On a long wintry road trip I cast on a simple ribbed scarf after realizing that the yarn I had packed for my first Honey Cowl attempt was all wrong. It's a good thing I learned early on the ever-important knitting rule of always having a back up project on hand, especially when traveling.
And so, I'd knit a few rows... talk to my family... knit a few rows... stare at the moose in the middle of the road... knit a few rows... look out the windshield and pretend we could actually see through all the drifting snow...
Surely, with twenty hours ahead of us in the car I could finish a simple scarf.
Nope.
Twenty hours in the car and I had about 4 inches of scarf to show for it. This scarf felt like more of a slow torture than a sweet meditation.
It just never seems to gain any momentum. I mean, it is. I'm close to the finish line now, but the slow to measure progress has done little for keeping me motivated.
I felt (still feel) like the grandmother in that children's book who knits and knits and knits until her home is filled with this blanket (was it a blanket?) and it eventually spills out the front door and rolls down the hills and lanes into town... am I remembering this book right? I can't think of the name of it now.
This scarf has traveled through four states, two book clubs, three homeschool co-op days, and at least one movie. Since casting on I've begun and completed five other projects!
Clearly it is not holding my attention. I'll finish it, but man this is a slow ride.
The latest of the other projects to come off the needles has been a second honey cowl and a third hat. I've decided that I learn so much when I knit a pattern multiple times with various yarns, adjusting needle sizes, etc. I've also learned (from one of you helpful readers) that I was knitting backwards... backwards! Can you imagine!?
I knew that I knit differently than how many other people knit, but I was always told "that's okay, just as long as you always knit that way, your work will come out fine." So I never bothered to do it any differently. But then one of you explained that the "v" in the stockinette stitch will lay flatter/nicer/prettier if I knit "this way." (And then it was explained exactly how to knit correctly).
I thought it was going to be so hard to relearn, but it wasn't! Sure, it took a little focus as old habits can be hard to break, but I kept my attention on the task and the very next project (the brown hat above) knit up so much nicer than my previous green hat.
I owe a few proper pics of these latest knits but my go-to-knit-model is currently wrapped up in a tremendous amount of research on Frederick Douglas. Another time.
After knitting the first Honey Cowl in Cascade 220 Superwash, I was eager to cast on another. I can't seem to get enough of the spongy texture of the Honey Cowl stitch and the Superwash was really lovely to work with. One day I was in the area of a new to me yarn store and stopped in to see if they had any of the same yarn. They didn't, but I was told Ella Rae Superwash was a comparable choice so I picked up a few colors and was excited to get going.
At first it seemed to knit up just the same as the Cascade Superwash, but after a few inches into the project I could tell it just wasn't. This yarn was not nearly as soft as Cascade and it didn't quite have the same loft which resulted in a slightly lacy stitch. The weight is the same between the two yarns and there is only a one yard difference between the two so I can't get my mind around why the thickness feels so different from one to the next. The Ella Rae wasn't terrible, and I could see why it would be sold as a "comparable" yarn to Cascade, but it certainly didn't duplicate my first cowl experience.
Oh! And the color... it's so hard to photograph but it is the prettiest, warmest blue with a touch of green (#130, Bermuda). It reminds me so much of the tiny bathroom in our old house. That was the best blue color for walls, never leaving a room feeling cold as blue walls can sometimes do. (Covington Blue by Benjamin Moore.)
There are so many knitting type odds and ends to share today. I don't even have Ravelry notes yet for the new cowl and hat, I'll wait until I can get a few proper photos of them.
A package came in the mail recently that contained "fresh from the farm" yarn from a sweet lady that asked if I'd barter workshop enrollment for some of their yarn. Oh yes! Yes I will!!
This is seriously some of the nicest (if not the nicest) yarn I have ever touched. She even sent a pretty hat pattern and many samples of wool-friendly soap. Our resident Border Collie is quite smitten with all of the wool coming into the house these days.
I'm not sure yet what I'll make with this yarn (aside from the hat pattern that came with it), but it does hold a front and center spot in my stash now. What a treat this is going to be to work with.
Later today or tomorrow I need to get into the kitchen and make up another batch of Renee's lotion. Hand lotion is a staple in my knitting tool kit as I cannot tolerate knitting with dry hands. Given the winter months and my hands being in and out of dish water all day, I sure can use a dab every few hours throughout each day. And especially when I sit down to knit, lotion is a must.
Emily and I made a batch (it might have been a double batch) about one year ago and our supply is just finishing up. It stayed perfectly fresh at room temperature through all the seasons and provided a rich and emollient lotion for my very active hands. I think this may be the first lotion recipe I've made that worked so well I'll be making it a second time.
Well, I think that about sums up the happenings from my knitting journal these days. If you have any thoughts on what to make with this new yarn, please do share. I would love something particularly special for the Blueberry Vintage, of which there is 308 worsted yards. Such a generously sized skein of wool/alpaca yarn.
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I hope you are having a wonderful week and have adjusted to the time change without a hitch. (I'm just putting that out there for those of us in need... ahem.)
