In the wings...

So while I was working on the bore that was the previous post, I had in the wings two delicious hanks of Madeline Tosh Sock in Whiskey Barrel.  I found it for a guy I worked with who wanted a scarf that was made up of browns, greys and blues.  I didn't think I was going to find anything with that combo, but when I stopped by my LYS - Rose's Fine Yarns - there it was, sitting on the shelf.  Gorgeous and the perfect fit. I bought it and there it has sat, waiting patiently (not like me).

The other reason I have been dying to work on this project, besides getting to use a yarn I have been wanting to try almost since I started knitting, is that this would be the first one  where I would get to use my spiffy new stitch markers my awesome sister got me for my anniversary this year.  Aren't they fantastic?  :)

 I have since cast on for another linen stitch scarf with this yarn, and these markers are an absolute delight to use - thin, snagless  and with no gapping between stitches at all!  They are by Craft Cat Knitty Bits on Etsy.  Looking through her stuff makes me want to start a stitch marker collection; I almost want one of everything on there. Oh hey... I haven't seen the little heart ones before...

Phew!

Glad I finally got this one finished up.  As much as I love doing linen stitch and as lovely as this one turned out when it was done, it was boring as STINK to do!  All one color of tightly woven stitches, row after row after well you get the idea.  Plus I was working with a deadline so I didn't have the luxury of taking a break to work on another project.

Impatience

Argh!  The agony!

A true fiberphile will understand my pain - a perfect, gorgeous, delicious yarn that is just screaming to be knit, formed into something even more beautiful.  But you have to WAIT.  There are other obligations, projects with deadlines, promises to be kept.  Then, and only then, can that yarn be addressed.

You see this?

THIS is the source of my anguish. Madeline Tosh Sock yarn in Whiskey Barrel. A yarn that I have been wanting to try since I started knitting, in a colorway that is simply stunning.

I have an order for a linen stitch scarf from a guy at work that will be done in Berocco Ultra Alpaca Fine in the same charcoal as I used in my Dad's. That led to another guy at work ordering one, but he wanted his in browns and greys and blues.  Where on earth was I going to find that combination?

I had popped into my LYS, Rose's Fine Yarns, to pick up a couple more Brittany crochet hooks for my sister and of course, had to take a wander through the rest of the store.  And there it was, sitting innocently on the shelf with the other colors.  I texted the gent at work, not willing to go ahead and spend $60 without checking with him first.  Moments before the store closed, the text came in telling me to go ahead, so I ran in and snagged it.

And so there it sits.  In my project bag.  Wound.  Waiting. Taunting.

Sigh.

A Knitter's First Pattern

I feel like I have reached something of a milestone in my knitting.  Up to this point, I have followed patterns, sometimes altered them a bit for my own purposes, that sort of thing. But I had never written my own pattern.

Until now! (trumpets blowing)

Ha ha, now seriously, I have nothing on any of the glorious patterns available in copious amounts by the many talented knitters out there, but maybe this is a step towards being a little part of that.

Maybe in the future I will be seized by some bug of creativity that will result in a new pattern, but this one was done out of necessity. I wanted to knit something for the husband of the lovely lady I was planning on giving the pink linen stitch scarf so I could give them both something. I had four skeins of delicious black Fresco that I was itching to use.  I wanted to do a textured pattern, one that would be subtle and masculine.  There was a thought of a diamond sort of pattern rattling around in my head, but after several days of poking about on Ravelry, I couldn't find anything that was what I was looking for.

I knew I had some graph paper about somewhere.

Doodle, scratch, erase, puzzle, mark up again, erase, fiddle.  Rewrite, puzzle, fiddle some more.

It took me a while to hash out a simple pattern but after testing it I finally came up with a basic diamond pattern that turned out exactly the way I wanted.  :) Hard to see in the picture, but trust me, it worked.  :P

Raising an Eyebrow

For a long time I have wanted to make something for my Mom, pretty much as soon as I learned to crochet, and then even more so once I learned to knit. Finding an appropriate pattern, however, is a different matter.  I thought I had found what I wanted to do - a gorgeous Irish hiking shawl with lots of pretty details and cables.  But when I went to buy the yarn for it, something about it just wasn't working so I decided to rethink it.  I found the Cane Bay Wrap by Blue Sky Alpacas and purchased the pattern, the first pattern I ever actually paid money for.  I then went to the Needle Emporium with my sister and found gorgeous Cascade 220 Worsted in a rich, dark blue-green called Regency.

Nope.  That wasn't going to work either.  I don't know if it was the pattern itself, or the combination of that yarn with that pattern, but it didn't work.  Perhaps the wrap needed a lighter color, I'm not sure.  I still love the look of it and will save it for the future, but it wasn't happening for this project.  Back to the drawing board.  Or Ravelry, as the case may be.  After some scrounging around, I found Raised Eyebrow by Alice's Embrace. It was a simple repeat and looked interesting.

I ended up adapting the pattern a bit since I wanted a shawl or wide scarf, not a blanket.  I also wanted a lacier look so I knitted normally, not with the yarn held double as the pattern called for.  I knit along happily, discovering partway that I wasn't going to have enough yarn.  I had purchased enough for the Cane Bay Wrap, and this was going to be bigger.  I immediately called up Needle Emporium and they happened to have one skein left in the same dye lot that they shipped off right quick.  Such great service!