Off the Needles

My vertical stripy scarf is now off the needles... and onto the dog!

What a little fox.

She wouldn't go outside this morning because it was raining, so I might just have to make her a little raincoat and some rain boots as well!

It's just the perfect length for me, or for a fencepost.

And much softer than bark...

Can you tell that I like living somewhere where there's trees and grass and doggies and backyards? :)

On the Needles

If you recall, I bought some beautiful yarn three weeks ago, in three lovely colours. The colours weren't officially named, but I call them "Peanut Shell", "Santa Fe Adobe" and, um, "Dark Blue".

I've been knitting it up into a scarf... a slightly unusual vertically striped scarf, so I'm using circular needles for the first time.

Just the dark blue stripe to do, then it's done!

It's all garter stitch, which is lovely and easy, and twelve rows of each colour. But... I cast on 250 stitches, and had a bit of a tail left still, so I kept casting on a little longer, and I'm not sure exactly how many stitches I ended up with.

More than 250.

Less than 500.

I know that much!

Anyhow, I'm liking the colours together, and am very excited to see how it'll look off the needles, and how long it'll end up being! But, in my mind, a scarf can never be too long, (you just keep wrapping it round your neck, right?!) so I'm hopeful it'll be a success!

Hassleless Tassels

I've finally put the tassels on that fisherman scarf I started a few weeks ago, and I'm really very happy with how it looks.

The mohair ends remind me of suede elbow pads on tweed suits...

It is long enough that Justin can actually wear it now, and hey, it looks pretty good on Bella, too! (Although she does like to chew on those tassels... I wonder if the fact that they're mohair attracts her!)

It really wasn't too hard, either. If I'd thought of adding the mohair ends before I knitted the main part of the scarf, it would have been easier, but for a mistake, it worked pretty well to simply go back to the start, pick up the cast-on stitches, and add the ending and tassels.

The only way you'd really know I did this is that the stocking stitch is running the other direction at one end... but I would bet you anything that Justin won't ever notice that!!

Oh, and a good guide to tassel-making, if you're not familiar with it, is here!

Off to the vet today for Bella's first physical, and then I'm going to finish a new design I've been working on: Sporty Betsy! I plan to sell tennis and golf themed Betsy cards at sports clubs and so on... so we'll see how that goes!

Shortie Fisherman Scarf

This was supposed to be my on-the-road project: a scarf for Justin to wear fishing. The yarn is actually three yarns rolled up together, which gives it this lovely multi-coloured effect. A bit like tweed, a bit like camoflague! I love it:

Unfortunately, I only bought two skeins. (EVERY other project I've done, I've had a whole extra ball left over, so I was frugal!)

It was on special sale, so when I went back today, and they had no more.

Eek!

I've used up all the yarn I have, and it's only this long:

Which, on Justin, just goes round his neck, with nothing to spare. So, I'm getting creative. Problems like this are how the best new ideas are born, right? Well, that's what I'm telling myself!

What I'm going to do is add onto the ends in this lovely brown mohair mix:

It's very 'tweedy' too, and will bring out the browns quite nicely, I hope. I'm really not sure the added stripes will look okay, but I'll try it! Nothing to lose, right? Give it some long tassels, too, and it'll be much longer in no time!

Beaver in a Bow Tie

What happens when you leave a beaver alone with the moving boxes for an hour?

She's been feeling a bit cheeky ever since I made her that little red bow tie. It was meant to go on her head (so that everyone stops thinking she's a boy beaver) but she kept slipping it off, so it ended up going round her neck. Very dashing!

I've been out, scouting the local knitting shop. Thus far, I've only been buying my yarn from Michael's (and the first few from the infamous 'Peter Jones' in London! Ooh la la!) and it was such a treat to walk into Kiwi'sKnitting company in Tucson, Arizona, today and see colour! All colours! I walked around for a while with a gorgeous spotty muted pink (which reminded me of raspberry ice cream), then I switched it for a lovely eco-friendly banana yellow, then I switched that for a so-soft alpaca grey on sale, then I put that back and got these:

(Please excuse the moving boxes... it's the only backdrop I have right now!)

It's Peruvian Kettle-Dyed Cotton, made by Manos del Uruguay, and I think it's the new love of my life. So soft, lovely earthy colours, and it's got this wonderful natural wave to it. The lady in the shop asked me what I planned to make with it, and I told her,

"To be honest, I really just want to wear it as it is!"

After which she kind of gave up on helping me and disappeared into the backroom!

I do want to make something... and that something is almost defintely going to be a scarf. A striped scarf. I'm just wondering whether to do a normal horizontal repeating stripe, or try a vertical stripe. I think big blocks look best with special colours... hmmm. You know, with three of these skeins, I've probably got enough to try it both ways! When in doubt, avoid choosing! :)

Yes, so that is what I'll be doing on our 18 hour road trip to Texas... (Justin says I'm not allowed to drive the U-Haul... which is probably a good idea) or for as many as hours as my fingers can take it! Endurance knitting... can I go the distance?

Crochet Yourself Jaunty

As if I didn't have enough projects on the go, I've decided to teach myself to crochet!

(Nevermind the fact I've only done one-and-a-half woolly slippers, nevermind the semi-finished painting and paints sprawled across my floor, nevermind the rubber stamps and inks on my desk, along with a half-made birthday card for my grandma, nevermind all that! I want to learn something new!)

While I was in England a month ago, my grandma gave me a set of crochet hooks that used to belong to my great-aunt. We only stayed with her for a night or two, so we didn't have time for a quick lesson, and I came back to the US with my hooks and a plan to learn how to use them later down the road... but... yesterday, I got a parcel, and in it was this beauty:

A beginner's guide to crochet from, I'm guessing, the 1970's! (A lot of the models look like they could have been in ABBA) It's all the knitted-waistcoat, brown-and-orange, loose-and lacy fun you could hope for!

However, I'm not really 'hooked' yet... it's hard. The instructions are all right-handed, of course, and I haven't really gotten the hang of it well enough yet that I can turn it round and use my proper hand. I do like it, and I'll keep trying, but so far, I'm not blown away.

The best bit, really, is reading through the 'First Steps in Crochet' pattern descriptions. Some of the phrasing, I just love. They use the word 'jaunty' like it's going out of style... ah, yes, I guess they predicted that one. Here are some of my faves:

• 'Try this zippy fashion idea' (The idea was to have scarves you could wear all year round... so another good prediction)
• 'Snappy accesories strike a chic fashion note'
• 'Curved stripes on a teapot cosy make this gay rainbow design'
• 'Next stage-- make a jaunty beret!'

I showed it to Justin, and said that perhaps I'd make him a dashing little tie:

... but his reaction was less than impressed. At least he admitted he wouldn't wear it before I bothered making it!

But yes, my goal is to make something similar to this wonderful scarf I saw the other day, by missindie (who just has the most fantastic range of crocheted beauties... necklaces, scarves, glovey-type-things):

Gorgeous! I love the three colours, I love the twists. I love that it would look amazing with almost anything, in any season. Okay... maybe my goal is to try and fail at making it, so that I can justify buying it. But shhhh... don't tell me that! I have to try first.