One post. Entirely dedicated to a scarf.

Oh hey there,
What’s this?  Another post?  Are you kidding!  I thought you had homework!
Like I said, I knit til my fingers bled (metaphorically) this xmas break and I realized that there was just too much behind each gift to overload one giant post.

A scarf for Mr. wollstoneCRAFT’s mom!  NOTE: I LOVED THIS SCARF. I MAY MAKE A MATCHING ONE. Would that be weird maybe?

Kudos to Martha again… this one of the only patterns she has on her website, the Knitted Neck Scarf (creativity points for the title there, Marth).  There are dozens of iterations of this same style floating around the internet, so word to wise: don’t pay for one.  I liked this version since it used DK yarn (thinner than usual) and produced a very delicate scarf instead of something that would have been stiffer and bulkier.  This is of course up to you, but the donee of this scarf (yeah I just dropped the legal terminology for the recipient of a gift) likes wearing light scarves indoors, so this perfectly fit her MO (stop it with the legal allusions already).

Now we can talk about the YARN.
Boxing Day at Romni Wools back home in Toronto is an event to behold.  My friend Lauren (over at Needlework + Seedlings) arranged to meet at 9:30 to get in line for the 10:30 opening.  Does this make us weird people? Unsure.  Did it mean we saved 25% on everything in the store a.k.a. hella yarn? Yuuuuuup.  There are different approaches to the annual Romni sale: many go for quantity.  Some people admitted this was the only time of year they EVER bought wool, and so they were loading up the laundry baskets provided by the shop with tweeds and merinos for big items like sweaters and afghans.  These people are smart. They plan what they are going to make later in the year and stick to it.

I am not so smart.  I am a confessed ADD knitter who will think it would be really great to make that pair of gloves one day, but change my mind a few days later having already grown bored of that idea. It just ends up being lucky I didn’t go to a yarn store within that time frame.  I usually buy yarn before I have something to do with it because it’s so soft and pretty.  Essentially, a yarn is more likely to inspire me to make a type of item before a pattern inspires me to buy a certain type of yarn.  I’m pretty much like a magpie for yarn.  (Have been circling this stuff for a couple of weeks now.)

So when I can get a really beautiful and extremely soft and luxurious and usually expensive yarn for a bit less, you bet that’s what I do.  I’m of the opinion that a mega yarn sale is time for high quality stuff I wouldn’t dream of getting usually.  This is how I ended up with 2 skeins of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Suri and Silk in colorway ‘Grace’.  80% Baby Suri Alpaca,  20% Silk, 100% needitnexttoyourfacenow.  And what luck! It was in DK weight!  Lucky for sure because the minute I picked it up, the stuff was not leaving my hands.

Even though it was technically DK, this yarn was still very airy and knit a bit looser than the pattern probably called for.  But as I mentioned before, I wanted to go for a more dainty and aesthetic scarf then a thick wind-blocking one (like I am currently making for my mom in Ontario)  The lightness and the lacey-ness were welcome.  I also REALLY like the edging effect that slipping the last stitch instead of the first gives it.  This is a technique I’m going to use for other scarves to come.

Just for a closer look at the colorway:

Mmmm. It’s like a yummy rainbow made out of fibres.
None of you understand what that sentence really means to me.
-m.