delicious yarn

I found a store that sells beautiful yarn. It's called Sunshine Yarns. The ones I love the most are sold out, but it seems they will order more if you are interested. The second from the bottom of the picture above is called Cherry Blossom and it's brilliant!

Irish Hiking Scarf

I happened to find a cool blog today and wanted to share: Knitalong

This is a pattern posted on the site and I wanted to keep it so that I could remember it for later.

approx. 350 yards of worsted weight yarn
size 8 US needles and a cable needle or one double pointed needle
(Feel free to use chubbier yarn and/or larger needles to make a giant scarf. It will look just as lovely!)
Finished size, approx. 5 ½" x 55"

Cast on 42 stitches.

Row 1. (WS) K2, P2, K2, P6, K2, P2, K2, P6, K2, P2, K2, P6, K2, P2, K2
Row 2. (RS) K4, P2, K6, P2, K2, P2, K6, P2, K2, P2, K6, P2, K4
Row 3. (WS) repeat row 1
Row 4. (RS) repeat row 2
Row 5. (WS) repeat row 1.
Row 6. (RS) repeat row 2.
Row 7. (WS) repeat row 1.
Row 8. (RS) K4, P2, C6F, P2, K2, P2, C6F, P2, K2, P2, C6F, P2, K4

Repeat these rows to desired length, ending on row 7. Bind off.

Key:

C6F = Slip 3 sts. onto a cable needle and hold to front of work. K3, then K the 3 sts. off cable needle.

things to come

I have plans to make Spring Kane a scarf for Christmas as well. It will probably be a ribbed striped scarf. The feature of the scarf will be the yarns. These are the yarns I will be using.

The yarn is Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted weight in 501 White Frost and TLC Heathers 2447 Lilac. I know Spring likes purple, so I tried to find a purple that was the same color as her wedding. Then the frost white is really pretty, it's shiny and girly and fabulous.

I'm also going to try to learn to make socks. I think first I should try to learn hats and mittens, but I checked out some books about sock knitting from the library and have been totally inspired by some socks I saw at All About Yarn and so I bought some cheaper yarn that's similar that I can practice on.

WIPs

This being my first post I want to blog about what I'm already working on. Right now I'm not the most experienced knitter, so all I've done are scarves, but I'm learning new techniques all the time. I also want to use this blog as a archive for myself so that I can keep track of what I made, how I made it, when I made it, and for who I made it for.

scarf 01
The first scarf I ever made was on my car trip out to California back in the summer of 2004. It's a simple seed (garter) stitch. Knit for every single row until desired length. I used a really cheap yarn and size 8 needles. I've since lost those needles. This picture also shows you my new needle carrier. I found it at an antique store in Rogers, MN and fell in love.

scarf 02
This next scarf I made soon after the first one because I wanted to experiment with cables. I used Lion Brand Yarn Wool-Ease worsted weight in Oxford Grey 152. I used needles size 8.
Pattern:
Gauge 9 sts = 2 in and 6 rows = 1 in
CO 36 sts
row 1-5: knit
row 6: knit
row 7: k5, p9, k1, p6, k1, p9, k5 (purl)
row 8: k5, k9, p1, k6, p1, k9, k5 (knit)
row 9: repeat row 7 (purl)
row 10: k5, k9, p1, c6b, p1, k9, k5 (cable row)
row 11: repeat row 7 (purl)
row 12: repeat row 8 (knit)
row 13: repeat row 7
row 14: repeat row 8
row 15: repeat row 7
row 16: repeat row 8
row 17: repeat row 7
row 18: repeat row 10 (cable)
repeat rows 11-18 until measuring 71" end on right side
knit 5 rows
BO
add fringe if desired

scarf 03
Then for about two years I stopped knitting. I tried to teach my mom hoping that maybe we could knit together, but she didn't like it very much. Then this fall 2008 I started playing around again. I went and bought a whole bunch of Vanna White's Vanna's Choice 100% acrylic yarns in fun bright colors. I worked on new knit, purl patterns and then I started playing around with using more than one yarn. This scarf was my first attempt at stripes. It's for my husband because it matches his hat. The pattern is very simple

CO 40
row 1: knit
row 2 purl
repeat until desired length.

The trick here was learning how to switch yarns. I use the book Teach Yourself Visually: Knitting it is a fabulous book! I feel like every knitter should have a reference guide this good. For this scarf I used size 9 needles, and colors Terracotta and Mustard. Also note that this type of stitch likes to curl on the edges. This is good if you want that look, however, I'm going to have to block this scarf so that it's a wide as I wanted it for my husband.

scarf 04
This scarf I'm making for Jen Cromer for Christmas. I absolutely love the yarn and pattern for this scarf. It's a reversible cable that I found on Knit Cafe. I'll rewrite the pattern just encase the link every disappears. First though, I used 2 skeins Lion Brands Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in color sky blue (#106). I'm using size 13 needles.

CO 20 sts
row 1-11: k1, p1 across entire row
row 12: c12b, k1, p1 to end of row
row 13-23: k1, p1 across rows
row 24: (k1, p1) 4 times, c12f
repeat rows 1-24 until desired length
BO

I will be sharing more patterns and completed projects in the future. If you have stuff you have made and what to share I'd love to hear about it!

~ keep on knitting~