My friend Kristin got rid of her stash and gave me a big bag of yarn when I saw her last summer.  I wanted to say thank you and so I knit her a scarf out of some of that yarn.  Here it is:

The ends are this are knit out of a fun chenille pom-pom type yarn, with the main body of the scarf being this very soft, almost suede-like yarn.  I got a number of compliments on it while I was knitting it.   It was very  easy to work with and did I mention soft?  A good hunk of it got knit when we were driving to Alabama to visit the in-laws over the holidays.   Nothing like 10 hours in a car, one way, to knock out some knitting projects.   I’ve started another scarf out of her gifted stash as a donation for the upcoming silent auction for The Jedediah Thomas Smith Foundation annual luncheon, which is another way to say Thank You to her.

This is one I knit for Edie for Christmas – also from Kristin’s stash.  It’s a fingerweight yarn.  I’ve knit this pattern several times over, it’s quick and easy and turns out quite cute.  I think I got it out of the Sunday paper a few years back – it’s all knit stitches, where you  increase every stitch every other row to make the ruffles.  I have two HUGE cones of this yarn and this scarf didn’t make a dent.  I’m thinking it might be a lovely shaw at some point.  It’s quite soft and well, purple.  Our favorite color next to orange. 

My friend Bonnie worked on this scarf one night, when our knitting group had gathered after a particularly tense PTO meeting at school.  In her haste to remember the wine, she had forgotten her knitting, so I lent her one of my projects, since you know, I always have a few I’m working on.  She couldn’t stop commenting on my tight little stitches.  Indeed, there are 1600 stitches in the last row of this scarf with a finished length of 32″.  I knit this on size 8 needles and wasn’t sure how the finished product would turn out.  It’s actually just the right length to wrap around a neck.  It’s quite darling on Edie. 

What intrigues me about knitting is how different yarns and needles create such different results.  I have a heck of a time with gauge.  When I knit scarves, I don’t have to worry about the final measurements as much, I just knit until it looks right.  You can’t do that with sweaters.  Speaking of sweaters….

Serious Progress has been made with Pat’s sweater.  Sleeve No. One is done.  (Okay, so it’s an inch short in that shot, but it’s much farther along than it was here.  I’ll be starting Sleeve No. Two this week and at this rate, I might be able to start putting it all together by sometime mid-summer.  Pat’s hinted it would make a fabulous Christmas gift.  It’s definitely taking me longer than I had anticipated – the yarn is on the heavy and stiff side because it still has a good bit of lanolin in it.  Which means it’s perfect for him to wear out on the river on cold days.

I also knit a really fun little scarf for my cousin’s girlfriend, but a certain little someone who likes to play with my camera may have deleted the photos.  Oh well.  It was white on white, mixing up all the white yarn I had on hand, with some pink and green fringe yarn thrown in for fun. I gave it to her without all the ends woven in (I finished it a few hours before her birthday party and realized I hadn’t brought my needle to work the ends in and didn’t feel like running out to get one.).  I threw some cables in here & there for fun and because I like knitting cables.  They seem to make the process go faster for me for some reason.  Hopefully I can get a new shot next time I see her (and work those ends in!).