The Yarn Shop and Fiber Place

Scarf Madness – a Knitter’s Take on March

I think of myself as a dedicated sweater knitter, but as I look around the house and the Shop lately, I see scarves, scarves everywhere.  I guess I’ve been enjoying my scarf knitting.  A lot.  Who knew? Well, scarves are a lot closer to instant gratification than sweaters.  And for a relatively small investment you can have fun playing around with various techniques, stitch patterns and colors, even in luxury fibers!

Here’s the scarf I started this week, made from Habu Textiles Wool Pom Pom yarn.  The little tufts of wool attached to a core yarn look a lot like caterpillars until knit into an airy texture on big needles. I think this little scarf is going to feel really nice around my neck this spring, and I love the subtle, natural-looking colors.

We had good news from the fashion runways for spring 2012:  stripes!

I adore stripes, so it’s always good news when they are “in fashion!”  Stripes are such a fun
and easy way to combine and play around with colors.  I’ve enjoyed so much playing with Adorable, a new baby alpaca/silk blend yarn, that I couldn’t stop at just one scarf. I made a simple lace stitch, color-blocked infinity scarf, and then launched into a little stripey scarf to really mix up the colors.  I can’t decide which is my favorite!

Our “Long & Skinny Scarf” has been a warm-weather favorite for years; I’m redoing it this spring in Baby Bamboo which comes in a plethora of scrumptious colors.  I think I’ll go hog wild and do one in the lengthwise stripe version, and one in horizontal stripes.  Can’t wait to see these colors worked up together!

Of course, with our springs being so iffy in Montana, keeping a cozy cowl handy is a must.
I’ve been working on my “Honey Cowl” (pattern on Ravelry.com) and here’s another cowl I whipped up recently in Mountain Colors delectable new Merino yarn: Monarch. I hope to have this pattern written up soon. It was super fun and easy!

Another sweet option for spring is this cute ruffled neck warmer that Ausra has just begun in Mountain Colors Twizzle.

And of course I’ve been knitting up the ruffly scarves, the spring phenomenon of 2012!

Oh, and I’ve been weaving scarves too!  Here’s my plain weave scarf, made on the  Schacht rigid heddle loom, made into a gorgeous plaid (it does it by itself!) in Mountain Colors Weaver’s Wool.

Yep, let’s keep March mad, everyone:  go crazy with the scarves!

Barbie Pink

Finishing finishing, here we go…. (to the tune of “caroling, caroling”)

Wow.  The end of February is barreling down on us hard and fast, and how many things have I actually finished?

Well, I have been busy. I’ve been bitten by the New Years Organization Bug and have “finished” going through many, many boxes of stuff, rearranging some and throwing out others.  Does that count?   I reduced my stuff by several boxes this week and it felt good.

What about projects? Well, I finished one sock.  Ha ha, that sounds like the punch line of a joke! I had to put numerous socks on my list (remember my List of Unfinished Projects?) as finishing just one sock seems to be a little weakness of mine.  Oh, but I also finished one mitt: one of “Anna’s Mitts,” to be exact.   I’ve been working up these simple fingerless mitts in a lovely, local alpaca yarn and hope to have the pattern written up and posted soon.

Ditto for a yummy cowl I made out of my thick & thin Merino hand-spun yarn, from roving dyed by friend Susie.  Can’t wait to share that pattern with you as well!

The “Honey Cowl” that I’m working up for a spring adult ed class is not finished yet, but it is growing. I’m enjoying the easy stitch pattern and the glorious, locally hand-dyed “Bliss” yarn.

So here are some words of wisdom that I keep repeating to myself:  it ain’t over till it’s
over.  There are seven fabulous days left of Finishing February and I’m gonna keep plugging along, working on the List, feeling oh-so-productive!  I hope I’ve encouraged you to do the same!

Barbie Pink

BTW, DH just returned from a conference and brought me a pink cowgirl hat!  Yee-haw!

February is for Finishing!

Yay! I love the idea of a whole month to concentrate on organizing and finishing up some projects, as well as the fabulous alliteration (yes, I am a geeky language major). I’ve been puttering about my so-called studio lately and “finding things” which is good and bad. Good for fairly obvious reasons. Bad because of the sheer scary number of them. I decided to make a list (heaven help me) of my unfinished projects. I suppose, theoretically, I should also make a list, a queue I believe it’s called, of planned projects with yarns that are already in my stash, but that doesn’t seem quite so urgent. I think I’ll concentrate on the finishing. I’m kind of excited about The List, in a weird sort of way. Not that I don’t make lists all the time; I do. But I tend to make them and then promptly lose them or forget about them. I hope that doesn’t happen to this list. I want to pin it up to my wall and cross off project after bleeping project for that wonderful “I’m actually accomplishing something” feeling. Hmmm… in writing this I seem to recall that I made a list like this a few years ago. I wonder what happened to that one? No matter! I will not get distracted by petty failings in the past! That was then – this is 2012! Moving forward with hope and optimism! I did manage to finish two things this week:

My Kool-Aide dyed socks:

And my gorgeous Bohus Swing Coat, designed by Nicky Epstein.  Please forgive the blatant lack of humility but I’m SO excited about this one! You might just see me wearing it everywhere.

Oh, and the cat likes it too.  That’s very important:

Best of luck to you all on your February Finishing.  I’ll keep you posted….

Barbie Pink