Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  The first project I finished in 2011 is my Jester's scarf.  I love it!  It's worm, colorful, and unique.  A perfect pick-me-up on dreary winter days.  It ended up taking about a ball and a half of each color.  All in all, as my first entrelac project, it was fabulous!  I will probably end up doing more in the future.  I especially love lack of a wrong side that this pattern gives.  The ribbed entrelac is fun and easy.

My Knitting New Year's resolution is not to cast on a new project before I finish what I am currently working on.  I didn't quite follow that for the ribbed entrelac scarf, taking a brief hiatus to knit up a Weekend Scarf as a quick gift over the holiday season.

My first project of the New Year is a pair of toe up socks in a baby pink, cotton yarn.  I was going to use this for a baby project until my expected niece turned out to be a nephew!  So, now I am using it to cast on for a pair of Ballet socks from Melissa Morgan-Oakes 'Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks' book I am borrowing from my mother's library.  I am thinking of adding an alteration to the leg portion so they can be knee highs.

I am also considering designing a pattern for my sister.  This Christmas she decided she wants to make a set of stockings for her family.  She wants to be able to personalize the tops with each family member's name.  She has a specific look she wants for the toe and heel and since no one will be wearing them, sizing is not a big issue.  I'm excited.  I love a challenge!

On the Road

It has been a while since my last post.  Since then I have driven to the DC are, flown across the Atlantic, and stayed at numerous places in Ireland (more detail here).  All this travel has kept me busy, but airplane, train and bus rides are excellent opportunities to knit.

I am still working on a project I started before leaving the States.  I think of it as my jester scarf because it has such bold colors and odd shapes.  It is based on the Carolus Rib Entrelac Scarf by Andrea Krüß-Anders I found on Ravelry.  I loved the different shape of the blocks forming each row, and I wanted to make the shape more obvious.  I also wanted a multi colored scarf.  After some figuring, I discovered that entrelac lends itself to a three ball rotation.  I debated using 6 balls, three of each color, in order to create a two-color scarf.  I didn't like that idea as much as using three colors.  I pulled two colors from my stash and purchased a third color of the same yarn.  I love the way it is turning out.  As my first entrelac project, I am surprised at how quickly it grows and how easy it is once you have the rhythm.  Frequently, I will find myself staying at it for 'just one more block' realizing it only when I reach the end of the row.

I have worked on one other quick project while I've been here.  I designed it one night after coming back to my trailer at the end of the day and knitted it the next day in the car.  I wanted a sky blue neck wrap.  I found that I had accidentally included the remains of the ball of yarn I used for my nephew's hat in my travel stash.  A little bit of experimenting and minimal frogging, and I came up with the pattern for this.  I call it Throat Chakra.  I still need to wash it and find a way to block it.  I may make some modifications to the pattern to help reduce some of the curling in the lacy ends.

What's new?

Lots has happened in the last month and a half.  It's a new year.  I'm back at school and classes are moving along at a very fast clip.  I've also moved, I changed dorms so I don't have to move for the summer during finals week.  It is also the Olympic Season.  As far as crafts go, I've slowed down since school started.  I finished the convertible fingerless gloves.  I added silver snaps after the fact to help hold the mitten part in place when I use them as fingerless.  I am happy with the results and glad I finished them before the cold snap hit us here in Oklahoma.  On to what's on the needles now.

I joined Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics.  The rules are fairly straight forward: you choose a project, cast on during or after the opening ceremonies, finish before the Olympics end.  I browsed Ravelry for a simple sock pattern, I have some nice sock yarn I wanted to put to good use.  I will be attempting to finish the Peppermintoes in the 14 days between lighting the torch and the closing ceremonies.  I started my project last night while watching the opening ceremonies.  Between last night and this morning, I've completed the first diamond and started the second.  You might not be able to tell, but I'm doing two at a time.  I really like that technique because any mistakes you make are at least the same on both socks.  I haven't done any mitered squares before, so I've been very excited to watch the square take shape.  I think I'll be using a lighter yarn for the next round of squares, but I'm going to wait to see how I feel when I get there.

Another project I've started is a scarf for one of my friends who helped me move earlier this semester.  While packing, he found a color combination in my stash and mentioned that he would love a scarf in those colors.  Of course, I couldn't resist.  What a great way to repay him for his help and help clear out my stash a bit at the same time!  I wanted to knit something simple, something I could knit during lectures or during a study break.  But I also wanted something that would look nice.  So, I browsed Ravelry and found the Double-double Scarf from Le Blog de MichelineL (yes, it's in French; no, I don't read French).  Two things I really appreciated: she posted an English version of the pattern, she included pictures of how to knit the stitch.  I really like how easy this is and how polished it looks.  It's based on a basic garter striped scarf.  Lovely.  However, it's going into a holding pattern until the end of the Olympics.