Latest Adventures in Knitting

I've been doing a lot of knitting and got sort of backlogged with posting photos. Here's some of the latest fun I've been having.

This yarn is super soft and fuzzy. The variegated greys made interesting stripes throughout the scarf.

Here's another grey one. I doubled up on a thinner yarn for the body of the scarf and added the variegated grey eyelash yarn in a center stripe.



For the next one below I used the same kind of super soft and fuzzy yarn as the above light grey one. I'd found this brightly colored stringy accent yarn in the little yarn shop in Seward, Alaska where I dropped $40 before going to the internet cafe next door to do my Alaska blog update last June. It was funny. My husband dropped me off at The Sea Bean Internet Cafe. I got out of the truck, laptop in hand, and took a couple steps toward the cafe. I looked up, saw A Flyin' Skein next door, and veered immediately left to check it out. I was pleased to hear KLOVE Radio playing inside.

So here's how I used some of the yarn I got there.

Thought I'd get a little creative for this one below. I love my husband's guitar as a background for this muted earthy scarf. I used a special accent yarn down the center of this one. I was disappointed how little it showed. I ended up liking it anyway and deciding that subtle is good, too. I bought the unusual specialty yarn at The Birch Tree Gallery (and yarn shop) in Soldotna, Alaska. I had to; it was on sale.

I made this next one one for my sister-in-law, Jill. She has blond hair and blue eyes and is a kindergarten teacher. I had bought the multi-colored pastel eyelash yarn awhile ago and thought the many colors would go over well with her little students. I studied it and thought on it for a long time before deciding that this deep yellow would probably go best with it. But then I began to second guess if the color combo might be too splashy, too cutesy, or too Easter-y. But as I knitted it, I was surprised at how much I loved it. It took me by surprise how beautifully it turned out. Jill liked it, too.

This last one (below) is made with some cute and funky yarn. Casting on the first row was weird and difficult. You knit your stitches between the tufts. I just finished it this morning and am disappointed with it in a couple ways. It took me almost to the end to get relaxed with it. You can knit a few stitches easily between the tufts but every third or so stitch you have the choice of either knitting before the tuft or after it. I had been squeezing the stitch in before the tuft. I realized too late that I should have relaxed my tension and knitted after the tuft. The scarf turned out rather squished looking, and tight, and short. I think my yarn might have gone farther if I hadn't made it so tight. But I am NOT taking it out and starting over. This stuff is brutal to undo. Cute though, isn't it?

Maybe I'll get another skein and try again.

Knitting & Thinking About Mom

Mom taught me to knit several times in my life. This last time, a few years ago while I was living with her, it finally stuck and I got really into making scarves. I'd come home from the store and show her all the new yarns I couldn't resist and which ones I was planning on pairing together. Whenever I completed a scarf, it was a little triumph that I celebrated with Mom by showing her the finished product. If it was an especially nice one, we would delight together in it's beauty.

Every time I've completed a scarf this summer, I've found myself thinking it's time to show Mom. I miss sharing this interest with her. I miss how my tiny adventures in knitting brightened her day. To measure the fringe for a scarf I usually use a book to wrap the yarn around. For one of my recent scarves, I looked among my books and found one of the right width. As I carried it over to the couch, I realized it was my "Losing A Parent" book I'm currently reading. I smiled sadly at the irony and mentally said, "Come see my new scarf, Mom."

I was looking through some photos tonight and realized that, though I mentioned in an earlier post that Mom taught me to knit, I didn't post any photos of some of her gorgeous afghans. So here's some of her amazing handi-work. SHE was a knitter.







And here's some of my not-very-amazing scarves of the summer. Not amazing or difficult, but I still like them. This pink one is for my niece, Kelsey, who I think, is in love with pink. Always has been.


OK, I tried 3 different ways to try to get Blogger to leave the following horizontal photo alone. But no, it arbitrarily decided to rotate it to a vertical shot. I wish there was someone to actually ask at Blogger. But seeing how they offer all this blogging stuff for free, I can understand why there's nobody standing by to answer my questions. I love the colors in this one. It's very lacey as you'll see if you click to enlarge.


And here's another cozy one. Again with the blues, purples and greens. I'm loving those colors lately. A couple years ago, after a lifetime of disliking nearly every blue known to man, except blues with greens mixed in, I began liking Cobalt blue. It started with glass. These colors remind me of water. I have really been drawn to "water" colors in the last couple years.

More Scarves

Not feeling much like writing lately so I thought I'd toss some more scarves up on the blog.


I love the color combinations in this one below. I made it as a gift for my mom's special friend.

I made this next one for a friend who loves lots of wild colors. I changed my usual fuzzy stripe from down the center to a waving stripe that curves from one side to the other several times all the way through the scarf, stepping up the wild and funky look even more.

Another gift...not yet given:
I love all the colors in the yarn. On one hand, it's disappointing that they don't really show unless you look closely. On the other hand I also really like that art can have different layers of beauty, of creativity. In this case, the yarn itself is a piece of art and when you look more closely at it, it reveals another range of beauty different from the overall image.

Knitting

My mom taught me to knit about 3 different times in my life. The last time was just over a year ago. And I've been knitting scarves ever since. I'm really enjoying it. I like how quick they are. So far, all I do is knit. As in...I don't purl or do any other stitches. Just knit. Whenever I get sick of that, I'll branch out. So far, I like the ease and mindlessness of only the knit stitch, or "garter stitch" as it's called when you knit every row.

I've had my scarves for sale and gotten some encouraging feedback on them.



On the green one I added a strip of "eyelash yarn" down the middle. Then I added the fringe opposite to the yarn pattern.







I love this scarf. It's made of super soft multi-colored yarn. I figured out how to make curved ends and then I added 3 layers of fringe on one end making it really lush and fun. The other end has a single layer - I thought it would be too bulky to have it on both ends.


I did the same with this off white scarf, plus I added the eyelash strip down the middle.