Neck warmer?

This week's finished project is a neck warmer. You'd think by now we'd be making tops and warm weather stuff. Especially since a week ago the temperature around here was in the 100 degree range. This week the daily temps have been below season average, so it's still pretty cool. I don't remember a Memorial Day weekend ever being this cold, or this wet.

Anyway, I made this neck warmer over the course of the week. The yarn is Manos del Uruguay silk blend. I got it at Unwind back in January I think. The pattern came with the yarn. It's called Beech Wood. I just checked the designer's web site and the pattern isn't there anymore.

I did work on a few other projects this week, like a couple of pairs of socks, but they're not far enough along to show yet.

New socks

I finished the Scrolls socks yesterday. I like 'em a lot. Not so sure about the fiber though. It's a cotton and nylon blend that's pretty easy on the hands but the plies want to separate when there's a decrease, whether it's a K2tog or an SSK, and that causes some problems. You have to really look to see if you've picked up an extra ply or strand. It only took me about a sock and a half to figure this out.



When I finished the first sock and turned it inside out to weave in the ends I was really surprised at the pattern on the inside. The purl side looks like a woven trellis. I wouldn't be surprised if someone hasn't already figured out that this stitch would make a great scarf pattern. I might just do it myself.

Non-knitting weekend

Really. There was almost no knitting this weekend. Unless you count ripping a sweater that I knit fifteen or so years ago. I guess ripping is part of knitting but I don't usually wait that long. I'm not even sure at this point why I never finished that sweater but I think it was probably because I realized it was going to be way too small.

Now that I think of it, I probably knit that sweater more than twenty years ago. I have another sweater that I knit at about the same time that I never put together. They were both in the same storage box. That sweater was knit with some yarn I got in Taos in 1988 or so. That one didn't come out quite right. The sleeves were way too big for the armholes. I was still pretty new to knitting at that time so I didn't realize that yarn substitution meant more than just using something other than what the pattern called for. I need to see if I can salvage it. Probably will need to reknit the sleeves. I think the body is still OK. Well, it was then.

I did finish the first sock of the Scrolls design that I started last week. The second one is moving along. I hope to finish it this week. I have a number of things to do this week that will involve lots of driving time but I should be able to finish if I don't get distracted by something else.

Using stash

Apparently I'm not the only one who does this. I tend to hold on to what I think of as my special yarns. I keep waiting for that special, just right, project to come along. So I end up with lots of yarns that never go anywhere.

I don't remember where now but I read someone's blog a couple of days ago where this very thing was being discussed. The writer's point was that it's silly not to use what you already have. There will always be more yarn and more projects. And it's rare to find that perfect match. I know it is for me. I tend to forget what I have in stash and find it much easier just to buy something new.

Anyway, I started this new scarf yesterday, using some special stash. This is Schaefer's Kathleen. I only have one hank of it. I've had it for at least four, maybe five, years. I've been waiting for the right project to come along. The color in the small photo is more accurate but the large photo at top gives a better idea of what the scarf will look like. I found the pattern on Ravelry. The one hank I have has the same yardage as the original pattern but the Kathleen is heavier than the yarn used in the pattern.

I like it. It's playful and it uses one of my special yarns. So that's a good thing.

The celebrated purple scarf

You've heard about it. Now you get to see it. Kind of. It's almost impossible for me to get a photo of this that really shows what it going on. Not only is the yarn very dark, it is also very gloomy here today.

If you happen to have access to the Berroco pattern book Norah Gaughan Collection, Vol. 1 you can see it a little better. The pattern is called Jyri which they show in Pure Merino. I used some Karabella Aurora 8 that I happened to have in stash. It's not quite the same gauge but it's close enough. I used a little over four balls.

The knitting is essentially stockinette. The K3tog decrease in the center of each stitch pattern causes the knitting to draw up and form peaks on the purl side. The purl side is considered the right side.

Because the scarf is stockinette it wants to curl. In the pattern book the scarf is shown being work all curled up. I think it looks great. The color in this photo is way off but you can maybe see the pattern a little better. The actual color is more like the photo at top.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

I've no idea if that's correct Spanish or not. But it's what I hear around these parts.



My friend, and frequent student, Sally (that's her in the while jarancha) invited me to join her and her husband Jay (that's him seated wearing the white wedding shirt and red bandana) at a small local restaurant and to hear them perform some traditional jarancho music. Their instructor, Cesar, is on the right and a friend, Elena No Show, seated on the right, is playing her jarana. . There's a reason she's called No Show, but this time she did show up.Standing on the left and playing the cow jawbone is Aurora who was visiting from Guadalajara. It was a ton of fun. Afterwards we went to Sally's house and had some margaritas and guacamole and chips. No salsa.

I have some new socks that I started on Friday using the new Kollage Luscious sock yarn.



It's a blend of cotton and nylon. Very nice to knit. I'm doing a test to see if you really can get one sock out of 185 yards. I think it will be close. I didn't get as much done as I would have liked though. I spent a lot of time on Ravelry looking at all the projects that use Noro. Not very productive but maybe somewhat more than playing FreeCell.