tangled up

Scarf Season

Making scarves my office and travel project has been an innovation in my knitting life this fall. I'm more than halfway through a pretty Koigu number that uses the simple drop stitch pattern of the Alligator Wrap. And I've used up half of my Big Kureyon stash with these numbers:

At home, I'm still working on completing Perkins -- the end is definitely in sight -- and that just may become my weekend effort. I was supposed to leave Sunday for travel to three separate places and two of the three trips have been canceled, leaving me the weekend and the beginning of the week in DC. I've also completed the back of a sweater using Wool in the Woods mohair in Mystic Ridge -- I LOVE that yarn. The front band is complete, too, and I'm just starting the cable pattern -- big question for me is to I make it a crew neck as the pattern shows or go for the V neck that I originally had in mind. Looking forward to returning to Sheerly There too, but that is going to wait until after I've sewed up Lara. Lots of knitting to look forward too, lots more in my head, and I still need to plot out holiday presents. Takes the mind off politics, even fleetingly.

If a Tree Falls...

...in the forest and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? if I knit and don't blog about it, has it really happened?

My schedule has been tough again so far this week but I have gotten some knitting done. Haven't had time to take photos so I'll have to post them next time.

(1) Perkins is almost complete. Only the bottom edging band remains, plus weaving in all the ends, plus blocking it, plus sewing. Well, I said almost. I spent the afternoon at Woolwinders at Saturday hanging out and knitting. I did purchase a pile of Koigu, which will merit a photo when I get to it.

(2) The Big Kureyon multi-directional scarf that was my project at work is finished (there have been a lot of conference calls). It just needs blocking and ends woven in.

(3) I've started a scarf out of Koigu that will be a truncated version of the Alligator Wrap. I hadn't knit Koigu on size 3 needles before (I work the Charlottes on size 6), but it's going smoothly.

(4) Lara has benefitted from the World Series and I'm down to the final ribbed cuff. It has been a breeze to do.

On Sunday, I had a family occasion in Baltimore and looking on the map, there was a yarn store on my way home open on Sundays until 5. I don't know what it is with me and yarn lately, but I stopped by and fell in love with some mohair from Wool in the Woods. The colors are luscious. Now they're mine.

So Much Yarn...

So little time. Here's a photo of the three items that have arrived in the mail this week -- the Silk Garden, the Diarufuran and the Koigu Fancy. It's pretty easy to tell which is which.

The construction of the Diarufuran is really interesting -- it's chained. The color is truer in the photo above, but this gives a clearer sense of the texture:

And here are the gifts from my Secret Pal -- there's no way I'm giving that card away....

Last night during the game, I finished one Perkins sleeve and I'm halfway through the second. The knitting is going very quickly now, though I still dread weaving in the ends. Hope to finish the knitting this week, except for the edging around the bottom. My current idea is to weave in the ends, block each piece, sew it together, then do that last piece of edging so that it fits exactly right. As for the Big Kureyon scarf at work, it's halfway through, judging by the two-skein method.

Thank you Red Sox

Work has kept me in the office way too late, but tonight I intend to watch the whole baseball game, which means several uninterrupted hours of knitting!! And afterward, if the Red Sox can win in nine innings, then maybe a quick photo shoot to catch up for these last lost days.

Before I write about anything else, I need to send a shout out to my Secret Pal for yet another really thoughtful present. I can't emphasize enough how wonderful it is to come home from a grueling work day (and this particular day was worse because it was a Saturday, a Saturday night) to find an unexpected package. This time she sent two pads of personalized knitting notes and a keyring. When the camera comes out, they will be in the first shot. I didn't know what to expect from joining the Secret Pal 3 ring and my expectations have been more than fulfilled. I've gotten a great kick out of gifting and real pleasure out of receiving. Thanks very much, Kae.

I'm two rows from completing the first sleeve on Perkins. The second is 1/3 finished, and I should be able to make a lot of headway. I'm aiming for a trip up to Woolwinders on Saturday and would love to have the pieces complete by then. Planning on breaking my yarn diet for a Koigu binge -- they just got a big shipment and there's nothing like buying it in person. I haven't had too much luck with color matching online. Last weekend I tried to buy several colorways from Threadbear Fiber Arts by phone, but they never got back to me. Someday I'll have a chance to make the pilgrimage to Lansing...

Truth be told, I've broken the yarn diet several times. Diakeito envy after reading the Keyboard Biologist prompted me to order some Diarufuran from Kirtland's Yarn Barn in Dillwyn, Virginia and bid on some Diadrey on Ebay. The Diarufuran, which arrived on Monday, is amazingly soft. I can't wait to knit with it but will start nothing new until Perkins is complete. The stuff I really want, though, is Diamusee and no one local carries it. And Ebay is deadly -- I bought some Koigu boucle (if it's 1/2 as nice as KPPPM it will be heavenly) and Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge.

A few weeks ago I won Barbara/Fiberphile's film contest and the Silk Garden she sent me is beautiful. I'm pondering whether it might be used for a pair of thrummed mittens.

Now that I've had my little blogging fix, it's time to finish up and head home. Perkins here I come...

Big Kureyon

Last year I made a scarf out of Big Kureyon for my cousin's husband. It was really thick and substantial, but for some reason the striping didn't thrill me. Maybe it was colorway (very dark) or the pattern, a double moss stitch? I don't know. This year, I've used Big Kureyon I bought on sale at Stitch DC to make the Lucky Brand scarf, which still awaits blocking, and my new project at work, a multidirectional triangle scarf. I brought it home to take a quick shot of the WIP this morning b/c I love how the colors are working out:

I worked late last night and am headed in now, but I did complete the edging for the other Perkins sleeve and made a couple of inches progress on the sleeve itself. Maybe it will get done this weekend...