My only quibble is that this patter really takes just a little tiny bit more than one skein... so to complete it, you need two.  Which is not the worst thing in the world since it gives me extra for a pair of short mitts... but if you needed to be budget conscious, it would feel like a bit of a waste since the yarn is pretty pricey.    If you were interested in the patter, I would be removing one pattern repeat with let you do it with one skein.

I've had a few folks ask to see my favorite little girl.  So here I give you my Compassion Cowl and my Source of Hope.    

I found this scarf a little hard to style in a way that would provide a sense of it's size and structure.  I think the best way to wear it is backwards with the point in front and the ends wrapped around, but that didn't show much of the detail or sense  of size.

I hope this image is more helpful at describing the shape.  If you imagine two elongated bird wings in flight, I think you have a very good idea of what Saltwater's shape is.  This is definitely something I would put in the scarf category, as, in my hands, it isn't very deep, even at the deepest point.

I liked how the pattern designer created texture with the alternating bands of stockinette.   Easy knitting, but lovely result and it makes the whole scarf fully reversible.

This closeup is to help you see the color variation in the yarn better.  It presents lighter here than it really is (the other pictures are more true to color) but it does show that the yarn does have beautiful depth and variation.  It reads solid, but solid with a lot of depth, especially with the sheen of the silk. 

This pattern was easy to work through and well written -- it's definitely easy knitting and shouldn't present too much difficulty even to a novice knitter.  The only remotely challenging thing is casting on the extra stitches that are used to create the center piece of the scarf after the two end pieces are complete.  And it's hard for me to say enough nice things about the yarn.  I really love this yarn stock, which is 50% merino, 50% silk.  It's also pretty nice to work with. It is a bit splitty, but duller tipped needles (like my Addi Turbos) make that issue much less.

After completing the project, I had about 24 g of the 150 g skein left over, so the pattern was pretty yarn efficient.  When I'm spending a lot on yarn for a project, I appreciate when the designer uses a reasonable amount of it and doesn't leave me with too many left overs.  Clearly with all the oddments of fingering weight yarn I am accumulating, I need to make a scarf that can use up all my bits and bobs in a nice way.

So here we have the lovely Catkin by Carina Spencer knit in Madeline Tosh Merino Light in the colors Fathom (blue) and Glazed Pecan.  I've always like yellows and blue together (perhaps this was influenced by growing up close to the University of Michigan), but I like it when the yellows and blues have a little more sophistication.  I spent some time selecting these two colorways.  The yellow is much gold and little brown.  The blue is reminiscent of royal blue or purple with a shot of the electric.

I tried to get a shot of this project that would highlight the lovely needle work in the pecan colored area, but it's just too big for that now.  That area surprised me.  I thought it would be unpleasant to knit because the pattern was big and hard to remember.  But it turned out to be simpler than I thought.  And this yarn is really lovely to knit with, too.  I love the subtle variations in the color that give the knitting extra depth.  What is it about me and single ply yarn?  I love the stuff.  So many of my projects lately are made of single ply.

I imagine Catkin as a Spring and Fall garment.  Light enough for when it's just a little chilly out, so I think I'll make sure I've finished up my winter only warmers before I get back to her.  She sits in one of my dad's hand turned bowls beside my desk, where I can see her clearly and won't forget her, keeping company with a couple of other lost fibery souls.

While this project is not particularly photogenic (yet!) when laid out on the table, it almost can't avoid taking on the shape of a heart, given the way it is constructed.    Happy Belated Valentine's Day to all!  

This project is Saltwater by Heidi Kirrmaier and was the pattern provided along with the Fingering Silky Merino in colorway "The Great Pacific", both of which were a part of the Sundara Yarn Luxury Yarn club that I participated in last year.  The yarn is beautiful.  Although it looks solid, it has the subtle variation of a dark indigo.  When you knit it, it has depth without screaming "Hello!  I am a variegated yarn!" It is truly a treat to knit with.  I'm using my 3.25 mm nickel plated Addi Turbos (I didn't want pointy tipped needles for this yarn) and it slides along quickly and has nice stitch definition. Someday, I'd love to make a sweater out of this stuff!

The project itself is nice as well (and you can buy the pattern on Ravelry if it interests you).  It's super easy, but has alternating sections of stockinette and reverse stockinette so it is easy to knit while doing something else, but doesn't get crazy boring.  The construction is interesting, too, as you initially knit each half of the scarf separately and then bring them together -- though not with grafting.  The piece is also completely reversible - always a plus for me when it comes to a scarf.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but I am starting into the home stretch for this scarf.  I must say, I like projects where the stitch numbers decrease as you get towards the finish instead of increase.  It feels like running downhill!

Just about the time I made this decision, Sundara offered her luxury yarn subscription.  Smallish amounts of yarn and a pattern to go with it.   I'd used her fingering silky merino in another pattern and found that I could wear it against my skin without irritation, and since that yarn, it's aran cousin and a sport silky cashmere were the core offerings, I figured I couldn't go wrong.  Small projects, wonderful yarn bases and a dyer that makes some of the most beautiful and sophisticated colorways I've ever seen.   It's hard not to want this yarn in your hands!

Of course, I haven't been as fast on the draw as I would like to be.  There were three projects in the subscription and I'm just about mid-way through the first (Saltwater, which I am working in that beautiful blue yarn you see in the picture).   The other two yarns that came in the subscription are that beautiful deep "autumn leaves" red aran silky merino and the lovely "driftwood" sport silky cashmere that captures my memories of driftwood washed up on Lake Michigan in the summertime perfectly.    

The green yarn is her "Compassion" (also in aran silky merino) -- she released it at a time a few weeks ago when that message really resonated (and still resonates) with me.  The cowl project it goes with may be next since it is February in Chicago and that color will be the perfect complement to me and my hair and February is just one of those months where we all need a little more compassion, I think. At least in the places where it is cold and we have to spend more of our time indoors.

Last, but not least, that beautiful purple lace weight is "Aurora" in "Petunia" from Jill Draper. It's a wool silk blend and it's so soft that I'm optimistic that I'll be able to wear it in the lacy cowl its destined for.  

Even though I haven't knit with all of it yet, this yarn is keeping me company at my desk, sharing it's color and it's beautiful textures with me.  It's been therapeutic in many ways.  And it definitely helped convince me to keep my needles moving.

What yarn or tools inspire you to keep knitting?

In November, Julie and I went to Vogue Knitting Live when it came to Chicago.  We didn't go to any classes. Instead we went looking through the vendor section to see what interesting things we might turn up.  One of those interesting things turned out to be handcrafted hexagonal needles.  

I am always interested in "new" knitting needle technology and I'm a sucker for handmade things, especially when they come from my home state of Michigan. Indian Lake Artisans makes handcrafted hexagonal knitting needles (it's a lot easier to see that hexagon shaping on their website... these needles were just too tiny to get a good picture of that).  I took them for a spin and really enjoyed the feel and liked how the hexagon provided a bit of extra grip.    Even better, they will make them out of a variety of hardwoods, all sourced from Michigan.  I don't truly "need" any more knitting needles, but I do enjoy adding special sets into my collection when I find them.  I love black walnut and I placed an order with them for US 3 (3.25 mm) needles -- it's so hard to find hand crafted lace weight needles in small sizes!  They arrived this week (along with a handwritten explanation for why it had taken a little while for them to get to me) and they are beautiful.  They are smooth and the joins are almost undetectable when you run your fingers over them. The size of the needle is branded into one of the points, so I'll always be able to tell what size they are (they also can be sized with a conventional needle sizer).  The cable will have to be warmed and relaxed, but that is fine by me.  

I have a lace weight cowl pattern all ready to test them out on.  So as soon as I finish up another project I'm working on these needle will get a work out.  I will probably invest in a US 4 and US 5 soon as well.

The next set of acquisitions occurred after I realized all of my little stitch markers were sitting in ongoing projects (note to self: time to get knitting...). So I headed on over to Etsy and treated myself to a few new sets.  Etsy is one of my favorite places to find stitch markers since there are so many vendors and so many different markers to be found.

The markers on the top left are from Exchanging Fire.  They are markers with "mood ring" inserts -- now I will always be able to tell what mood my knitting is in!

The markers on the top right are from The Twice Sheared Sheep.  They are amethyst beads with a "moebius" ring that will fit needles up to a US 4 -- perfect for the fingering weight projects.  Amethyst is my birthstone (and I love me some purple anyway) and with my birthday coming up, I thought they would be a nice little treat.

The bottom markers are from Strawberry Lane.  Ms. Z and I both love butterflies, so these were hard to resist (clearly I didn't!).  I may have to start a project with these soon, if only to prevent them from flying off to some place in my daughter's room....

I consider pretty knitting tools, like nice workout wear, motivation to knit and create.  While the standard jump rings work well, I love the little treat I get that comes from knitting along and encountering a special marker or running my fingers over beautifully made needles.  

What are your favorite knitting tool treats? 

Which is to say, even I, who hates to knit the same pattern twice, can find a reason to go back to a pattern when enough time has passed.

This fall, Ms. Z started Kindergarten.  The transition from her wonderful pre-school to an equally wonderful Chicago public school has been a good one, but not always an easy one.  We consider ourselves amazingly lucky that Ms. Z has a teacher who is clearly (as another parent aptly put it) "part luminous being".  So, after an incident that required a great deal of parent-teacher coordination to work through, I wanted to do something that would reflect my appreciation:  something that was a gift of my time to say thank you for the gift of her time.  And I decided to knit her a scarf. 

Almost 10 years ago, I knit a lovely scarf for my mother, using Joe's Cross Stitch scarf pattern.  At the time, it felt like it took a long time to make for the payoff (mostly because of moving all those wrap stitches around) and so while I liked the result, it was only theoretically a fast knit. 

As I started to cast around, as it were, for something for Ms. Z's teacher, I remembered this scarf, but I couldn't find the pattern.  And when I started dredging through my old email and blog archives, I turned up a critical bit of information that made knitting the scarf faster: do the wraps on a bigger needle (a US 8, for instance) and only do two of them. 

Suddenly a slog became a lightning fast scarf with a beautiful pattern stitch.

 

Yarn: Claudia Handpainted Yarns Fingering Weight

Colorways: Bearded Iris and Honey (1 skein each)

Needles:  US 5 and US 8 (for wrap rows)

Ms. Z's school colors are purple and gold (think Minnesota Vikings) so I wanted to reflect that in the scarf without being too over the top about it.  

I had some extra yarn, so I did an extra half interval of the pattern so that the scarf would be symmetrical and begin and end with the same color. Since my gauge was probably a little tighter than what Joe described as optimal in his pattern, this extra interval also gave me a bit more width.  This scarf is a little shorter than the pattern describes as well, but it is also a bit denser, which, hopefully, makes it a little warmer against Chicago winter weather.  

This is the pattern stitch after I blocked it.  I love merino superwash yarns, but even though I blocked this out and stretched the crosses out a bit more, it reverted back to what it wanted to do and created a denser fabric.  Ah well.   At least this means Ms. Z's teacher won't have to go through any special blocking rituals to maintain it.

Of course, I finished the knitting on this scarf in late November and didn't manage to get it blocked until the end of December and then it took me until last weekend to fringe it.  Now it just needs a care label and a note of thanks before I wrap it up and slip it into Ms. Z's teacher's inbox. 

Whenever I knit something for someone I know on a more professional than personal level, I get a bit more nervous about sending the gift on.  Not because I worry about the quality of the gift (I believe it is beautiful and well made) but because I worry that the receiver would have preferred something else or that the making of something might be perceived as too personal.  So I'd love to hear from any teachers (or anyone one else in a field where you might get gifts from people you work with) amongst my readers on this subject.  What would you think about receiving a hand knit scarf?  Too personal or appropriate?

This skein was a random skein with no name that I purchased at Michigan Fiber Festival from the Fold.  Muted blues, greys, browns and purples.  Totally not my usual colors, but I loved it.  And even better, it was $14.  How could I leave t there?

I think I bought it around the time Zosia was born... so it sat for at least 5 years or so.  The yarn with no name that I loved.

And then Cara at January One posted on Facebook about her wonderful Willow cowls.  If anyone can find good ways to use Socks that Rock, it is Cara.  I had a Eureka! moment and pulled up Willow in Ravelry.  It really did seem perfect for the yarn.  I decided to follow Cara's suggestion (which is in her notes for the project) to start with fewer stitches (140 instead of 160 and decreasing down to 90 instead of 110 at the end.) to create a narrower, less slouchy cowl, which seemed a good call for both me and the yarn -- but otherwise, I didn't change anything in the pattern.

Willow is a funny thing when you see it like this.    It looks much better on.  But at least you can see the colors.  Very winter water color!

Willow shows herself to her best when she is worn.  I love the STR Medium weight for this scarf, it adds just the little bit of stiffness (without being stiff) that is needed to keep this cowl from being too loose and floppy.  The picot edges are a brilliant touch to hold the collar bone and neckline edges in place.

Mine also has a little surprise that you can just see a hint of in the picture.  A little girly touch necessitated by running out of yarn a few stitches before the bind off.  

I chose a soft pink yarn in a similar gauge and washability to complete the knitting, the bind off and to sew down the inner edge with.  A special little secret -- the last splash of pink at the horizon before the sun goes down over a winter landscape.

After a day of wear, it's maintaining its structure and its warm without being cloying.  STR also seems to be one of those yarns that I can wear against my skin without having an itching fit, so that's a bonus, too!  But the best surprise was that it got a thumbs up from my 9 year old niece who seems to be developing a knitting habit.  It would be fun to make a couple of smaller ones if I could figure out the right starting stitch number.

But it is the beginning of the year, so I, like many others, have been thinking about new beginnings, starting afresh and taking on new challenges.  Rather than resolutions or goals, I've decided that I am going to have wishes.  Accomplishment of wishes still requires intent (I don't count winning the lottery as one of my true wishes for the 2013, though I wouldn't complain if it actually happened) so there is still some personal activation required.  However, since they are wishes, not resolutions, I think it's easier to let them go if they are hard to realize or if they are realized for a time and then wear out.  Making something a wish gives me easy permission to let it go if life changes and it doesn't fit.  Also, it's easy to accept when a wish doesn't come true.

So what am I wishing for to start this year?

I wish: 

I love getting new workout clothes... somehow, they always seem to help me get more motivated  to keep my body moving.  What could be more fun than a monthly subscription for new workout wear?  I just signed up for pv.body and built my profile and I'm looking forward to those shiny pink packages!

My other favorite thing right now:  my monthly Julep Maven box.  After regularly buying myself little treats at Sephora, I discovered that Julep has a much better (both in terms of fun and in terms of cost-effectiveness) monthly program.  Like pv.body, you go through a little profile quiz and it matches you up with one of 4 types.  Once a month, you get to see the neat goodies that they think you'll like.  If you like 'em, you can order.  If not, you can pick from the other types, send the box to someone else or just pass for the month.  Its super fun and very flexible.  And I really like Julep polishes and supplies because they avoid a lot of the nasty chemicals that are in many polishes, meaning that they are Ms. Z friendly.

Happy New Year, everyone!