This was the last Pay It Forward gift I sent off. It made its way safely to Katie.
Difficult to part with, this one. To ease the sting, I got my hands on another skein of Malabrigo Worsted weight in Forest; I'll make myself a Dolores Park Cowl out of a flattering green. I'm fairly positive that this pattern has begun a Malabrigo stash craze... and I completely understand the craze that is the cowl.
I followed modifications made by Jennifer in her blog post. She knit hers on a US 8, but because I knit tightly, I used a US 9.
I suppose I can share my latest FO's, now that the USPS has speedily delivered the Pay It Forward packages I've sent out. The third has yet to be mailed off -- I think tomorrow it'll hit the mailtruck.
The first was a Reverse-Bloom Flower Washcloth for Amber. She's been knitting kitchen scrubbies and dishcloths as of late. Digging through my stash, I spied some Cotton Chenille and thought of the flower washcloth immediately. You can find the pattern in Weekend Knitting by Melanie Falick.
It's a quick knit; I think I did it in two evenings. Most could do it in one sitting, but I never have that big of a chunk of knitting time. I've knit a few of these before, and regardless of how mindful I am while knitting, my petals always curl up at the bottom. The Cotton Chenille is user-friendly. And I can report that after a couple of years of use, my other two flower washcloths are still in good shape. Amber now has her own skein of Cotton Chenille to knit a second cloth if she so chooses.
You might remember this noodle-like mass:
This yarn has a story to tell: it was purchased in February of 2007, knit into the Fitted Textured Sweater in Modern Classics within a few months, then sat and sat unseamed for months. It was my first sweater, and I didn't realize until I began seaming that it would never fit nicely. In fact, if it were in a store, I would have never bought it. Completely wrong for my body type...
The Juliet Scarf in Knitting Little Luxuries has been in my queue since I discovered it upon publication. I had all the required yarn; to be exact, as a result of frogging the sweater, I have enough for ten of these scarves.
It has been sent to Leslie. If she takes some pictures, I'm sure her photos will be much more stylistic.
This wasn't such a fast project. I suffer from knitting ADD and I could only sit through a couple of pattern repeats at a time. I think there were 19 pattern repeats... it had been on the needles for a month or so! Juliet is my first lacy scarf. It wasn't painful or anything, but it was definitely a labor of love. It's knit in Louisa Harding Kimono Angora Pure, a fabulous, lofty, soft yarn.
And for about two days, I was a monogamous knitter. I've finished the third Pay It Forward gift, but I'll post about that later. Meanwhile, happy knitting!
Summer days are here, at least in the life of a stay-at-home mom. Here at the SheepishOne home, our summertime daily temps are an average of 95˚F. Playing outside is not exactly fun. As much as I'd love to camp out poolside for much of the day, three young children make that just a teensy tiny bit impossible. Maybe once everyone's out of floaties and eminent drowning danger, I could swing a full day at the pool...
So, school's out, and we've begun our craft planning. Things on our to do list include: freezer paper stenciling, friendship bracelet making, tie-dyeing, clothes making, clothes making, more clothes making, knitting, and possibly embroidery. We'll still go to the beach, visit the aquarium, read some books, go to the pool, and just relax, but I'm looking most forward to the crafting.
My recent crafting endeavors:
Knitting the Juliet Scarf.
Ripping out the work (more than once) on my Sweetpea sock.
Frogging an entire pair of socks that I just didn't love.
Stashing fabric and patterns for aprons and skirts.
Summertime also translates into "Hardly See My Daddy Season" chez SheepishOne. The man of the house is a firefighter, and with an especially dry fall and winter like this year, our fire danger conditions here in California are high. The man just got home last night from his first wildfire of the year. He was gone for six days. We made it through this stint better than we have during others, but for my children, who are used to their dad being at work for 48 hours, then home for 96 hours, there is nothing better than the news that the man is on his way home.
Blocked and modeled.
And although it's not exactly sock weather, you know what I'll be knitting for next, dontcha??
