Tuesday Tens: Ten Reasons Why Scarves Are Awesome

Last night I passed out before blogging, so I owe you a Tuesday Ten. Enjoy!

A while back, talked about why I like scarves. I decided to expand on it a little bit.

1. Scarves keep you warm. I know you're thinking "well, duh!" But growing up in a warm climate, and I never used scarves. In fact when I wove a scarf in middle school I never wore it. It was more of a decoration to hang on the corner of my bookshelf. A while back I read on another blog about how essential scarves were to keeping warm. It surprised me. But now that I've been wearing scarves, I can appreciate how warm they are. They're as close as you can get to running around town with a blanket wrapped around you.

2. Scarves are great for small amounts of luxury fibers. The amount of yarn you need varies with the scarf, but they can be made with small amounts of yarn. And really, a wonderfully soft fiber deserves to be around your neck. On a related note...

3. Scarves are a good way to test itchiness. Your neck is more sensitive than other parts of your body. A scarf is a good way to see if you can tolerate the yarn before knitting an entire sweater.

4. Scarves can be used for decorating. I've been thinking about ways to display my scarves in the house. Recently Apartment Therapy showed one way to decorate by using scarves as chair runners. I imagine they could be used as table runners as well.

5. Scarves can protect against asthma attacks. I get these (mostly useless) newsletters about treating my asthma from my insurance company. I was glancing through one before I threw it out, and it recommended wrapping a scarf around your face during cold weather if cold is one of your triggers. This goes double for exercising in cold weather. I have both exercise and cold triggers, and I wish I started wearing scarves sooner.


6. Scarves are fashionable. Don't take my word for it. Some guy from Project Runway endorses them. (See above.) Code for something says: "Scarves are awesome. They suit everyone, they’re affordable, come in a multitude of styles and ultimately are totally functional!" JeniDesign says: "I love scarves! You can do so much with them, tie them around your waist, double them up around your shoulder and the same old drape them around your neck. No matter how you wear it, wearing scarves are awesome."

7. Scarves let you knit lace without the commitment. There's a reason why Strangling Vine is finished and Kiri is still in time out.

8. Gauge isn't all that important when knitting scarves. Being off by half a stitch per inch usually isn't a deal breaker with scarves.

9. You can use any yarn for a scarf. Whether the yarn is stiff or drapey, thin or thick, textured or not, you can make a scarf that works.

10. The scarf is the ultimate blank palette. I talked about it before, but scarves can be easy or hard, long or short, wide or skinny or just about anything else. The Mario Scarf is a great example of the creative possibilities of the scarf. Check out Knitting New Scarves for more inspiration. The possibilities are endless.

Pictures from California

Tuesday Tens is late tonight. The good news is that about 100 pictures and short videos from my trip to California, including pictures from Unwind, are up on Flickr. A full account will come later.

Tuesday Tens: Ten Knitting and Crochet Videos

Sorry I crapped out on you Tuesday. It's a good thing Thursday begins with a T. While I pack to go out of town, here are ten videos featuring knitting and crochet for your enjoyment.


1. Shreddies - Knitted by Nanas - I was completely baffled by this video of a master knitting camp where very little knitting gets done, until I saw the commercial above. Apparently Shreddies is a cereal (I'm assuming sold in the UK) with a whole Knitted by Nanas campaign attached to it. Of course, the way it's explained in the commercial, you would think a quilting metaphor would make more sense. Four layers "knitted together" doesn't quite work. (Reminds me of the Quilted Northern debacle from a while back, although less obvious.)


2. Knit Wits - This is a riot, although for such seasoned professionals, these guys seem awfully inexperienced.


3. Knitting Club Recruiting Video - A little confusing if you haven't seen commercials like this one. The best line is "I want to knit something of myself!"


4. ONE MINUTE MELTDOWN - Wanta Danish? - A short music video featuring amigurumi.


5. woodstock hooker showing off his wares (puppet hats) - Jonathan James is having a bad hair life, so he crochets surreal hats.


6. snip snip snip - I don't quite get it, but the octopus is cute.


7. Disco Knitter - Pretty self explanatory, and pretty accurate for animated knitting.


8. Knitimation - Do The Brane - Maybe fun fur is evil. (Although I still don't know how to do the Brane.)


9. DOLLS UNITED - Someone did a lot of intarsia. (Or duplicate stitch.)


10. Sheep - Funny Animation - Is there anything better than a knitting sheep?


4/4/11 - Edited to Fix Title

Tuesday Tens: Postponed

more animals


more animals

That pretty much covers it.

Swatching Sunday: Feather and Fan

It's a little late. Actually, a lot late. But here is my swatch from last Sunday.

This is my last swatch from The New Knitting Stitch Library. I had to turn it in to the library. It's a good book. I hate to see it go.

This looks like a feather and fan stitch of some sort. It's stitch 188 (again, all the stitches in the book are numbered.) At one point I think I made a mistake and got off a stitch, but it's not too noticeable.

I used cheap acrylic yarn and US size 5 needles from my Boye Needlemaster. This swatch is unwashed and unblocked.

Swatching Sunday: Catching Up

I've behind on recording my swatching. Here is what I've done in the last couple of weeks.

All the stitches below are from The New Knitting Stitch Library. I checked it out from the library, and I still have one more Sunday to swatch from it before its due.

This is stitch 225 from the book. I worked on this while the system was down at work on Monday. I wanted to try some edging. I know it's hard to see. This one didn't want to lie flat.

I used cheap acrylic yarn and US size 6 needles from my Boye Needlemaster. This swatch is unwashed and unblocked.

Here are some more swatches out of Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran. I wanted to see what it looked like in cables and knit-purl patterns.

The cable on the left is stitch 120 from the book. The swatch on the left was knit using stitch 50, the 3D blocks stitch I knit before.

Both of the Katmandu Aran swatches were knit using US size 5 needles from my Boye Needlemaster. These swatches are unwashed and unblocked as of now. I hope to change that when I get my hands on some Soak or some Eucalan.

No Amy, we aren't going to laugh at you

Sorry for the lack of meaningful knitting content recently. It seems like all my spare time is going towards decluttering, cleaning and budgeting. I plan to swatch tomorrow.

In the mean time, here's Amy Singer promoting More Big Girl Knits. When she posted this clip on her blog, she said "don't laugh at me." I think she did a good job.

Swatching Sunday: Kathmandu Aran

As promised, here is my Sunday Swatch, a day late. I knit the big swatch yesterday, but did the little one today at work.

I went to the Knitting Nest on Saturday for their Lucky 7 Sale. A roll of the dice determined my discount. I only got the minimum 15% off (not that I'm complaining about getting 15% off.)

I exercised some restraint. I bought some dpns, a lavender sachet, some roving and a single ball of Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran for swatching. It was my chance to do the "GKY" thing (get to know your yarn) they talk about in No Sheep for You.

Kathmandu is a tweedy 85% merino/10% silk/5% cashmere blend in two plies. It's a bit uneven, rustic and fuzzy. There is a little bit of vegetable matter in it. While it's not too weak, I was able to pull it apart with a little force. I bought color 158 "Petrol."

Here are the gauges I got on the long swatch:

US size 7 = about 8 stitches and 12 rows per 2 inches
US size 6 = about 8.5 stitches and 13 rows per 2 inches
US size 5 = about 9 stitches and 13.5 rows per 2 inches
US size 4 = about 9.5 stitches per 2 inches

This swatch was knit using aluminum needles from my Boye Needlemaster. This swatch is unblocked and unwashed.

The little swatch was knit with US size 5 with the same needles in the same needle. I intend to wash and block it as soon as I can track down some Soak or some Eucalan

Expect more swatches to come. I want to see how this stuff looks in knits and purls and cables.

Swatching Sunday: Cascade 220

For the record, I did swatch this on Sunday, during the Oscars. I'm just now getting around to posting it.

Would you believe I've been knitting this long and I've never used Cascade 220? At least I hadn't until Sunday.

Both of these swatches were knit using Cascade 220 in Christmas Red 8895 and Black 8555 and aluminum needles from my Boye Needlemaster. They are unwashed and unblocked.

This first swatch is a basic gauge swatch. The bottom section is knit with US size 7 and is about 9 stitches per 2 inches and about 7 rows per inch. The middle section is knit with US size 6 and is about 10 stitches per 2 inches and 7 rows per inch. The top section is knit with US size 5 and is about 10.5 stitches per 2 inches and 7 rows per inch.

You read that right. All the row counts are about the same.

This swatch is knit with US size 5, and is in the classic Ballband Dishcloth pattern. (Csn you believe I've never knit one of those, either?)

FO: Back to Basics

So, it's only about a month late, but the Back to Basics socks I made my sister for Christmas are finished. I bound off last night.

I went to my parents' house this evening to give them to her. She was cooking with her boyfriend, and she had me put them on her feet because her hands were dirty. She liked them, and she thought they were soft. However, they were a little big, as I had feared.


You can see the bagginess on the right foot. It's even more pronounced in this picture. However, she didn't seem to mind the bagginess too much. (And if I had gone a needle size smaller, they would probably be too small.)

I used South West Trading Company TOFUtsies in "Foot in the Door" 725 and US Size 0 aluminum dpns. I translated the pattern for a set of five dpns. (The pattern shows you how to knit them on two circulars.)

TOFUtsies consists of wool, Soysilk, cotton and Chitin. It doesn't have the elasticity of typical wool yarns. I think my gauge would have been fine in regular wool. The good news is that it seems like nice and breathable. Also, the yardage is excellent. I have enough left to make a sock for Heather Mills. (I'm going to hell for that one.)


They look really weird off the foot because the increases are mostly on top of the foot, not to the sides like regular socks.


Her boyfriend needs a pair too.

FO: Jules' Scarf

Another the parade of much delayed FOs.

This is the scarf I made for Jules for his birthday. This was the mystery project that had to be green that I talked about here. Jules' favorite color is green.

I used two skeins of Misti Alpaca Chunky in color 652. I think. Actually, that may have been the dye lot. It looks like VR1440 in Forest Green. Anyway, I kind of wish I had bought three skeins so I could have made it longer.

I used US size 8 needles, good old aluminum Boye straights.

I remembered seeing a mistake rib scarf floating around back at the Knit n' Knibble in Florida. I was looking for something similar. I finally did a much modified version of the Misti Chunky Ribs and Ruffles Scarf. I took off the ruffles and widened it. (I think I cast on 31 stitches, but I'm not sure.) It's a brioche rib, I think.

The ends ended up a little wonky looking. The picture on the right is pre-blocking. I managed to sort of block it "in." When you block, you normally stretch things out. I think I managed to reset it using a cold water block. It wasn't perfect, but it was an improvement. Who knows what would have happened if I'd stretched the width of the whole thing.

As you can see, I managed to get away with just blocking the ends. I folded it in the middle.

Jules loved it, although I sent it late. (But not because of the knitting. I was behind on other parts of the gift.) This was part of what he e-mailed me when he finally got my gift:

...And I *LOVE* the scarf!! It is even nicer than I imagined. For some reason I envisioned this big, awkward thing with a bunch of wild colors. But it is actually rather conservative and gentlemanly. I can see myself wearing it whenever we get a cold spell. And I'll definitely bring it with me this Christmas...

LOL. I can do awkward and wild colors too.

The other cool thing is that he now knows what alpaca is, and he loves it. He can't get over how soft it is. When I asked him about what type of scarf he wanted me to knit him, the first thing he said was "not itchy." Alpaca is what most people go to when they're worried about itchy.

He's learning. He knows what an FO is. He just needs to remember that I'm not a seamstress.

The Funeral: FO-ish: Sock Wars II Socks

With as late as the post is, is it any wonder that I died in Sock Wars II before I even finished my first pair?

I'm actually surprised I lasted as long as I did. I was out of town on a church retreat when they e-mailed our assignments. There were pictures of completed socks already uploaded when I finally got the pattern off my friend's laptop.

I had planned ahead of time, and used valuable packing time swatching to get gauge. It took US size 1 needles to get gauge in Claudia Hand Painted Yarn Sport (color: Circus Dancer. Part of me wishes I had kept this yarn for myself.)

I really like the pattern. It incorporates "smocking" (or at least that's what Lyndsey said it was.) It inspired me to use smocking in future designs. I think it looks especially good on handpainted yarn. The two lines of smocking are supposed to be battle scars. The Scar Rib Pattern is available for the general public now.

You can see multiple Scar Rib socks on the Flickr Sock Wars II group.

(FYI, I had gotten to round 17 of the scar rib of the second sock when I died.)

Can you really call incomplete sock wars socks an FO? Put it this way, I am. I even entered these in the Stash and Burn Socktoberfest Contest.

I got my socks one week after the wars began. Right now, I can't remember my assassin's name for the life of me.

But, as you can see by my picture, I have an excuse. By mid-week, I was as sick as a dog. (You can see I still had antibiotics left when this picture was taken.)


I missed my usual knitting groups that week. I stayed home from work that Thursday and slept all day. I never even touched my knitting on my sick day.

I missed the Meet Up Yarn Crawl to attend Maker Faire with Peter and Lyndsey. It was awesome, but because I was sick, I didn't really get into it. I was dragging myself around like a zombie most of the day. I didn't even bring a camera. (Although Peter has pictures here.) The socks did make an appearance at Maker Faire, on Peter's camera. (I don't have a picture of it right now.)

Anyway, after going for Pho with Lyndsey, I headed home and decided that I could knock out this sock before the weekend ended. After all, knitting required little movement. But lo and behold, I checked my mail and there they were, the socks of death.

I'm unsure of the yarn or fiber, but they are a pretty color. And they fit.

Did I mention my target has bigger feet than I do? And that I was I out of town when I got my assignment? And I was sick the first week of the wars.

I know. Excuses, excuses. But all is fair in socks and war.

FO: Red Scarf Scarf (w/"pattern")

The deadline for the Red Scarf Project has come and gone, but I haven't posted about my contribution until just now.

The deadline for the project was coming close, and I was looking for some yarn that chunky, but not too chunky, nice, but affordable and a pattern that was better than plain garter stitch, but would go quickly.

Fortunately, I snagged some beautiful Rio de la Plata Merino Santa Maria in Red Brick from High Strung Yarn's going out of business sale (the owner sold her inventory at one of my knitting groups.) I bought three skeins, but only needed one skein and less than half of the second skein.

The pattern is below. I think it fits most of the Red Scarf Project requirements. It's a little on the skinny side. (I think it was about four and a half inches wide, and they recommend making the scarves at least five inches wide.)

I used US size 9 needles, and the gauge was a little less than 4 stitches per inch.

Cast on 20 stitches.

Rows 1-7: Knit across.
Row 8: K4, P4, K4, P4, K4
Row 9: P4, K4, P4, K4, P4
Row 10: Repeat Row 8
Row 11: Repeat Row 9
Row 12: Repeat Row 8
Row 13: Repeat Row 9
Row 14: P4, K4, P4, K4, P4
Row 15: K4, P4, K4, P4, K4
Row 16: Repeat Row 14
Row 17: Repeat Row 15
Row 18: Repeat Row 14
Row 19: Repeat Row 15

Repeat Rows 1-19 until it's the length you want. (I made it about 60 inches, about as long as I am tall.) Knit 7 rows. Bind off.

Wrap around a five inch piece of cardboard (I actually used my needle gauge) about 40 times. Cut at one end to make fringe.

Block the scarf. I didn't do a very good job blocking because I couldn't find my T-pins. I just sort of put some books on top of it to hold it down. The edges would have been neater if I'd pinned it down. (This picture was taken during the blocking process. Yes, I blocked it in my closet.)

The last step is to add the fringe. I added one piece of yarn to each stitch.

Attach one piece of fringe to each stitch.

For a minute, I thought I saw my scarf here (it was the red one!), but I think it was imagination.

Balance

I've fallen a little behind on the blog, but trying not to worry about it. I'm making sure there is some balance in my life. I missed two cool knitting events to attend a church retreat (which was definitely worth it.) And now I'm missing the Meetup yarn crawl to attend Maker Faire with my friends. (We'll see how long I last. I just coughed up something green. Yuck!)

So blog bits will resume next week, for the two people who may be wondering where I am. In the mean time, I'll try to get my last couple of FOs up.

Blog Bits Saturday Sunday

Sorry I'm late!

Girl on the Rocks has a crochet pattern out for Monster Finger Chapstick Cozies.

Quiddity is hosting another "show us your socks" contest.

The Sweet Sheep participated in Run for the Cure. Also, more progress on the Rhinebeck sweater here.

Mochimochi hosts a photo contest and learns to crochet. Also, check out SOS. I love the textured water.

Yarnivation has the artillery list up for sock wars. I'm in this year, which should be interesting considering I'll be out of town when they send the info.

Cosmicpluto participates in some street art.

Wendy Knits reviews the whole "Knit from your Stash" thing. Also, she explains how to find her at Stitches East.

Unraveling goes to the Knit and Crochet Show.

Yes! Suna Knits! has some food for thought on teaching knitting. She is also looking for her wedding top and finishes the top I want to knit.

Lady Octavia makes a drop spindle.

Grumperina has passed the 800 mark in her Jaywalker gallery. (Holy Crap!)

The Yarn Harlot finishes her book.

Needles and Things has trouble winding yarn. (We've all been there.)

Finally, Yarn Pirate strives to knit 31 pairs of baby socks in 31 days. See her progress here, here and here.

Blog Bits Saturday Omissions

I thought blog bits seemed kind of short this week. Then I looked at my Google Reader and realized I'd somehow missed some good ones.

Like Wendy Knits finishing the summer of socks at 19 pairs.

And Persistent Illusion's trip to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival.

Not to mention Norah Gaughan's visit to Kyarns.

Blog Bits Saturday...

...has been postponed until Sunday. I'm just too tired. I've been working on Knitty submissions most of the day.

In the meantime, do check out the new Knitty. It should keep you busy until I get around to blog bits.