FO/FF: Sunset scarf

Pattern: Morning Surf Scarf by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer
Yarn: My handspun, superwash merino from Crown Mountain Farms, "Sunshine of Your Love", ~125 yds
Needles: US 8/5.0 mm
Start/finish: 1/15-1/17/09. Fast, fast, fast.
Comments: The colors of the yarn reminded me of Tucson sunsets, hence the title. The yarn was bulky (~10 wpi), so I cast on 26 stitches for a scarf that ended up about 6 inches wide.

I also found that my dropped stitches were really long, so I decreased one yarnover for each dropped stitch (i.e. I did yo, double yo, triple yo, double yo, yo instead of the pattern as written). The finished scarf is 6 x 78 inches - plenty long enough to wrap several times around my neck, or double over and pull the ends through.

My attempt to blend the white sections of top with more saturated bits did not work out perfectly. You can see that the end of the scarf on the left was from the skein that had more of the white in it, and the right side is from the skein that had the deeper colors, but it's not terribly obvious when the scarf is on.

One thing that I liked that came out of the spinning method I choose was the almost-tweedy look to some of the singles, where I had multiple colors in one strand, that when plied together came out looking almost mottled. I like how those sections knit up alot - the fabric has a lot of depth and interest to it.

The colors are perfect for dark, grey winter days. Unfortunately, winter in Houston seems to be over - it was in the upper 70s today and just stunningly beautiful - so this scarf may not see much us until next winter. Which I hear starts in September or October across the pond. So hopefully by then I'll be well supplied with scarves and hats and suchlike.

The Christmas presents

Here they are, in all their glory. Some of these have been blogged previously, but in the interests of not having a pages-long post, I've included more notes on the Flickr pages for those of you who are interested.

Ironman's socks

Crofter's Cowl #1

Brambler for Nana

Socks originally meant for Ironman, but reallocated to my lovely brother-in-law, who had no problems with the color

Diamond Waffle socks for my brother

Red Velvet handspun for my SIL

Another Crofter's Cowl for Koala

Sunflower hat for Mermaid

Not pictured are the Jacques Cousteau hat I made for my Dad (maybe someone will email me a picture perhaps?), and the super-secret project for Aquaphilic that will be going in the mail tomorrow. Just in time for her birthday. And no, it's not yarn this year.

Here's the last Christmas present, and it's not one that I made. This is one that my mother made for Ironman and me, to go with the beautiful cherry bed he made about four years ago.

This is the Mariner's Compass quilt* that she's been working on for the last while. It is absolutely gorgeous. She wanted to make us a quilt, and asked for colors. I said "blues and purples", and this is what she came back with. It is truly stunning, and I can't wait for it to arrive and get put on the bed (even if the edges aren't yet done).

So that's it for the Christmas knitting. Up next will be some thoughts about projects for 2009. 

* Many of the pictures in this post were taken with my Christmas present. Hooray for Ironman!

FO: Blueberry Brambler

Pattern: Brambler by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Handspun wool, dyed at Halcyon Yarns, ~4 oz, 240 yds, 12-14 wpi, singles spun on a Golding 1.4 oz handspindle, plied on wheel at 10:1.
Started/Finished: June 21/July 16, but not blocked until 8/21 (!)
Commments: Anne wrote in her blog about how addictive this pattern was, and she wasn't kidding! I raced through most of this in just a few days, ran out of yarn while in New England, and had to wait to get home to spin up the 0.3 ounces I had left. It made just enough yarn for 38 repeats of the pattern instead of the recommended 36.

The only thing I would change, in retrospect, is the cast on/cast off. I cast on with the backwards loop method, hoping for a loose edge, and bound off with my usual lace/sock cuff bindoff. To say they don't match would be an understatement. So the next time I make this scarf (and there will definitely be a next time), I'll put a bit more thought into matching the two edges.

Kudos to Anne for a beautiful and extremely well written (as always)  pattern!

More shots:

Boo likes it too...

Do blueberries have thorns?

While I was at my conference, I took a couple of projects to work on, but the one that kept me knitting obsessively between sessions was Brambler by Anne Hanson at knitspot.

This pattern is beyond addictive,as Anne kindly noted in her blog posts. It's a six row repeat, over 37 stitches, so it's pretty easily memorized. This is the first lace I've done that was worked on both the right and wrong side rows, but it's so straightforward that you don't need the chart after a while. And since it's done in fingering weight yarn, it is zooming along.

I'm at 33 out of 36 repeats when disaster strikes:

I'm going to run out of yarn. And I didn't bring the spindle and the rest of the roving with me. So this beautiful scarf, that I am having so much fun knitting and is going to be so fabulous once it's blocked, will have to wait until I get home and can whip up some more yarn. Damn! I am not into this delayed gratification.