Tuesday, January 08, 2008

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.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What beautiful work. Glad to see the blog up and running again!
I'm posting from a coffee shop because there is no internet in the house. There is a liquor store on the corner and a street population in the neighboring park. I already saw one person urinating in public.
I'm definitely going to be diverting some of my yarn money for pepper spray.

Anonymous said...

amanda the scarf looks lovely! next you have to make me one!
With love
Cody

Batty said...

Both the mohair scarf and the wavy scarf are beautiful. And you do realize you'll have to knit your brother a Dr. Who scarf now, right?

If he grows out his hair and wears loads of tweed, Cody may have a shot at resembling Tom Baker, by the way.

Mama-o-rama said...

It's good to see your blog again. I like the pictures of your family in your knitted objects. I am pondering the lace weight yarn you gave me for Christmas. A shawl seems like a good idea, but which one and where does a person wear a shawl in the 21st century? Hmmm . . .