Lovely Leaf Lace Scarf by Purl Soho

My knitting queue was honestly concocted sometime in February.  I spent a few days trawling Ravelry like nobody's business.  Then I realised knitting isn't sewing and it's very depressing to want to make 32 things that you would never finish before 2029.  So I stopped.

That means I planned this scarf in February! My plans were created with an educational progression and I think it's working, because after this comes the Miette (LACE!!).  Making this scarf has been really amazing for my lace learning skills.  I shortened it by 10 rows on the width, and used the leftovers from my last sweater - Malabrigo Rios.  I had just about 2 skeins, one of Purpuras that I hadn't used at all, and 3 ends of Zarzamora.  Since the scarf is started at both ends and grafted together in the middle, I reckoned if it were too short I could find something to add into the middle without it looking too bad, but I ended up just stretching it when I blocked it.

A great thing about doing lace in a pattern like this, is that 51 stitches isn't too much to follow.  I definitely made a few mistakes, but every time I lost a stitch it was quick to identify and make a new one, and the pattern for the most problem hid the mistakes.  I had to review how to properly do yarn overs and ssk.  I think I've mentioned that I learned to knit in Finland and because of this I hold everything differently than the majority of youtube video-producers, so sometimes I have to either seek a video from someone who holds their knitting like I do, or watch the videos until I understand the fundamental movement, before I get it.  (that happened a lot with short rows...)

Anyway once I stopped trying to watch movies while knitting the pattern, this went smoothly.  Also this time I'm the one leaving, not Tanya my translator, so I was much more relaxed about the process, at least until the final few days.  I finished the scarf on time but I didn't have a chance to block it!  But Tanya likes it that long, so I'm in luck. 

The airconditioning had us all shivering so the scarf immediately went to creative use...

I loved making this scarf and I was sort of sad to give it up as it turned out so beautiful, and the texture really makes it feel substantial in a way my previous scarves haven't felt. 

In other news, I've not completely gone over to the dark side!  There's a strong possibility that I will be reunited with my ENTIRE SEWING STASH during the course of 2016!  And get to sew again!  Not just on vacation!  Hurrah!

Purl Soho Diagonal Twist Scarf

There is nothing more annoying than a completed blog post vanishing into the black hole.  Except when it does so in Ukrainian.  In Thailand I managed to switch my blog back into English but I can't do it here and it's driving me crazy.

This is the Diagonal Twist Scarf from the PurlSoho website, modeled by Camille and Aiesha.  It's a free pattern and once you understand the 4-row repeat you don't need much help.  After making one housemate a scarf before her departure, I offered to make my next housemate a scarf too!  She chose the colour.  The wool is a Turkish blend: Valencia Lavanda: 43% “luster wool”, 7% angora, 50% acrylic.  I know that a lot of beautiful yarn is from Turkey but the options available here in Ukraine always seem to be somehow the ugly stepsister versions...but anyway this was easy to work with, is soft, and has a nice shine to it.

The yarn says to use size 3.5-4.5mm needles, but I used 5mm.  I wanted the scarf to be thinner than it looked in the pattern.  I also made it narrower - 46 instead of 66 stitches.  (It has to be a number that fits both elements of the pattern, basically (x-2)/2 must be an even number, that's all.)  I was worried if it were too wide, I'd never finish it.

The pattern is easy.  It's not fast though.  I liked learning the skill of knitting into my back stitches but after, oh, 20 cm I was bored to DEATH and the departure of my housemate was good stress to keep going.  Also her excitement!  There's nothing like a person who is totally ecstatic to receive your project!  Because of the boredom I would not recommend this scarf unless you really love the pattern.

Like what is that broken button between floors 5 and 6?  Just asking...

Camille insisted on her photoshoot in the elevator.  Our apartment stairwell, and elevator, have a lot of personality. 

With my thinner yarn the scarf curls up a lot.  I blocked it, I think even properly, using a yoga mat and some flag pins from work.  That lengthened it about 15cm.  Camille is really happy with the result, even with a certain hole in the middle where I mixed up the pattern.  The scarf is as long as a yoga mat : )  I guess about 5 feet.

I have one more promised scarf in the pipeline and I'm really hoping it is more interesting than this, but I'm going to finish my sweater first!  My short cable knitting needles finally arrived!  I do think that making scarves has been a great way of improving my knitting ability because it's kind of no stress - it doesn't have to fit perfectly and you see quickly how the pattern works.  Scarves also can use more complicated repeats than I'd be willing to use in a sweater, without seeming overwhelming.  My sudden departure into knitting has been borne of necessity but I'm starting to enjoy the results despite the frustration of waiting for each project to get done.

My project is on Ravelry too. 

Craftsy and scarf knitting

Back in September a friend in Delft talked me into buying yarn.  This was, my friends, the top of the slippery slope.  I knew I wouldn't be sewing for a long time, and I found this pattern to knit a sweater and thought it would be doable - even for me.  And unlike the sweater I made last time, it's something I would buy and wear that doesn't scream handmade.

Enough on that sweater.  It's still happening, never fear, but I'm stuck without the short cable to make the sleeves, I lost it somewhere between Seattle and here.

In the meantime, I decided to up the quality of my game.  I tried to start a Miette but discovered I wasn't ready for lace.  So I bought the Craftsy Knit lab because I wanted to do the seed stitch Cambridge scarf.  (Really I guess I didn't need a set of lectures for it, but I didn't figure that out on my own, so I'm gonna learn a few extra things too.)

That blocking process was very technical - added about 15 cm!

My mother said this looked 10 feet long...

I knitted the scarf for a friend which was great because by the time I was bored to death by the repeats, I had a deadline and had to finish.  It took about 1.5 weeks.  My friend Doris is really happy with it and so am I!  A finished knitting project that even involved a pattern!  This is practically a first, at least it feels like one.

The yarn is a wool alpaca and nylon blend by Valencia, the alpaca keeps it from being too terribly scratchy but it's marginal.  It's on size 4.5mm needles which are awful ones from Turkey, the cable got all over the place. All the yarn and the needles in the Ukraine are imported from Turkey and the quality is sort of ok but not the mouthwatering amazing stuff I can only drool over online.

Knitting is not like sewing and it's frustrating not to be able to access much yarn (I brought some with me, and the shops here do have those few options) but knitting is definitely fitting in to some degree as a replacement for sewing.  Although I really have to just not think about sewing because I miss it desperately!