Some kinds of helping...

Now that the weather is too warm to actually wear it, I am getting around to hemming my purple dress. Kitten is helping. Final photos t/k.

Gatsby grows

Knitting in the round is like growing out my curly hair -- it takes twice as long to see the progress. Circles, you know?

Here is Gatsby Girl as of this morning.

Birthday Scarf

My friend, R, the recipient of the indigo scarf was kind enough to participate in photographing the finished item for le blog.

Here is a modeled photo of the scarf in action. It's still cold here, and this was a definite scarf weather day. My friend has an extremely stylish coat, and I was pleased to see the scarf holding its own in the ensemble.



The above is probably the best photo overall, but here is a closeup of the center of the scarf, which was grafted together for symmetry. I did not want to knit the scarf all in one piece and end up with three points on one end and two on the other. I wanted both ends to match and to meet in the center. I am not the best grafter in the universe but I do okay. I don't think that my friend can probably tell it's there. Each side is about 10 sections of garter chevron ending with three ridges of garter. On the first one I added two rows of plain st st, one row of st st with 4 large bobbles evenly spaced within it, and another row of st st. On the second one I ended with three ridges of garter and then grafted the live stitches to the live stitches at the end of the first piece.



And here is the scarf flat and folded, which shows that symmetry on the two matching ends.



I was quite pleased with how this scarf turned out. When planning for it I knew that I wanted to do something different from the usual plain garter or ribbing, but I also didn't want it to be ugly on the wrong side. Lace was not appropriate for either the yarn or the personalities involved. This stitch worked out beautifully, because on the wrong side of the scarf it simply looks like reverse stocking stitch. There are no weird depressions or crossed stitches like you get with cables or many decorative stitch patterns based on knit and purl. Also, because of the interspersed garter stitch in this pattern it does not curl. This was a very satisfying project, quick to knit but with enough creative thinking to keep it interesting. I may have to make a similar one for myself in that gorgeous seaweed color I love so much...


FINAL SPECS FOR INDIGO SCARF:
YARN: The Fibre Company, Terra in Dark Indigo (60% merino, 20% alpaca, 20% silk). Beautiful, soft, elegant, lovely yarn.
NEEDLES: US 8 bamboo straight needles
TIME: A couple of weeks in the midst of other projects.
DESIGN: 2 garter chevron stitch panels grafted in the center and separated by a ridge of large bobbles. Slipped stitch knit edge with one vertical purl row before pattern begins.

PS I had almost no yarn leftover from this project, but you can see a small contribution was made to the Mallard, where it adds luminosity to the eyes.

Three of a Perfect Pair

It's natural to desire a mate...



It's usually best, however, to find a mate who is complementary -- rather than *exactly* the SAME...



Sometimes I really surprise myself with my own spaciness. I can't believe (and yet I can, I can) that I knit the whole entire second mitten without realizing it was another left hand. Hm. The question now is whether to frog or just press on and make 4. It's a good small project for the train and gatsby will soon be impractical for commute-knitting. I think some lucky person is getting nice, alpaca mittens that match mine for Christmas ;-)

Gatsby progress

I've cast on in the round for the body of the Gatsby Girl pullover. The ugly teal at the bottom is my provisional cast on so that I can hem up the live stitches when finishing. The 1x1 ribbing is not my favorite to knit, but it looks nice in this pattern and is broken up by the cables. So far this pattern is pretty simple to knit, but slow going with the dk yarn and size 3 needle... I am still so in love with the Rowan Wool Cotton and this lovely putty color that I am perfectly content.



Here's a close up that shows the beginning of the cables:



Loverly!

Great Honk!

Look -- it's a sign of spring...



...or me just being silly.

Here's another shot with less direct light, where we can see some of his features better.



A fun break from the usual in any case, this little duck comes from the book World of Knitted Toys, which contains lots of adorable little creatures from around the world. In addition to the mallard, I particularly fancy the turtle and the wombat.

FINAL SPECS FOR MALLARD:
MATERIALS: various odds and ends of worsted weight yarn from my stash. 2 pipecleaners for feet. stuffing.
NEEDLES: 2 US #4 dpns w/ stoppers on the ends.
TIME: A couple of weeks in the midst of other projects. Could be done in an afternoon.
MODIFICATIONS: I used a heavier yarn than was called for, hoping to minimize show-through of the stuffing. In the future I would knit this in the round on dpns rather than seaming with 6 different colors(!)