Thank You Scarves

I was able to visit with some extended family at the beginning of the year.  It was a great trip and I really enjoyed getting to visit with people that I love and don't get to see very often.  To thank them for their hospitality, I made two scarves - one for each of them.

RuThan's scarf used beautiful Malabrigo Twist yarn in the Piedras colorway.  The scarf was a free one that I found through Ravelry a while back.  It's called Fence Rows Scarf and can be found on this blog.

Tom's scarf was knit with bright, bold yarn from Virginia van Santen Painted Yarn, which is 100% merino wool.  I just used a simple shifting rib pattern, since the yarn provides a lot of color and texture on its own.

I hope they enjoy their thank you scarves!

Donated Scarves

One of my coworkers is a member of Rotary and she's heading up a big dinner event next month.  Part of it is a silent auction, so I donated two scarves to be bid on in the silent auction.

The first one was a merino wool scarf made with Punta yarns Merisoft yarn.

The second scarf was knit with Mochi Plus, which is 80% wool and 20% nylon.  I used a neat cabling pattern from one of my Vogue Stitchionaries.

I've asked my coworker to try to let me know how much they go for, but whatever the amount, hopefully they'll be a bit of help for a good cause!

Shawna's Dickie

When one of my new coworkers learned that I knit, she said that there was something she'd love for me to knit for her.  She has a motorcycle that she rides regularly (during the nicer part of the year), but her neck and top of her shoulders/chest/back keep getting cold, even though she has layers on.  She was wondering if I could knit some sort of dickie for her.

Fortunately, I was able to find a free pattern on Ravelry that was exactly what she was looking for - Basic Neckwarmer by Anna Hromova.  It's pretty simple except for when it calls for a 3-in-1 stitch, which I'd never heard of before.  Apparently it's also called a kyok (kint-yarn over-knit) and I was able to find a short video on YouTube that showed and explained how to do it.  Once I got that down, it moved along pretty quickly.

I bought a couple skeins of Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage in Thunderstorm colorway, although I only used a little bit of the second skein.  I probably wouldn't have needed it at all except that I knew I would need more than what the pattern called for since I would need the bottom part to be a little bigger.  Shawna insisted on paying for the yarn, so I only asked her to cover the first skein, since I still have most of the second skein to use on something else.

I was happy with how it turned out and Shawna was thrilled when she saw it.  She used it for the first time over Labor Day weekend on a day that was quite chilly, windy, and rainy.  She said it was perfect and kept her completely warm!  Another successful project!

Mom's Milkweed Shawl

After knitting a Milkweed shawl for myself, I decided that I liked the pattern so much that I wanted to knit one for Mom as a Mother's Day gift.  It took me a while to find the yarn I wanted to use, but I finally decided to use some sugar cane yarn that I had on hand.  Mom already has a sugar cane scarf that I made for her soon after learning to knit, but I know she likes it, so I just chose a different color.  Mom seemed really happy about it, so I hope she enjoys wearing it!

Birthday Yarn

For my birthday back in April, Mom sent me a few skeins of lovely Noro Chirimen yarn.  I was thrilled!  There was a shawl pattern I'd found a while back and had set aside, not having the right yarn for the project yet.  The pattern is called Milkweed Shawl, which I found through Ravelry.

I decided the use the Milkweed pattern for this Noro yarn.  I got so into it that I completed the project quicker than I usually do!  I ended up running out of yarn a few rows before the end of the pattern, but I was close enough to the end that the pattern still looks good.  I love how this shawl came together with the yarn!

Lettuce Knit

A couple months ago I completed a scarf made from one skein of Socks that Rock!  It's a colorway called "Lettuce Knit" and the colors just make me think of spring and Easter.

I gave it to Mom as part of her birthday gift last month.  She loves the pattern, which is called Alternating Diagonals and is part of the Vogue Stitchionary Vol. 1.  It's a pattern I've used a few times because it's great at providing texture to colorful yarn.  I hope Mom enjoys it!!

Just Sleeves

A while back I was talking to my Aunt Kelly about if there was anything I could knit for her that she would want and use.  She said sleeves!  There are times when her arms get cold, but putting on a sweatshirt or something makes her too warm.  She just needed sleeves.  So that's what I did!  I used Dream in Color Classy yarn in a mix of red and black, since those are colors that Kelly likes.  I made the sleeves in a simple K2, P2 rib about 13 inches long. This picture was with one sleeve finished and the other nearly finished.

First Ever Clothing!

Last week I finished my first ever knitted garment!  I chose something fairly simple for my first piece of clothing, so I purposely wanted something without sleeves.  It took me a long time to complete this project because I kept setting it aside to work on other things, but I was thrilled to finally finish it.  I used Cascade 220 and the pattern is called Cherry Bomb.  Here I'm showing it off at River City Yarns!

Mochi Plus Scarves in Oklahoma

Last month I sent two scarves to my Great Aunt Lois in Oklahoma.  I told her to keep one and give the other to her daughter Stephanie.  They were made from the same yarn (Mochi Plus) and the same colorway (567), but I used different patterns for them, both found in Vogue's Stitchionary Vol. 1.  Here they are!

Phil's Scarf

Almost everything I've made so far has been for women.  I bought some yarn back in September in Dallas that has nice "masculine" colours.  I bought three skeins of lovely Mochi Plus at Yarn & Stitches, so if you're ever in the area, check out the store!

I'm only about a third of the way into the scarf, but I asked my brother if he'd like it, and he said yes!  I haven't knit anything for him yet, so I'm excited to complete this for him.  Here's how it looks!

Sebastian's Hat

Last month I knit a little baby hat.  My cousin Lorrin gave birth just last week to her first baby, Sebastian, and the hat was for him!  I thought it turned out nicely, especially since this was my first experience with cables!

And here's a picture of a week old Sebastian wearing the cap!

New Yarn

There is a yarn I bought a couple skeins of back in August, some beautiful Manos Maxima.  It feels so wonderful and the colours are really nice.  Here's a photo of the lovely scarf I made from it:

Initally, this was the only colour of Maxima that the LYS had in stock, but they finally received several more colours.  I bought two skeins each of three gorgeous colours:

I can't wait to knit with them!

Malabrigo Hat & Scarf for Jiffy

As I mentioned in my last post, I was almost finished knitting a hat and scarf from Malabrigo yarn. They're now finished and I've even found a home for them! They will soon be sent to live with one of my best friends, Jiffy. Here are a few pictures of the finished products as I was modelling them!

First Socks & Almost Hat

I took a workshop in May to learn how to knit socks.  I finished my first pair last week and finally wove in the ends a couple days ago.  So here's the first pair!

I recently finished a scarf made from Malabrigo yarn and I had enough left over to make a hat. I think the colours in this yarn are so beautiful!





I'll be selling this hat and the matching scarf when it's all finished, so stay tuned!!

Merino Wool Scarf For Sale!

I recently finished a lovely merino wool scarf knit with Punta Yarns Merisoft yarn.  It's hand-dyed yarn, so the colors are quite varied but still muted.


The stitch pattern creates a double-sided scarf, so there are two different "looks" to it. This pattern also creates a fairly thick fabric, so it's great for cold weather!


To give you an idea of how it looks on, here it is on me!


The cost of the scarf is $35, which is to cover the cost of the yarn and the cost of mailing it to whoever buys it. The first person to comment here that they want the scarf will be the lucky buyer!!

Edit: This scarf has now been donated and is no longer available for sale.

Mom's Birthday Gift

When Mom came to visit at Christmas, I asked her to look at a little book of shawl patterns that I have.  She made notes on a few that she thought she might like, so I knitted one for her birthday last month!  It's a Pocket Shawl made with alpaca yarn.  So here a couple pictures of me modelling Mom's shawl before I sent it to her:



This was my silly "artistic" photo:

Hitchhiker

A couple weeks ago I completed a project I'd been working on and was really excited about it.  It's a shawlette called the Hitchhiker.  It's a pattern that can be purchased at Ravelry for a few dollars.  It looks great and it's unique.

I was really looking forward to wearing this to work.  But when trying to wrap it around my neck, it just doesn't seem to lay right.  So far, I haven't figured out a way to wear it in a way that I like.  I'm hoping I can sort something out soon.

Baby Alpaca Scarf 2

Just today I finished weaving in the ends for my baby alpaca scarf.  I really love the feel of it, and I finished it in time for a serious cold snap!

Finished Cotton Supreme Scarf

I finished this scarf earlier this week. I'm thrilled with how it turned out and have been wearing it the last few days. It's soft and colourful and I love it!

First Cotton Supreme Scarf

Except for weaving in the ends, I've finished the two scarves I was working on for my co-workers.  I blogged about them in my last post.  I'm really pleased with how both of them turned out, and it's going to be hard to wait to actually give them their gifts!

My aunt Cyndi in California sent me two skeins of Cotton Supreme yarn a couple weeks ago.  She said she knew it got cold up here, and she thought I'd like to make a scarf for myself!  I'd never felt Cotton Supreme before.  It's so soft, it doesn't really even feel like cotton!  The two skeins she sent were "Eggplant" colour.  It was a great colour, but I really like using verigated yarns or somehow having more than one colour in a project.  The only real exception I've found to that, so far, is if I'm making something with a real pattern.

So I found a couple yarns to pair with each of the Cotton Supreme skeins.  The first one is a skein of Mini Mochi, a beautiful merino wool yarn.

I'm just doing garter stitch, switching yarns every two rows.  I'm really happy with how it's looking so far!

Christmas Presents

I'm knitting two scarves for my manager and my other team member at work.  I really like how they're coming along.  The first one is pink alpaca.  I'm just doing a shifting rib stitch pattern; every 12 inches I shift the ribbing (K2, P2) over by one stitch.

I'm also knitting a merino scarf out of Ella Rae yarn.  It's a relatively simple pattern that involves increasing and decreasing and using two different sized needles.

Baby Alpaca Scarf

I recently purchased a couple skeins of Luxury Collection Baby Alpaca yarn.  It's deliciously soft!

At first glance it just looks kind of brown, but when you really look at it, it's actually got various colours to it, greens and reds and such.  


I'm making a scarf for myself and it's just ribbing.  I tend to think that when knitting with alpaca, ribbing seems to allow you to really feel the softness of the fibre the best.

Robin's Scarf

I recently finished a scarf for my cousin Robin.  I used a pattern that I found in Volume One of Vogue's Stitchionary, the Double Stockinette Stitch (#208 if you're looking in the book).  It creates a double-faced pattern.  I used Merino Wool yarn from Virginia van Santos.  It's beautiful hand-dyed yarn; I loved the colours!  Here's how it turned out:

New Yarn

I bought new yarn on Monday. The first one is for a tank top that I'm going to be knitting. It's Cascade 220 Heathers, so it's 100% Merino Wool.

I also bought six skeins (two of each colour) of Cadenza yarn, which is 80% Superwash Merino wool and 20% Tussah silk.  These colours were so beautiful I just had to buy them even though I don't know what I'll be making with them yet!

Welcome to my blog!

I finally decided to start up a blog for my knitting, and this is it. So welcome! Like my knitting, it'll be a work in progress, so I ask you to bear with me as I figure out what all I'm going to do with it. Thanks for visiting!