More Mobius

I recently wrote about a scarf I was trying to knit.
http://shenandoahgatewayfarm.blogspot.com/2014/06/mobius-scarf.html

 

I managed to get the amount knitted before I had to connect the scarf. 

 

The technique to sew the scarf together where you can't see the seam is called a Kitchener stitch.  It looked a bit complicated and all the directions were based on connecting purl stitches or knit stitches.  This is a ribbed scarf with both purl and knit stitches.  great

Back to Yarn Explosion.  They helped me remove the gray yarn I used to start the scarf, but along the way, two stitches disappeared.  We all spent quite some time trying to find them.  I finally took the piece home and unknitted two rows.  Is unknit a word?  Yes.  It is because I said so.

This isn't as easy as unknitting two rows from the top.  There you just remove the knitting needle and pull the tail of the yarn.  I had to literally unknit and then carefully use a tapestry needle to pull through the yarn.  A very painstaking process.  But it worked and I found the two dropped stitches and re knit the two rows.

Now I am back where I started and I need to go BACK to the yarn shop. But that is an excursion, so I decided to start another yarn project. 

 


This time it is a knitted lace cowl pattern.  I found a beautiful yarn with lots of colors.  It should match SOME outfit or other!

 

The pattern seemed like an easy one, but it kept twisting as I cast it on and then when I knit a row or two it wouldn't work.  Undo the knitting. Start over.  I did this about three times before looking up another method of casting on the stitches. 

 

So I KNIT the stitches on the needle.  I am not sure I like the look of the edge, but it didn't twist, so it is staying!!

 

I have never knit in the round before.  After you cast on the stitches you start knitting from the top of the row to the bottom of the row to connect them.  Then you just keep knitting until you have enough rows.  I have a marker that lets me know when I have finished a row and I just slip it from the left hand needle to the right hand needle and keep going.

 

I may finish this second scarf before I get back to the yarn shop for help in finishing the first scarf.  Then I have another scarf I am going to try.  I have two daughter and one daughter-in-law.  And a mom.  Guess what they will be getting for Christmas?  So this won't be a surprise for them.  If you have a preference, girls, let me know!

 

One More Project

Every year we ask our grown children for a list of things they want for Christmas.  We don't want to buy them a book they already have or get them clothes that don't fit or they don't like.  We buy a few things off the list and a few other things and a great time is had by all.

Getting lists from is sometimes a problem.  I DO NOT participate in any mall shopping the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I don't need anything badly enough to suffer through that type of madness.  By the time I got the lists, it was well into December.

I have gotten a good start, but one thing caught my eye.  It seems my favorite (and only, at this time) son-in-law has lost a hand made scarf given to him by a friend and he may want another one.  I didn't know if I had time to finish one before Christmas, so the plan was to buy a scarf.  But I really wanted to make him one.

I don't make hand made things from yarn at discount stores.  If I make something and put all those hours in, I want some great yarn.  That means I have to plan  trip into Roanoke, to the closest yarn shop I know, Yarn Explosion.  It is an old house converted to rooms full of amazing yarns. 

 

It also means I need to get a simple pattern that will work up quickly.  Who wants a foot long scarf? I found one with just knit and pearl, so that I really don't need the pattern  But I may want to make the hat and the salesperson was so nice and helpful.  I bought the pattern.

 

One thing that worries me is it calls for blocking wires to press the scarf.  I have never pressed anything I have knit or crocheted.  I'm hoping I can get away without doing that.  Does any knitter out there have any suggestions?

 

I picked out a yarn I liked, but they didn't have enough for the scarf and it was too close to Christmas to get more.  Then I found some llama indigo yarn mixed with linen and silk.  It is soft and has interesting nubs and bits of other color from a natural cream to black.

 

The nice thing is it has wisps of fibers mixed in with the yarn, so you can't tell if I knit in some cat hair by mistake.  And I will.  You know I will, right?

I started when we got home and I spent a couple of hours getting a decent length to see if I was going to like it as a scarf.  Then I rubbed it on my bare arms to make sure it was soft and not itchy.  No point in making up the whole thing and end up with something too scratchy.

 

After two evenings of work, I think I can finish before Christmas.  At least I can put the unfinished piece in a bag and finish it before they go back to England.  Where you really need a scarf in winter.  And spring.  And fall.  Hardly ever in summer.