Further adventures of the birthday scarf (and a new hat)

I would be remiss not to tell you about the wonderful show I attended a couple Fridays ago and the spontaneous roll that my unsuspecting birthday scarf played in the festivities.

The first knitting related event occurred when I met the lovely Miss D.


My sister's introduction included describing Miss D. as "crafty," and (as if to provide evidence of Jenny's statement) Miss D. immediately pulled up her sleeve to show me the words "crafty lady" at the bottom of a large tattoo. I, of course, asked to see the whole tattoo and then took a picture to share with you, my gentle readers. She's considering continuing the piece around the inside of her arm by adding a heart shaped ball of yarn with two knitting needles sticking through it--a choice I fully support. Plus, she came to my knitting group this Sunday. (Yay!)

The show was quite long and I managed to knit most of a small hat during the evening (which seemed to give Miss D. knitting envy because she brought a fuzzy scarf project back with her after a quick jaunt home for some earplugs). I started the hat a few days before with the intention of making a new baby hat for my little nephew, who is already way too big for the first hat I made him. I was about an inch in and finished it during the show. But it's too big for a baby! Even a big baby like sweet Joe! So, I think I'm going to give it to Derek, my friend Karen's son, who it will probably fit. (I'll try to get pictures when I present the gift in a couple weeks.) Anyway, it's fun to spread the knitting bug at rock shows.


But, you ask, what about the scarf? What adventure did it have? Well, after the show, Cataldo recorded one of the tracks for his upcoming album, and I was one of a bunch of people who stuck around to sing for the chorus. One of the other performers acted as the hypeman (indicating to us when to sing, etc), and he used my birthday scarf as his signaling tool. It was fun. I shook bells. My scarf was the center of attention. I sang. Music + Knitting = Good Stuff!

A holiday knitting recap

I did some holiday knitting: scarves, of course.


I wanted to make something else for my dear Lynn (who I knit Odessa for last winter), and I decided on a light airy scarf, simple but elegant, that won't be too heavy for a sweet lady who's having hot flashes. I'm also hoping that it will be more versatile that the large lace scarf/shawl that I made her before I started this blog.

I knit this scarf with Kidsilk Spray (in the "Regal" colorway) on size 11 needles in a simple garter stitch pattern. It's the same technique (skinny mohair/silk yarn on bigger needles) that I used for Kayla's birthday scarf. I think Lynn's happy with the final product and looks quite cute in it.

The second scarf was for my Grandma Tennie. And, in naughty knitter fasion, I didn't have it done on Christmas, but I did get it done the day after and took some pictures with my brother before I left town.


To be honest, I've been working on this scarf for just shy of a year. The pink yarn was a gift from my father last year at the holidays, and right away I intended to use it on my grandma's scarf. Looking back over my blog posts from the last year, you can see the project mentioned here and there, and I even showed the yarn in my post on Valentine's Day. For some reason, I really wanted to make Grandma a scarf with reversible cables, but none of the patterns I tried looked good with this yarn. I've lost count of the number of times I would find a pattern, start knitting it, get frustrated, frog, and then feel guilty that I still hadn't made Grandma her scarf.


This fall I made the realization that my concept needed revision, and I shifted to experimenting with using the slight bulky yarn in more open/lacy patterns. I settled on knitting the scarf horizontally in a simple feather and fan pattern, with an instant fringe made by cutting and reattaching the yarn at the end of each long, long row. After the addition of blue stripes, I decided that it was probably going to be nice enough for my super sweet Grandma. When I revealed the project to her on Christmas (still on the needles) she seemed excited about it. I tried to finish it before we drove her home, but I couldn't manage to complete the bind off until late that night.


I would have preferred to take FO pictures with Grandma, but Cody was a super model. After donning the scarf, he immediately inquired, "Do I look like Dr. Who?" I love my family.

Birthday scarf report

Well, last time I suggested a few upcoming entries for my blog, but now I'm doing something else: I'm showing you photo evidence that I did, in fact, finish my birthday scarf, and that I love it and wear it daily. It's lovely and colorful and warm and long and... everything I hoped it would be. I got a bit finicky about utilizing every single bit of the fancy Noro Silk Garden yarn, and, by the end, was spit splicing small (2-3 foot) segments of yarn between the two balls so that the colors would work the way I wanted and in order to get optimum length out of the four skeins. I think I was successful.

So, do I look ready to tackle 2008?

A New Year: 2008

As I write this, the first day of 2008 is sliding past. I plan to post this in the morning and hope it signals the beginning of a cycle of more frequent blogging.

I've been in a funk lately. It's odd. And I'm not sure what I need to do to pull myself out. I was awake this morning before Dan, which is unusual for our days off, and I went to the backdoor to take pictures of the sky. Maybe my early morning initiative is a good sign for the what will come in 2008.


It's been cold here recently, freezing at night. I wear my birthday scarf all the time, but (probably because I'm in a funk) I'm very bad and didn't put up any pictures. My new winter look also includes a furry hat. I'll make my sister take a picture for me so that you can tell me if I look prepared to take on the new year.

Ideas for future blog entries: "WIPs and chains," "a holiday knitting recap," and "knitting from the left" (a new perspective with the lovely Miss A.). If I'm really productive, I'll write all of these in the next week. Wouldn't that be astounding?