Ten

Rowan Silk and Kid Mohair

It must be an addiction.  Since December my knitting fingers want only the touch of soft silk/mohair yarn. Five scarves slipped off the needles by Christmas.  Then two more.  Plus one for myself.  And then another.  

Grafting the beginning row to the end row
forming a circle scarf

Yes, it's time to admit that I've tried to quit but just found myself starting another before it could be helped.

Pink and Blue exploded out of the center
of the yarn ball.  I had no idea it was there.

So this one will definitely be my last bias-loop scarf (though several very attractive skeins of yarn are buried deep in my stash). The garden had a chat with the scheduler of the Things I get to do today. Knitting season is nearly over. Ten is a good round number and is surely enough.

Secret No More

Green Tea nearly finished

I'm done, and tonight Christmas was finally over.  The last stitch was knit on the last gift scarf.  It's not a secret anymore--I've been knitting scarves since the first part of December.  Six of them.

Knit on the bias, the scarf is grafted together to
form a loop.

The house work suffered.  The chickens were slightly neglected.  The wall/ceiling painting in  my house stopped. My "get to" blog experienced severe lapses of stillness.  Meals were quick or eaten out.  I was knitting. "Mom's on a mission" was the word in the street.

Bliss on the fingers

Bliss for the neck

Shibui makes a extra fine mohair and silk yarn called "Silk Cloud."  I fell in love, bought one each of Raspberry, Blush, Watermelon, Fjord, Camel, and Green Tea to match the women in the family, and after completing the first bias loop scarf, knew some would be coming off the needles well into the new year.  So be it.









Every stitch was a delight; every touch of the yarn a thrill.  I've been in heaven for over 110 hours during the last six weeks while creating these cuddles for the neck.  So tonight I'm wrapping it up as the last of the Things I get to do today and tomorrow my niece who's flying back to school in Belgium in a few days will have her Christmas present.

Camel for my daughter

PS.  I have yarn for one for myself in Bordeaux, and Valentine's Day is coming: a scarf in Raspberry for my mother.

By Guess and By Golly

Most of the time it's a meditation.  I love the rhythm, the feel of the yarn, the fragrance of the fiber. And while one is having fun, it's amazing to see an object grow.  Magic.  Again.

From the yarn gleaned, gathered and gifted from Karen-of-Boston, one small skein of alpaca in dark teal caught my attention.  It was my sister's favorite color.  To knit it up into a skinny scarf would be a delight and an opportunity to practice a new technique.  I was fascinated by scarves knit on the diagonal that I had seen in Morehouse Farms Merino Knits (see post "Gifted by Friend" 12-29-11).

So I began.  About 6 inches into the project, I realized that solid-color yarn would not yield a diagonal looking scarf--no contrast for a slanted perspective.  Several other design stitches came and went--a dark yarn does not show off details very well.  Then a more creative bug bit me and I unplyed a length of grey wool and used the wisps laid occasionally along side the teal alpaca to create a diagonal mist.  It was lovely.  It was scratchy.  And mysteriously the width of the scarf grew to an awkward size.  My sister and I agreed it was best to begin again.

Karen sent me a gray, soft,  alpaca skein (seeds for another scarf) to mix with the teal, and my sister thought a rusty orange would give the project some punch.  This time the width stayed consistent, the colors blended, it was a pleasure to create every stitch.

Is there enough yarn to knit the last rows?

The sweet sorrow of Things I get to do today is finish off this knitting piece. Sad to see it go--delighted to have it finished. And here I found a puzzle: the diagonal scarf pattern has to stop and the end taper finishes it off.  How much yarn does it take to finish the "corner?"  I wanted to use all the teal, concluding the final stitch with just 12" of yarn to snip off.

Unravelled to the edge of the first orange

I knit furiously last night until the end of a Chopin sonata for piano and cello. I knit this morning until I took an uneducated guess at how much yarn was needed to finish the last 28 decreasing rows.  My answer was "more than these few yards." So unraveling rows and beginning the decrease sooner was my next guess. And by Golly, it worked.

By Golly design
Reached the corner before the yarn ran out.
More than 12" left. Better than 12" short!

Fringe Element

"Everything is a gift.  Everything."*  As I dial the number for my chiropractor, I'm looking for the best thought about the odd angle I stand that looks a bit like a 90-year-old.  The gift will appear.

After a needed adjustment, a warm salt bath, and a nap, I know that of the Things I get to do today walking is one of the most important as it provides a balanced massage of the mid and low back. Standing is also fine.  Sitting, no.

A cast-off ball of cotton cord

I began by standing and playing with my knitting frame and a recent gold mine:  bags of yarn from an exploration through a friend's yarn bin.  An ordinary-nearly-ugly ball of cotton cord became a scarf.  Reverse stockinette looked better than the "right" side, so some handwork was required.  I walked all around the house while I closed the long scarf.

Half the scarf length

A fringe would sharpened the look. A fringe is made from dozens of pieces of yarn, equal in length, fastened with a loop by a crochet hook.  Picking up each strand, folding it in half, forming the loop with the hook, and securing it to the scarf can take some time.  And my idea was to be walking while putting on the fringe.

Fringe lengths folded in half over index finger

I took the whole handful of  waiting strands, folding them over my index finger at the halfway mark. Slipping the hook through the desired location, then picking up one strand from my finger, pull through, hook fringe tails through, tug, done.  Amazing!

Hook first through fringe-location stitch then picking up fringe strand

Pulled through location stitch

Ready for the final pull-through

Finished scarf: a gift

The round-trip to the chiropractor took less than an hour: a gift.  My back feeling better and standing and walking for an hour: a gift. Discovering an efficient fringing technique: a gift.  Getting to share the lesson: a gift--for you.  Happy Valentine's Day.

*From Vimala Rodgers' Alphabet (www.iihs.com).  This is the statement of intent for the letter G when written in the recommended style.