I'm ready for Picture Day 2008

They are done! Suzannah gets the yellow sweater with buttons that she wanted. Augy gets the dark deep blue vest that he wanted. I didn't try to impose my taste on my children. I let them choose the yarn, pattern and buttons.

Suzannah choose some very cute hedgehog buttons for her sweater.




What I learned from knitting these two sweaters:

1. Cabling without a cable needle is easy as long as you don't pull your right needle too far away from your left needle as you are slipping the stitches off the right needle.
2. Cabling without a cable needle goes way faster than with a cable needle.
3. Loosely spun yarn, such as Steadfast Fibers Wonderful Wool, are easier to knit continental than English. Knitting it English undoes some of the twist and makes snagging frequent and annoying. Continental adds some twist and keeps the yarn together. At least that was my experience.

Double KNitting Scarflette

Double knitting is highly addictive. I started this project as a test, and couldn't put it down. Using luxuriously soft yarns, the double thickness gives just the right amount of warmth on a chilly day. I love the shape and size of Yarn Ball Boogie's Fourteen. This scarflette is similar in size and shape. Only it is double knit using dk weight yarn instead of brioche stitch.

This is a great project if you wanted to try double knitting, but didn't want to knit a potholder.

I followed Fashionable Life's directions for a button loop at the end.

Here are the directions. For more information on double knitting, Lucy Neatby's dvd Double KNitting Delight is a great resource.

Twenty Twenty Scarflette

Finished size: 4” x 21”

Materials

I used
Color A: Araucania Nature Wool Multy (100% wool; 240 yards per 3.52 oz skein) color 405 – less than one skein

Color B: Noro Cashmere Island (30% cashmere, 60% wool, 10% nylon; 110 yards per 40 gram skein) color 6 – one skein

I used size 3 needles
(Most people end up looser in double knitting than with regular knitting. Use the size that will give you a nice loose drapey gauge, but not so loose that the other side will show through)
Darning needle
2 large buttons

Gauge: 20 stitches per inch. Since this is a scarflette exact final size is not too important.





Using the Italian cast on and alternating between color A and B, cast on 40 stitches starting with color A (20 stitches in color A and 20 stitches in color B).

At the start of every row make sure that the color that you are not about to knit with is draped over the tail of the color you are about to knit.

Row 1: *Bring both colors to the back. Knit 1 with color B. Bring both colors to the front. Purl 1 with Color A and repeat from * four times. ** Bring both colors to the back. Knit 1 with color A. Bring both colors to the front. Purl 1 with Color B. Repeat from ** four times. : *** Bring both colors to the back. Knit 1 with color B. Bring both colors to the front. Purl 1 with Color A. Repeat from *** to the end of the row

Row 2: * Bring both colors to the back. Knit 1 with color A. Bring both colors forward. Purl 1 with Color B. Repeat from * twelve times. ** Bring both colors to the back. Knit 1 with color B. Bring both colors forward. Purl 1 with Color A. Repeat from ** four times. *** Bring both colors to the back. Knit 1 with color A. Bring both colors forward. Purl 1 with Color B. Repeat from *** to the end of the row

Repeat rows one and two until desired length. Bind off in Kitchner Stitch.

Cut off a length of yarn to make a buttonloop in the middle of one end. Try the scarflette on to determine the best placement for the button. Attach a button on each side of the scarflettte for ultimate reversible flexibility.

Ravelry.com is the greatest website ever!
I haven't blogged at all since getting sucked into Ravelry. There are some fascinating threads on there.

First was the thread started by a ravelr named bbcaddict about an ebay seller named Yarnbow. The whole thread was just fascinating to read. It filled my days while the writers' strike went on.

Next I've been sucked into the Mystical Creation Yarns thread. the thread is now over 4000 posts. Reading about Mystical Creation Yarns has been better than reading a mystery novel.


Anyway here is my yarn thought of the day.

What makes one skein of 100% merino cost only $4 for 200+ yards and another skein cost $11 for 140 yards? both are lovely yarns. And I'm not saying that one is better than the other. I'm just trying to work it out in my head what makes the green yarn one the left cost 5 times the brown yarn? The green one is Morehouse merino. It is a lovely yarn. And if I won the lottery it would be my yarn of choice for many projects. The brown yarn is Paton's Classic Merino. It is an odd yarn. Found among the riff raff that normally inhabit the bins at the mega box craft stores it is actually quite a nice yarn. Whenever I see it at Micheal's or JoAnn's I'm always puzzled by its presence. It is a very very nice yarn. I have no trouble substituting it for Ella Rae Classic, Cascade 220 or other lys yarns. There is no other yarn by Paton's or sold by Micheal's that I would ever use.