Fancy Scarf - finally finished

I finally managed to take some pictures of the Fancy Scarf made from the Brillant my Mom brought me. To be honest, I would never buy yarn like this, I am not a novelty yarn fan. I was painfully remembered why. Knitting with this yarn is no fun. But, you know, since my Mom gave it to me and I never made anything like this I thought "why not".

Call me the queen of procrastination! The scarf has been finished for more than a week, it just took me so long to weave in the two(!) ends - especially when it says on the lable "secure with thread"...What? Even more work I don't like? OK, I have to admit, it looks quite good. And now follows an instruction for the two objects on the photo:



Knitted from only one ball the length of the scarf is not that much, so take a ring (half precious stone) and fancyfully secure the fancy scarf by pulling the ends through the fancy ring...uh, it's getting a bit silly here....



Apart from my poor attempts to drape the thing as appealing as possible, it looks pretty snazzy, if I may say so myself. I like the colours and am sure I will be wearing it sometime soon.

Pattern and yarn issues

If you have been reading my blog you've seen the swatch I made for the vest. It is a simple rib pattern, like this:

k--kkk--k--kkk--k
k--kkk--k--kkk--k
kk--k--kkk--k--kk
kk--k--kkk--k--kk

k = knit, - = purl

Looks easy, doesn't it? Duh, either it is the dark yarn that makes it difficult or I am excessively dense, there is not a row I knit where I discover a mistake later on which I haven't realized while knitting it. My biggest fear is finishing the garment and then discovering one of my "knit-instead-of-purl" or vice versa on it. Ever had the same problem?

A totally other issue is my being such a yarn snob. Last year I bought some "Paton's Decor" which was supposed to become a child's sweater (you know, being able to wash it in the machine etc). I started said sweater but left it to itself too long and then my godchild had outgrown the pattern. Okay, I thought, let's knit a simple ribbed sweater for my husband - no loss there. I bought two more skeins, started it about three times and ended up ripping it out each time. It's not what I knit, it's the yarn that makes me dislike it so much. I'd rather knit my hands raw with pure, scratchy wool than knit with this kind of acrylic (and it has actually 25% wool in it) again. My point is, I don't even want it in my knitting basket anymore...eBay here we come. Doesn't that sound very snobby to you?

One-knitter-household again

My Mom has left for Germany today. I know I will miss her but that's just how it is when you live a continent away from the rest of your family. After all, I am 34 years old, I don't need my Mommy around but it would be nice to see her more often. Actually, I know I couldn't live with her on a daily basis, it would drive me nuts (and her, too!).

Come tomorrow I will be able to knit, knit, knit all day long if I choose so, maybe I can post huge progress on all my projects soon. Ah, well, who am I kidding...but, Rolf's birthday is coming up and I plan to finish the "I-won't-wear-it"-vest til then. My taste can't be too bad after all because yesterday I bought a shirt for him and he really likes it. And, I can start knitting on my Mom's TTT with a twist again, that has been sitting in the closet for the last 16 days and will be happy to see the sun once more...

My Mom knits, too

First of all a belated pic of the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival in Essex Junction.
I really don't know what I thought when I took the photo because who would center (almost) a stupid garbage can? I think I wanted to capture the yarns of "Ellen's 1/2 pint farm" because I really like them....

Now let me show you what my Mom knitted since Saturday when she started this pullover with the Classic Elite 03 Tweed (this in lieu of my own knitting progress):



She has more done than me on the vest, and she is happily knitting away right know. I knew writing a blog would cut into my knitting time! This might be the only picture you ever get to see from the pullover she knits for my brother, but I can tell you it'll turn out just fine.

The "I-won't-wear-it"-vest

That's what I get when I talk about the vest I am knitting for my husband: "I will try it on but I won't wear it." I haven't given up hope yet and keep working on it. It's just that I think that it would really look nice on him, how can I give up knitting it? I also could call it the "I-won't-give-up"-vest but the deed is done and we'll see how it turns out!

I yet have to talk about my Mom's and my trip to Essex Junction, Vermont, where we visited the annual "Wool and Sheep Festival". Lots of nice yarn and lots of smelly sheep, lamas and angora rabbits, too. I bought two large skeins of a alpaca/wool mix, don't know what to do with it yet. And I bought some roving. I would like to learn how to spin with a drop spindle - I just have to buy one first. So many projects and so little time...