thanksgiving Project 1: Self-Striping ROCKS!

(pictured here is both scarf and hat. Rather cunning, don't you think?)

I got a lot accomplished over my Thanksgiving vacation. Here's the first project:

I had no idea when I bought this Fun Fur that it was stripes. I thought it was just variegated yarn. Imagine my surprise (and pleasure) to watch it knit up in these cool stripes!

METHOD:
This is another one of those Lion Boucle and Fun Fur scarves, like the green ones. This time I used the boucle "Rose" and the Fun Fur Stripes "Cotton Candy." Which gave it a cool block/stripe pattern. Did this one also on big needles (#19) and it would have only taken a day to make, but I started it at night (Thanksgiving Eve) and fell asleep. I finished it off Thanksgiving Day. The whole piece is done in garter stitch.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Self-striping yarn is cool! And the boucle/fur combination yields a nice thick heavy piece.

K2 for 2 scarves

I picked out this yarn combination for a scarf and then Mom decided she wanted one just like it. So here we are, in our matching scarves. I started the first one Nov. 21 and finished it that night. So I started a second one, and would have finished it, but the DH made me go to bed. NO!! ---- JUST ONE MORE ROW!!!!!! (LOL)

Actually, DH asked me to make one for him, but twice as long and in earthtone colors. I'm going to try mixing LionBrand Homespun with a Fun Fur -- the Homespun looks just as bulky and comes in some great earthy colors.

METHOD:
These scarves were made from a free pattern from LionBrand yarn, using one strand of Lion Boucle in Lime Blue + one strand of Fun Fur Citrus. Knitted on #19 fat needles, these scarves didn't take long at all to make.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
At first it was confusing trying to knit with two yarns, but after a few rows, the yarns seemed to attract each other and hung close. Using the big needle means quick progress. This combo is a little scratchy for my Princess & Pea delicate skin, but it's so pretty, I can't resist wearing it.

One Skein Chenille Scarf (for Mom)

Started evening of Nov. 16. Finished at an SCA event, Nov. 19

METHOD:
This scarf is from the pattern in my "Teach Yourself to Knit" book. It's a one-skein scarf, made from one skein of Lion Brand chenille in Royal Blue. I used the recommended #13 needles and although it's a tight knit, it seems to fit the gauge. The whole piece was done in the stockinette stitch.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
This is a super bulky yarn! I wasn't sure to keep the stitches loose or tight. I think I started them too tight. These big needles are huge and aren't as easy to work with, but it's possible that I'm just not used to them.

The edges curled in and I'm not sure if that's my fault, or because of the yarn itself, which (mental note) sheds tiny fibers EVERYWHERE! (edited to add: I just found out it's the stockinette stitch itself that causes this curl. A suggestion was to add a border of garter stitches to the edges to prevent this. I'm just pleased to know it's not me!) And the purl side, every now and again, doesn't have "bumps" so much as long threads that look like they I might have missed something on the other side. Curious. I blame it all on the tension.

BUT, I'm pretty sure I stayed with the same number of stitches the whole time, so at least THAT part is getting better. And I screwed up a couple of times and was able to successfully pull out stitches. It really helps when you can actually see them.

The pattern on the skein was for a button down vest. If this scarf works out, I might try to make that for Mom for Christmas.

Getting better -- fewer noticeable mistakes

(My lovely mother models her new scarf, in a yarn selected by her in her favorite color.)

Basically I restarted this project on Nov. 9 and finished it last night, Nov. 16 -- but I didn't get to work on it much last week or last weekend. This one went MUCH better -- I'm getting used to the eyelash yarn finally. There are a couple of places wher I picked up an extra stitch, and a couple of places where I have two rows of knit togther, so it kind of looks like a seam there. But all in all it looks MUCH better than the first two. I think I was being harder on myself because this one is for Mom.

METHOD:
This scarf is from the same pattern I've been using, from the Bernat Boa yarn label. It was made from 2 skeins of Yarn Bee yarn in the color "Blueberry." I used #10 needles instead of the recommended #9 -- which is slightly smaller than what I used before, and I think that helps to keep it soft. The stitches are much closer together and the "thread" is primarily on the inside of the stitches.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
To pay attention to prevent getting an extra stitch. I know what I'm doing now, and can sort of feel it when it happens. I'm going through two layers of yarn instead of one. I also have sort of learned how to fix that after it's already happened.

Tension is still an issue. And apparently when I cast on, I'm not making it tight enough, because I'm still getting a sort of funnel cloud look -- the scarf is considerably wider at the bottom edges than it is through the center.

Second verse, same as the first

(Thanks to my lovely assistant Marilyn, for modeling this scarf.)

I started this one after skipping out on international dance class Tuesday Nov. 3, and finished it Sunday night, Nov. 6. Most of the work was done while I sat with hubby watching "Kingdom of Heaven." This was the second set of 2 for $5 Bernat Boa yarns I got at Michael's. I'm sort of tired of working with this eyelash yarn, but today my Mom found a pretty royal blue one for 40% off, so it looks like I'll be making at least one more. These are easy enough to make, however, that I might make a few more for friends. Hopefully with enough practice, they'll start to look less lumpy.

METHOD:
This scarf is from the pattern on the yarn label. It was made from 2 skeins of Bernat Boa yarn in the color "Parrot." I used #11 needles instead of the recommended.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
To pay attention when knitting the last row! I checked to make sure I had enough, and then kitted the whole last row (which was supposed to be bound off!) Since I can't see the stitches in this yarn, I had to rip out about four or five rows before I was able to find the loops to rethread it back on the needle. How frustrating.

My first knitting project - A scarf

I'm not displeased with this, even though an experienced knitter would look at this and probably scream "For the love of God what did you DO?!" I started out with 23 stitches, somehow went down to 18, back up to 25, and ended with 29. Rather than mess with it, I just left it wrong. I think it creates character. :)

I started this the afternoon of October 29 and finished it Oct. 30. I wanted to wear it for Halloween, but it was unseasonably warm this year and way too hot for a scarf. Mayhaps next year?

METHOD:
This scarf is from the pattern on the yarn label. It was made from 2 skeins of Bernat Boa yarn in the color "Tweety Bird." I used #11 needles instead of the recommended.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
I'm having issues with tension, but this is a hard yarn to knit. On my practice yarn, I'm a very tight knitter, which probably says something about the level of stress in my life. I left the stitches pretty loose on this.

I also figured out why my number of stitches varied, and on my next project I'll work to fix that. This yarn slips off the aluminum needles pretty easily, so I had to concentrate to keep it from falling apart.

One thing I need to figure out is how to fix a stitch that falls off the needle. I'm sure it's an easy fix, but I just need to read up on it.

All in all, I'm very happy with the result, and my next project is another scarf, using the same yarn only in a purple color.