So I was too embarassed by the stoner hat to put it up for sale at Simucon, but that didn’t stop me from forcing various people to try it on.
I present: Guy Whose Name I Forgot! (Dude, if you still want a scarf, e-mail me and I’ll knock one out for ya. If not, no big, my plate’s always full anyway.) Miekhael. Festive, festive Miekhael. Always a pleasure, buddy. And GM Ceosanna, who may be the only person in existence who can wear the hat and look good in it. Note, however, that not even the hat can distract from the evil GM-ness expressed in her demonic red eyes. Or it could just be the booze. Same difference.
Also, I had frogged the few rows I’d knit on the mother-in-law scarf until I had time to actually do it properly. That time was this week, since her birthday’s coming up. So here it is! It’s 2 1/2 skeins of Noro Lotus worked in a seed stitch. (Cast on uneven number of rows, k1p1 to end of row, then turn around and do it again.) You can’t see the detail, so here’s a closer-up view. I swear it’s not actually that radioactively bright. The picture of the yarn itself is much more accurate.
My mother-in-law has the ability to wear things with style and flair, and she bought a black coat last winter and mentioned she wanted something to wear with it. My hubby pointed out that most of her wardrobe palette is reds, so we went with that.
I think she’ll like it.
Next: a metaphor-laden lacy red and purple wool shawl for a friend who needs a warm hug and a blue purse for the middle sister who hasn’t gotten one yet!
ETA: Miekhael reminds me that Dude Whose Name I Forgot is actually Dailian. Thanks, sugar! Mwah!
Take one ball of Mosaic FX in Fellini Mix (given by Tessima the Great), one ball of Trendsetter Coconut in Blaze. Cast on between 150 and 190 stitches on #15 needles, knit four or five rows, knit one row in drop-stitch, knit a few more, then bind off.
Voila! The Drunken Parrot! Here’s a close-up to appreciate its hallucinatory glory.
Why the Drunken Parrot? Dartenian had one on his shoulder at tonight’s premium meeting, and I wanted something as insane on mine. The scarf qualifies.
I finished up another ball of the Berroco Hip-Hop, leaving me with two half balls out of the original four full skeins and forwarding my stash reduction project. So here’s the result!
I made this scarf to match the hip-hop pope hat (tm Khaman). Unfortunately, my arms aren’t long enough to take a picture of myself wearing both, so instead, here is the Bear in the Big Blue Scarf. If this baby doesn’t sell at Simu (and it may not, what with it being summer) then I’m definitely keeping it. Heck, I may keep it anyway.
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*Begin knitter geek section*
The pattern is very simple, and I’ve used it for scarves before. It makes an incredibly warm scarf because it’s really two layers knitted at the same time. Even though it lies in a flat rectangle, it’s really a big tube! Plus it has the advantage of looking like stockinette on both sides, meaning there’s no ‘wrong side’ to worry about showing. Cast on an even number of stitches, then slip 1 purlwise, knit 1, bring your yarn forward, slip 1 purlwise, bring the yarn to the back again and knit 1, yarn forward, slip 1 purlwise, knit 1… etc. to the end of the row. You should wind up with the last stitch being ‘k1’. That’s written out as sl1p, k1, *yf, sl1p, k1* to end of row. Look at the Roxanne pattern on Berroco’s website to see the pattern written out.
*End knitter geek section*
I made a kid’s scarf out of some Noro Iro the other day, and had enough left over to make part of a hat, but not an entire one. So I got some Sirdar Donegal Tweed in purple and just kind of… started knitting. It became clear at about 10pm last night that it had gone nuts enough that it needed something to just put it over the top, so I just kind of… kept going.
Here’s the hat. Because my husband keeps saying “Toing! Toing! Toing!” when he sees it, I’m calling it the Three Toing hat. A nice silly hat and scarf for a kid. I think in different colors, larger, with a few modifications, that actually would make a nice silly hat for a grownup, too.
And future note to self: At 1am, stop knitting, because who knows what you’ll end up with?
ETA: Lest anyone think I am going crazy, let me tell you, it could be worse.
But not in a smutty way. Ahem.
Aaanyway, I whipped out another scarf, this one I call Coconut Streamers. Here’s a close-up so you can see the glitziness of it a little better.
Why Coconut Streamers? Well, it’s one strand of Trendsetter Coconut, the longest eyelash yarn on the market with little hairs about 2 1/2 inches long, and one strand of Ironstone Streamers, a ribbon yarn with a little glitzy runner beside a larger matte ribbon. Plus I’m starving and in no shape to think of more witty names. I think it looks a little rainbow fishy, but I’m sticking with Coconut Streamers, dammit!
This was 95 stitches, cast onto a 32″ circular #15 needle. When you’re doing scarves lengthwise, a loose cast on and bind off is absolutely crucial, so this was a cable cast on, knit for 13 or 14 rows, then a suspended bind off. That type of cast on and bind off gives a more elastic edge.
I may do another version of this scarf using Eros or Mosaix FX instead of Streamers for even more glitz. I figure that’ll catch some party girl’s eye at Simucon. 🙂
But not in a smutty way. Ahem.
Aaanyway, I whipped out another scarf, this one I call Coconut Streamers. Here’s a close-up so you can see the glitziness of it a little better.
Why Coconut Streamers? Well, it’s one strand of Trendsetter Coconut, the longest eyelash yarn on the market with little hairs about 2 1/2 inches long, and one strand of Ironstone Streamers, a ribbon yarn with a little glitzy runner beside a larger matte ribbon. Plus I’m starving and in no shape to think of more witty names. I think it looks a little rainbow fishy, but I’m sticking with Coconut Streamers, dammit!
This was 95 stitches, cast onto a 32″ circular #15 needle. When you’re doing scarves lengthwise, a loose cast on and bind off is absolutely crucial, so this was a cable cast on, knit for 13 or 14 rows, then a suspended bind off. That type of cast on and bind off gives a more elastic edge.
I may do another version of this scarf using Eros or Mosaix FX instead of Streamers for even more glitz. I figure that’ll catch some party girl’s eye at Simucon. 🙂
Well, I finished the baby snakes scarf. Note 13″ tall Groovy Girl for scale. The scarf is a straight garter stitch, but with double the number of stitches for the last few rows for a very small flirty ruffle.
So if I finished the scarf, why do I call it a draw? Because I got too smart for myself and tried to outthink the baby snakes. See, back when I first got my ball winder, I thought, “Hey, I’ll just rewind this stuff onto a nice center pull ball.” Big mistake. It was a case of thinking about a new toy and not looking closely enough at what the yarn was actually doing. What I wound up with (so to speak) was a hopeless tangle. The snakes just kept slithering around and out of my grasp. This is a yarn that is best kept on its original cardboard core, wrapped tightly in a rubber band when not in use.
I was able to use one of the balls, and about half of the second tangled one, and then said, “the hell with it” and decided the scarf was long enough. It was, like, one in the morning when I finished because I didn’t want to stop and have the yarn tangle in on itself again, and I was just too tired to mess with it.
I’m throwing the rest of the tangle out. It’s gorgeous, but there’s not enough for one garment and I do not have the patience to de-tangle it night after night.
You know, come to think of it, I do have a cool scarf for Simucon and did learn a lesson about novelty ribbon yarns, so I guess I actually won. Take that, baby snakes! Yeah!
Here’s a new scarf as a big “nyah!” to the guy who claimed that there’s no such color as berries.
Again, I say, nyah!
Hmm… I wonder if this would sell at Simucon…
Finished up another one today. This one was on #13 needles, straight garter stitch, using Crystal Palace cotton chenille in bottle green (less yellow/army green than that picture looks) and Plymouth Paradise carried along. I call it my Susquehanna scarf, because it reminds me of the river valley in autumn, with all the blue and autum colors on the blanket of green.
I hope I’m able to visit the ancestral home in Pennsylvania this fall. I miss it.
February 24th, 2004
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Well, since AOL has crapped out on me in the middle of catching up on my DR mail, it’s as good a time as any to show the new scarf. This was another skein of the Noro Iro, but in a different colorway, #45. (Colorway is fancy yarn talk for color.)
I think this yarn shows the striping better (and for a really good shot of it, you can see one of the worst pictures taken of me) when done in long bands instead of short bits. The last one I did in this was knit in a long narrow strip. This one, I did lengthwise, casting on 150 stitches onto #11 needles and then just knitting back and forth until the yarn was gone.
When my daughter saw it, she said “rainbow scarf!” and claimed it as her own. Apparently it doubles as a jump rope. Well, as long as someone’s enjoying it!
