The scarf exchange circle is complete

It was only last week that I sent off the scarf I knit and the goodies to my downstream scarf exchange pal, Sue. Today I received the scarf from my upstream scarf exchange pal, Christie! She did a great job. She knit me a great scarf out of some very cool yarn that has all of my favorite colors:

And the yarn has just a bit of glitz and bling in it, which is, well, so me. :)

Christie also included some great goodies: some bamboo circular knitting needles in a size I don't have (how did she know?), some darning needles in a case, two skeins of some heavenly Debbie Bliss yarn, and a cute flip flop keychain that Aidan has already claimed as his own.

How fabulous! The scarf exchange has been a wonderful experience. What a pleasure (and a bit nerve wracking) to knit for someone I have never met and how splendid to receive a knitted gift. I had no idea knitting would be so much fun!

Taking the month off

There are people in Europe who take nearly the entire month of August off for their holiday/vacation. At times, it must seem that the only people working are those who provide service to those on holiday. While I can't spend the month of August on vacation or doing nothing, I am going to take a break from goals and resolutions.

While I am doing very well on my portion control and have almost completely stopped snacking between meals, I did not do well in July on the walking/exercising portion of my goals. With Aidan out of school, out of town trips, yada yada yada, I can't seem to stick to any kind of regular walking schedule. So rather than set a goal that I cannot achieve, I am just going to take the month off and get back to business in September (aka The Most Wonderful Time of the Year). It does not mean that I won't do any walking or exercising, it simply means that I won't worry about it; if it happens, it happens and if it doesn't, oh well.

I did have a knitting goal for July, which I did achieve: I finished knitting the lace scarf that had been in progress for many months:

The yarn, Lhasa Wilderness from Bijou Basin Ranch, is a blend of 75% Yak down and 25% Bamboo, and the color is a rich, chocolate brown. It is ever so soft and has a lovely drape to it.

The pattern came free with the skein of yarn, and the pattern states the scarf needs “just a single skein of the luxurious Lhasa Wilderness yarn.” The photo showed a short scarf but I didn’t realize just how short it would be…it wasn’t until I was about 75% complete that I realized the photo on the pattern did not match the instructions in the pattern! The photos show a scarf with two lace repeats and the pattern details three lace repeats. Grrr. I did not want to frog the entire scarf and start over using two repeats, so I used as much of the yarn as I could before knitting the border and binding off. I blocked the scarf until it screamed for mercy and managed to get it to 40” in length. It is very pretty, but just a bit on the short side for my preference. If it is also too short for my friend who will receive it as a birthday gift, I will knit her a different, longer scarf.

The scarf exchange

One of my favorite places to visit every day on the Internet is Ravelry, a knit and crochet community. According to the About Us section, Ravelry "is a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools and pattern information, and look to others for ideas and inspiration." I can organize my projects, look at other people's projects, read reviews of yarns, find free patterns, yada yada yada...a whole wealth of great information.

There are also specialty groups to join. I immediately found and joined the Atlanta Metro Knitters, Cleveland Indians fans, and NPR listeners. Then about six weeks ago, I stumbled across a group called the Ravelry Scarf Exchange. Participants submit information about their likes/dislikes, and are then matched downstream with a person who will knit a scarf for them and also upstream for a person who will knit a scarf for them. When shipping the scarf to your downstream pal, you are to also include some goodies, such as yarn, needles, pattern books, chocolate, stitch markers, any fun novelty item.

It sounded like fun, but I was very apprehensive about participating...after all, I have only been knitting a few months and have not moved much beyond knit and purl. After much discussion with and coaching from James and my knitting mentor, Geri, I decided to thrown caution to the wind and sign up.

Last week we received our matches. Much to my initial dismay, not only did I receive a knitter of many years as my downstream pal, but she is also the owner of her own yarn store! OH NO! James was not at all understanding my concern until I put it into a context he could understand: what if he joined a woodworking exchange and he received Norm Abrams as the recipient of his project. Then he understood.

I sent a message off to my downstream pal to introduce myself as her upstream knitter, and to tell her that I am a novice knitter and just a tad bit (okay, A WHOLE LOT) nervous about knitting for her. She sent back the nicest message, telling me not to be intimidated, that people rarely knit for her, and that my projects on Ravelry look quite nicely done. I felt so relieved to have been matched with such a great person.

Sue (downstream pal) lives in Baltimore, MD, where she owns the very cool yarn store Lovelyarns. Doesn't it look like the neatest place? James has a trade show in Baltimore in October, and I am trying to think how I can go with him for at least a few days. Visit Fort McHenry? Wander around Harborplace? Pay tribute to Edgar Allen Poe? No, nada, no way...I just want to go to Lovelyarns and sit and knit with all the fabulous Baltimore knitters.

I am having great fun perusing patterns and yarns, and finding items for the goodie bag that will accompany Sue's scarf. By mutual agreement, I am keeping all details of the scarf a state secret so she will be surprised. And after a few days of anxiety, I also received a message from my upstream pal, Christie, who lives in California.

I had no idea when I started knitting that I was joining such a wonderful community. I now know that wherever I go in the US or worldwide, when I find a group of knitters, I have found a group of friends.

A very worthy cause

I learned about a wonderful project last week - the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games Scarf Project. The goal is to give a scarf to each athlete participating in the winter games, which will be held in Boise, Idaho in February 2009, so they need at least 5,000 scarves. I heard about the project on Ravelry, the fabulous online knitting/crochet community to which I belong, and it is being enthusiastically discussed on many of the special interest boards.

The requirements are very basic: knit or crochet a scarf using two specific colors of a specific yarn. The yarn is an inexpensive acrylic brand and while I would not normally use that type of yarn, I understand why it is being specified: they want an economical and easy care scarf. Any pattern can be used, so I imagine this wonderful array of blue and white scarves in a multitude of configurations!

I was a volunteer at the 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Chapel Hill, NC. It was an awesome experience that I treasure, so I am very excited about making another small contribution to this wonderful event.

One of my most cherished memories of those games was riding one of the buses around the UNC-CH campus after working my venue. The bus was filled with athletes and coaches, in addition to a few fellow volunteers. One of the coaches suddenly said something like “Athletes and coaches, there are volunteers on this bus and they make everything possible. Let’s show them our appreciation.” They started clapping and cheering, patting us on the back and hugging us…I still get verklempt thinking about it!

My goal is to contribute at least two scarves to this very worthy cause. So as soon as I finish the lacy scarf that I am making as part of Ravelympics, I will cast on a Special Olympics scarf.

She knitted a rainbow!

A's new scarf that our friend, Geri, knitted for him arrived today - thank you, Geri! He eagerly tore open the envelope and immediately wrapped it around his neck...then proceeded to admire himself in the mirror.

A chose the colors for the scarf: white, yellow, red, blue and purple. Geri used a zigzag pattern, which gave what could be an ordinary scarf real pizazz.

Based on the amount of strutting and preening that A has exhibited since receipt of the scarf, she scored a home run with this scarf!

When J got home, A excitedly showed him the scarf and said "Geri knitted a rainbow for me!"

Evelyn's scarf

Today I mailed a scarf to my friend Evelyn in North Carolina. She is one of the people who agreed to let me practice knitting by making her a scarf.

I used a 100% alpaca yarn called Atacama from a Chilean company called Araucania Yarns. The color is a teal/green/brown mix, which I think will suit Evelyn beautifully. The yarn feels lovely and knit very nicely.

The pattern is called Misty Garden, but I refer to it as the Misty Garden of Good and Evil scarf. I adore the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt and have read it four or five times. Berendt really captures characters well and each chapter is like its own little short story, but it all fits together well as a novel.


I even liked the movie version of the book; what is not to like about a movie with Kevin Spacey AND John Cusack? Come to think of it, I first saw the movie with Evelyn - how about that!

I think the scarf turned out very well and I hope Evelyn is pleased with the result.

Knitting update

I have been happily knitting during practically every moment of free time that I possess.

I finished a ribbed scarf a few weeks ago that turned out very pretty.


I used a wool and mohair blend in GORGEOUS color but even after blocking the scarf (basically washing in mild liquid and setting out to dry), it is still scratchier than I would like.


And the yarn left hairballs all over the floor! I am still vacuuming up turquoise fuzz and some got stuck in the wheels of Aidan's remote control car. Next I expect Spenser to hoark up a blue hairball.

My next scarf project is for my friend Ann in North Carolina; she agreed to be a recipient of a practice scarf. I chose a cotton/Modal blend in a luscious ocean blue color called Reef.


I adore the feel of this yarn - it is very soft and silky. The scarf is knit in a squares pattern, achieved by alternating blocks of knit and purl stitches. I modified the pattern by adding rows of knit stitches at the beginning (and will finish that way at the end) and on either side of the squares. It is turning out very, very pretty.

I have learned that I like having two projects in process at one time, so that I can switch back and forth depending on my mood or attention level. I picked up some cotton yarn last week to knit some dishcloths, mainly for practice. My first attempt turned out okay; I made some mistakes in counting that I did not notice until many rows later, so the mistakes are staying in.


In case you can't tell from the photo, it is a hearts pattern. Yesterday I have cast on a butterfly design dishcloth in a hot pink color, so perhaps the pattern will be easier to see.

So, all in all, I am adoring my new hobby!

The scarf exchange scarf

Since my scarf exchange pal, Sue, should receive her scarf today, I can finally talk about it - yippee!

I chose the Midwest Moonlight pattern, both for its beautiful pattern and for the name - you can take the girl out of the Midwest but you can't take the Midwest out of the girl and all that.

I chose a luscious silk and alpaca blend yarn called Elegance, which I purchased online from Knit Picks. Love, love, LOVE this yarn! It is silky and oh so elegant, indeed. The color is called Grass and is a pretty shade of green - not too bright, not too olive. I think the scarf turned out gorgeous.

I also included a lot of fun goodies, most of which I found on Etsy:

• A soap sock from designtalentedone, along with a bar of natural french clay soap made by daisycakessoap;
• A sheep-shaped (say that fast) bath fizzy, also from daisycakessoap;
• A polka dot coffee cozy from jenandjules;
• A half pound of our favorite Mocha Java coffee from Senoia Coffee Co.; and,
• A "surrender yer yarn" button from CafePress.

Fun, fun, fun stuff - I hope Sue likes it!

My eyes! My eyes!

My new favorite web site (and source for online friends), Ravelry, is holding the Ravelympics. To put it as simply as possible, you join a team(s), choose an item(s) to knit or crochet, enter that item(s) in the appropriate event(s), cast on during the Opening Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics (or sometime thereafter), knit or crochet like a fiend, then finish the item(s) before the end of the Closing Ceremonies. Whew. Just explaining it is tiring.

I decided to play and joined Team Motherhood Later than Sooner. I adore this group, which is made up of women who had children at 35 or older. We like to think of ourselves as “moms with more life experience than baby experience!” I entered the Scarf Stroke and chose a pattern called the Party Lace scarf. It is knit with Rowan Kidsilk Night, which is a lace weight mohair/silk blend shot through with a metallic thread. The scarf begins and ends with little Swarovski crystals knitted into the edge.

The pattern is very simple but knitting with this yarn is not! It's as though I went through the house collecting cobwebs (not that there are any in MY house) and knit with them. After only a few rows, my eyes start to burn and blur, and I risk dropping stitches. I have learned to knit in short, four row sessions and to run a lifeline after each set of four, so if I have to frog to fix a problem, I lose four rows at the most.

Whether or not I finish by Sunday is definitely in question, but that is okay...I will be done soon enough, and I will have a lovely little scarf to set aside to give to my hair stylist for Christmas. I adore the look of the scarf, but it will be a long time before I work with a yarn like that again. Besides, I need to get going on the scarves for the Special Olympics World Games!

She likes it!

My scarf exchange pal Sue did receive the scarf yesterday, and she likes it! She both posted on the Ravelry Scarf Exchange group forum and sent me a very kind email yesterday, telling me how much she likes the scarf. She said "Really, the scarf is so 'me', I could have knit it myself for sure! The pattern is lovely, the yarn is lovely, and I will wear it lots." She was also very appreciative of all the goodies. Yippee! I am so pleased!

Knit knit hooray!

With my first knitting project nearing completion, I ventured out to buy more yarn today. I have been peppering my friend Geri with questions about what type of project I should take on next. I know that I still need to knit with training wheels on until I get my balance and can take on more complicated patterns.

My thought is that I will next try another scarf. Since there are no yarn stores in my immediate area, I went to Jo-Ann. They have several aisles of yarn but there was no one available who could provide any real help. After browsing and fingering for a while, I finally settled on some fun fur yarn in lime green (one of my favorite colors) and also some thick chenille-like yarn in a muted coral color. Each type of yarn has a scarf pattern on the reverse of the label, so that will be helpful. Each scarf requires a different size of needles from each other and from what I have now, so I bought two more sets of needles. I am now set for at least a few more weeks!

The group of ladies with whom I learned to knit are getting back together with the instructor on Sunday. I plan to have my current scarf completely knitted by then; when I measured the other night I had about eight inches to go. I will either try binding off on my own or let Hannah (our instructor) show me. I am looking forward to seeing how everyone has done and to show off what I have accomplished so far.

When the scarf is complete, including fringe, I will post a photo here. So far, I am enjoying my new hobby and I am definitely getting better at it. Knit knit hooray!

My first Special Olympics scarf

Yesterday, I finished my first scarf for the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games Scarf Project:


I loathe the yarn but adore the project. The only good things I can say about the yarn is that weaving in the ends is easy because the yarn seems to grip itself, and that the colors do look good in contrast to each other.

I feel proud knowing that my scarf will adorn the neck of an amazing athlete. Hugs all around!

Scarves

It is warming up here in Georgia and I am still all about knitting scarves. As my upstream pal in the Ravelry scarf exchange, Christie, says: "You can make them as fancy or as plain as you want, but best of all they are finished in a matter of days (if you have the time or are a fast knitter)."

I finished a scarf several weeks ago that will be put aside for mailing to the recipient later:

It really looks lovely out on the deck!

I finally settled on a pattern for my downstream pal in the scarf exchange, Sue, and I am diligently working on it. I had started a scarf, got halfway finished and then decided that it looked like a hot mess, as Christian Siriano would say. I frogged it completely and set the yarn aside for a future project, and may already have a good pattern for it. I would mention the type and color of yarn but Aidan is in the other room muttering and banging around, so I am having difficulty maintaining a coherent train of thought!

Fuzzy wuzzy

Fuzzy wuzzy was a scarf - made by me! I finished another of my practice projects, a scarf made out of lime green fun fur. What an odd yarn to work with at first, but definitely fun. I have read comments by knitters that refer to fun fur as "dead Muppet fur" and I can understand why...it is fuzzy, fluffy, tickly and intense in color.

I wore my fuzzy wuzzy scarf this morning in the 28 degree weather. It certainly kept my neck warm and made a great contrast to my black leather coat. If I make another one like it, I will probably make it just a bit skinnier.

In the mail yesterday was two skeins of yarn that I ordered online, since the yarn is not sold by my local mass craft retailers. It is Brown Sheep Co.'s Lamb's Pride Bulky yarn in a gorgeous color called Aztec Turquoise...I can't wait to start working with it! I am going to make yet another scarf, but this one will be my first attempt at ribbing (knit 2, purl 2) and working with a wool yarn.

My friend Geri tells me that I am well on my way to being a knitting addict, and I suspect that she is right!

Not quite scarf weather

Evelyn received the scarf and sent me the nicest thank you: “The colors are just right, and the pattern is so pretty. I especially like the way the ends of the scarf are scalloped. It really amazes me that something so complex and pleasing can be crafted with just two 'sticks'. Thanks especially for taking so much time to make this. I look forward to wearing it when the weather gets a little bit cooler!"

She is going to have to wait quite a while for scarf weather...the forecasted high in Raleigh NC today is 99F!

The Tournament of Roses Parade scarf

My mother will be going out to Pasadena the end of the year with her friend/neighbor, Barbara, to see the Tournament of Roses parade. How fun! Mom and I are huge fans of the Tournament of Roses parade and watch every minute of the parade every year. In fact, Aidan knows it as one of the only two times during the year that we eat in the living room while watching television, the only other time being the Super Bowl.

I wanted to make Mom a fun little scarf to wear and since it won't be bitterly cold (hopefully) out there, I chose a short lacy scarf knit in a laceweight alpaca/silk blend. James suggested the color since it reminded him of a red rose, which is, of course, one of the symbols of the parade.

It was both a fast and easy knit, but it certainly does not photograph well!



There is more than enough yarn leftover as well as time, so I plan to knit another scarf for her traveling companion.

Autumn knits

When Aidan and I visited Mom in Knoxville, we had the pleasure of visiting The Yarn Haven. Not only is it a beautiful store with lots of yummy yarn, there are friendly and knowledgeable people to help and answer questions. I bought a hank of Malabrigo Twist, which is bulky weight 100% baby merino, in the Caribeno colorway. It is beautiful both to see and touch, and the store used the Malabrigo Twist for a store sample of the very pattern I had in mind, The Amanda Hat. The yarn and the pattern go together very nicely, and it was fun to knit.

I don't like to wear hats but recognize that with our winter weather, I need to wear them from time to time. My version of The Amanda Hat is gorgeous and I don't think I will mind wearing it one bit:


While at The Yarn Haven, Mom picked out some yarn for me to knit her a scarf. She bought a cute leopard print fleece jacket for fall and wanted a scarf to wear with it. Despite her usual objection to wearing orange, the colors of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, she picked out Jil Eaton Minnow Merino in a burnt orange colorway called Orangini. Before she came to visit us last month, I knit several inches of two different patterns and let her decide if she liked one of them. She chose The Morning Snack Scarf, which is an easy but pretty pattern. It knit up quickly and, if it ever stops raining, I will block it and send to her:


While looking through one of my yarn bins, I came across the yarn I used to knit candy corn hats last year. I decided that I needed to make another one for my young friend Julien, who lives around the corner from us. As always, the hat is cute but the recipient is even cuter:

Tada!

Yesterday I finished my very first knitting project. It is a scarf (in case that is not obvious from the photos) and it is about 6-1/2" x 64".

I am so proud of my little creation. Our knitting class got together again yesterday afternoon and Hannah (the knitting instructor) was very complimentary about my technique. I was the only student who had any real progress to show. I was also able to teach Hannah something she did not know, about the edge stitch that I ended up using to keep my ends neat and the width uniform. And it turns out that she uses a different method to bind off than the one that Geri mentioned and the one I learned off knittinghelp.com - I like the one I used better.

It was good because Hannah had us practice some basic stuff some more, showed us how to weave in the ends, yada yada yada. Last evening, I added the fringe and tada! When I showed A the finished scarf this morning, he told me that he was proud of me...how sweet.

I have started on my next scarf, which uses a chenille-like yarn knit with two strands on size 19 needles. It is going to be really soft and fluffy, but those big needles feel really awkward right now - like knitting with baguettes!

Quick knits

One of my knitting friends describes herself as a "dreadfully slow" knitter, which also describes me. My tortoise-like knitting speed is one of the reasons that I have thus far avoided large projects, such as garments, and I always appreciate a quick, almost instant gratification project.

I recently completed two such projects. The first is a very pink, very frothy scarf:




I made it out of Katia Triana Lux, which is mesh ruffle yarn. It is not knit like standard yarn but is knit only through an opening at one edge, thereby creating the ruffles. Although a simple garter stitch scarf, the yarn can be quite a pain to knit and woe to you if you drop a stitch - it is almost impossible to find!

I bought the yarn while on vacation in the Adirondacks at a store called Close Knit. There were several of the scarves on display and the friendly ladies in the shop were me how to work with the yarn. I intend to give it to my young friend Kennedy who, like many girls, adores the color pink. It is a cute scarf, but it will be a while before I work with that yarn again.

Yesterday (yes, yesterday - start to finish in one day) I made this fun little ornament:


It was knit with Patons Kroy Socks yarn and some #6 beads. The hardest part of the whole project was getting the beads onto the yarn (great fun when wearing bifocals) and getting the first few rows started. After that, it was a fun, quick project that I completed while watching the Temple-Penn State football game. Better that game than last night's Ohio State-Miami disaster; I would have thrown the entire project at the television in exasperation.

I do not knit socks but I adore the great colors and textures of sock yarn, so I seek out non-sock projects that use it. As soon as my eyes feel up to the challenge, I am going to string more beads (100 to be exact) on a different yarn and knit another ornament.

Windy Indy calorimetry

Look what I finished yesterday! It is called a calorimetry and it is essentially a combination of a head scarf and a hat, which allows people with long hair to keep their heads warm while still wearing their hair in a ponytail or just falling naturally without crushing their 'do. It fastens under the hair in the back with a button.

Even though I do not have long hair, I have been wanting to make one of these for quite a while (and even though I do not have long hair, I wear the calorimetry made for me by my friend Jennifer, because it does an awesome job of keeping my ears warm). I used the Malabrigo worsted yarn I had leftover from making the hat for my friend Laurel, and the color looks great with the pattern.

And look at this great button!


When I was at Sugarfoot Yarns a few weeks ago to buy some SWTC Bamboo for a scarf, I saw this button and knew that I needed this button for the calorimetry. It looks fabulous against that color.

So for whom is this lovely item? My friend Jane, who lives in Indianapolis where it can get quite cold and very windy. She does not know that I made this for her and I probably won't send it to her until fall (just who needs a wool head scarf in July?), so on the off chance that she reads this post, she will find out about it. That is okay by me; a surprise is surprise no matter when it occurs.

I really enjoyed knitting this pattern and would happily make it again. I just need to find a recipient - any volunteers?