"Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful . . .

"But inside the knittin's delightful . . ."

Haha!  "Let It Snow" is my fave Christmas tune.  In fact, we've had our first wintery blast this week and today there's even more snow.

So as I hunker-down indoors, I'm desperately trying to finish my Fern & Waves Scarf--oh so close! 

I'm also trying to work on my Bernat project at the same time.  That's going more slowly than anticipated (and I can't really show you that progress, but rest assured it will show up on my Rav project page, my flickr page or wait till I post about it on Bernat blog).

To make matters worse interesting, my sock looks wonky.  I'm loving the 2x4 ribbing on the leg and the striping actually looks quite nice.  As for the cuff ribbing . . . well, that doesn't quite look as nice. 

Doesn't the cuff look really loose?  When I made the boys' socks, I always used 1x1 ribbing on smaller needles and then worked the leg on larger needles.  Sadly I didn't change needles with my own socks, so the leg's 2x4 ribbing looks more snug. 

So what does this all mean?  To the frog pond goes the sock!  I'll just re-cast and skip the 1x1 cuff and instead dive into the 2x4 ribbing.  That'll work.

Now I'm off to shovel more snow  :)

The Knitting Continues . . .

So the knitting continues (and it helps that I've been on vacation the past week).

The Eyelet Yoke Cardigan is progressing rather quickly--at least for me, slow as a turtle. The back is "complete" as is one sleeve. I've even started the second sleeve. Once the left and right fronts are done, I can work the yoke across all the pieces. At this rate, I might be done by the end of September (Maybe? Perhaps? If I work really hard at it . . .).

The Fern and Waves scarf is coming along too. About 18 inches done. See the upper right hand corner? Take a closer look below. See the little ball of bamboo.

That's all that's left! If two balls gave me 18", I hope 4 more balls will be enough (anything over 50" will be just right). I've ordered more from Elann. And according to their website, there was more of the same dye lot. Could it be possible? I'll know for sure in 1-2 weeks . . . (if hurricane Bill doesn't blow us all away).

Hope your weekend will be less blustery than mine. ;)

Not Bad for a Pokey Knitter

My Fern & Waves scarf slowly grows . . .

Thus far, I have approx. 6.5-7" which is not bad after one day (I'm a slow knitter). I suspect I'll have to make this at least 50" long, if not longer. Me thinks more yarn will be necessary--lots more yarn.

The original pattern called for 52 stitches, but that seemed too narrow. Instead, I decided to cast on 72 stitches: 4 pattern repeats with 4-stitch garter border on either end (4 x 16 = 64 + 8 = 72). I also added 2 rows of garter at beginning before starting the lace pattern. No special reason--just 'cuz. Actually, I thought it might look pretty to have a "finished" border.

I'm also wonderin' whether I might stop in the middle and then start another half. That way I can graft the two halves and each end will have that pretty rippled border . . . hmmmm. Something to ponder.

Happy knitting!

Lots of Lacy Goodness

I can't believe my initial trepidation regarding lace (see link here). If you've ever considered experimenting with lace, my advice: go for it! There are lots of easy lace patterns out there to get your feet wet. There's even a beginner lace group on Ravelry that has a list of easy lace projects (if you're a knitter/crocheter/spinner and you're not yet on Ravelry, what are you waiting for? The best knit/crochet/fibre resource online, bar none).


Remember when I wasn't sure what to make next (see link here) ? Well I've actually completed two projects! Remember that lilac acrylic? I only needed one ball to finish the lacy hat. Using an old knit-pattern-a-day calendar, I found Grace's Lacy Star Hat (found on Oct 28 2008). Since I still had another ball left over, I also cast on for a matching cowl using the Fishtail Hat (found on Feb 19 2008). Obviously I've modified the hat by casting on one less pattern repeat width-wise, making the item shorter and omitting the decreases. Enjoyed the fishtail pattern so much, I may have to make the hat at some point with perhaps a matching scarf for myself.

I've also started my second lace scarf. My yarn of choice was Elann's Bamboo Fusion. It's a little splitty, but feels very nice. Although I've only just begun, the bamboo looks good thus far into the Ferns and Lace Scarf pattern (free download on Ravelry). The instructions/chart are easy to follow (bonus: you can always contact the designer on Ravelry if you get stuck).

Back to knitting . . .