Welcome to my blog. Let's dive right in!
My winter project...aside working on accessories for my Etsy store was this scarf knitted with yarn R. gave me for Xmas. Here it is finished hanging from the wisteria vine on our fence. You'd never know spring is well-sprung looking at this photo, but I liked the fence in the background. The yarn is 2 skeins Fiesta Yarns Baby Boom a space-dyed yarn that comes in many fabulous colorways and also in solids.
Knitted items capture little memories of the time spent knitting and this scarf witnessed quite a drama. I worked on it when R. was horribly ill in the hospital and then at home recovering. Knitting only does good things for me, so picking up the scarf and remembering that time is not troubling.
I wanted to knit a lace scarf with vertical stripes from a space dyed yarn. This idea came not from own brilliance, but from a pattern in Interweave Knits published a couple of years ago. I bought the yarn (Schaefer Anne) for the pattern but it was super fine and I hated knitting with it. (I'm a girl who likes a substantial yarn between my fingers.) It just felt like string to me.
The idea behind the vertical stripes is that if you select a pattern with the right number of stitches per row the sections of different colors line up producing vertical stripes. You have to occasionally readjust the stripes either by tying a section of yarn off at one end or--what I did more often--knitting into the same stitch twice. The garter stitches at each end concealed this well.
The finished result is lighter and narrower than a winter scarf, but more substantial than a lace scarf. Baby Boom is fantastic yarn to work with, super soft and sort of springy. I want to make a second scarf using larger size needles and a lacier pattern so that I can wear it in warmer weather. But first I have to finish all my unfinished projects.
PS. I just re-read The Great Gatsby for the first time since 9th grade. I couldn't remember anything about it except Daisy crying over Gatsby's beautiful shirts. Wonderful.
