This damn mistake rib scarf is never going to end, I think . . . I have one doubled ball of wool left to finish it, I think--I have more yarn than that, but I'm just so *sick* of it.

more pics

The red scarf, finished:



The brown scarf--one for texture:


one for colour:


And Brennan, when you get back from Belgium, I'm teaching you how to knit.

the soul of wit--no, the soul of doing things quickly

I finished the lovely red scarf--will post pics when I have the inclination. I'm awfully tired right now.

I've bounced back to the "thank you Prof" project. I'm knitting a mistake rib** scarf out of Paton's Bracken Tweed Double knitting yarn (holy crap, how can you tell that I have the tag this time?). It's 60% wool/40% acrylic, so it's softer than the 100% wool, and wears more easily, as well. It's a mottled light brown colour. Very Professor Thorpe, I think.

I've doubled it up for--not brevity. What's the word that I associate with brevity in my mind but isn't really related to it in an obvious way? Yeah, like you're going to know that--alacrity! There we go. I love the word alacrity. Very Jane Austen. Professor Thorpe is a 19th century specialist. I'm sure he'd like that I'm using such appropriate words.

I'm not too far into the scarf, but it looks very nice. I was a bit worried about the mistake rib initially, but the longer it gets the more I like it.

**Mistake Rib: CO a multiple of 4 minus one (i.e., 9x4=36, so you would cast on 35 stitches)
row 1: *k2 p2, repeat; k3 at end
Repeat this pattern till the scarf is a desired length.

sigh

This is the red scarf I spake of--it just doesn't want to translate to the medium of digital photography...


This is the best pic I got for colour, though it doesn't show the pattern too well.



...and this one's blurry. Sigh...anyhow, it's knitting up ridiculously fast because the wool is so thick. I'm half done already.

**Twin Rib:
CO a multiple of 6
row 1: *k3 p3 repeat
row 2: *k1 p1 repeat
repeat these two rows until scarf is desire length.

scarf 2

Here's Prof. Findlay's scarf finished--again, the colour's a bit off. It may seem a bit short, but I've found that wool scarves are so heavy that they stretch like you wouldn't believe. I made my friend a scarf out of the same wool, and now it's almost twice as long as it was.

pictures!

Some needy families are going to have some damn nice scarves--I've never even worked with mohair before!

the least of my brothers

No pics today--when I get to a USB port with my camera, I'll post the finished scarf. I opted against tassles, however, Brennan. I apologize. It just didn't seem to need them. btw, I love how into my knitting you're getting.

My lovely aunt brought over a bunch of wool and yarn for my "clothe the naked" project. Swambo and I think that once we have a critical mass of matching scarf and mitten sets, we're going to give them to Catholic Family Services downtown--it's a non-profit NGO which helps families get on their feet, be they refugees or simply in need of some assistance. We figure they'll go to the right place, then.

Right now I'm working on a Twin Rib scarf for the project, taking a brief hiatus from the "thank you profs" project. My yarn is thick one-ply red wool. It's 100% wool, so it's a bit scratchy, but it's knit loosely so it's not too bad. I'm not used to one ply, so I had a couple incidents where I pulled the yarn apart, but I've mostly gotten it sorted out now. It's working really well--very chunky and bright. Pics soon, I promise!

scarf 2

Scarf two! This one's for Professor Findlay, who wrote a letter of recommendation for my SSHRCC application--it's probably more straightforward than the last one, even: 26 stitches across, k1p1 in the bulk of the scarf--it's quite a bit longer now (this is two ounces to the ball pure wool--quite chunky, more rust, less orange coloured in real life--I'd give you more info, but there isn't any. My dear departed Nana ordered this stuff from Scotland on a whim).


There is detailing at the end: 4 rows of k1p1, one row of eyelet, three rows of k1p1, one row of eyelet, repeat. It's not an obvious pattern, but it's this sort of detailing which makes a plain scarf look a bit cooler:


I am contemplating fringes currently. I've not made up my mind yet.

scarf 1, part 2

This is the finished project. I decided to go knitstar on the fringes, which means I put them in one at a time instead of in bunches--less bulky, more exciting--more work, too. The scarf isn't as long as I would have liked (only about 4 1/2 feet), but I ran out of yarn, and Prof. Liu isn't that tall, anyhow.

scarf 1

What's this? Her umpteenth blog? Well, yes...I wanted to share my attempts at crafting with the world.

I'm making scarves for all the kind professors who wrote me reference letters for my Master's--this is the one I am working on currently for Professor Liu:


It's 31 stitches across on 5 1/2 mm needles, so it's quite wide. The edge is 30 rows of seed stitch**, alternating between silver and burgundy every two rows to give it this mottled effect:


The bulk of the scarf is a simple garter stitch (i.e., straight knit until your fingers fall off). I'd tell you the size of the wool, but I'm actually making it from yarn that I had left over from another project, so I don't know anymore.

**Seed Stitch: CO an odd number of stitches.
row 1: *k1 p1 last stitch: knit
Repeat ad nauseum