Tag Archives: mohair

A very nearly Christmas ruffle scarf

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My daughter has been wanting a ruffle scarf since the very first one I made. Yet, for some reason I kept knitting her other scarves. In hindsight, I think we are both somewhat mystified by this perverse reaction on my part. I have no defense.

So, in keeping with the fine tradition of my forefathers. Er, foremothers. Er, mother. Where was I? Oh, yes – in keeping with the fine Christmas tradition of giving a half-completed knitting project as a gift, I made my daughter a ruffle scarf. At last. And the important part is that it was finished before the end of Christmas Day, Eastern Standard Time. Actually, the important part is that my daughter appears to LOVE it. Score one for mom, only a year and a half late.

RuffleScarfBlue

Still here, no really

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Wow – it’s really been over a month since I last posted. I’m not sure how it’s already mid-March. And I’m a little fuzzy on what happened to February.

Real life has been seriously interfering with Knitting life, but I did manage to finish a long-promised scarf for one of my best friends. The same ruffle scarf I’ve done in the past, but I changed it a little bit, and added a border at the end:

I like how it came out, and hope my friend does, too. But (true confessions), I only thought of adding the border when I, uh, ran out the white yarn I’d been using. So, I dithered between going to store and getting more (Excuse to go buy more yarn!) and trying out something new. The test scarf I made for myself is very soft – almost too soft! – and so I thought the border with a different type of yarn would give the scarf a little substance. I wasn’t expecting the sort of vintage look that it adds, but I count that as a bonus.

My mom is coming to visit this weekend – so a trip to the yarn store is definitely in order!

Ruffle scarf 2: Wider and much more grey

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As promised, I have revisited the ruffle scarf, but this time I added some extra rows to make it a little wider. The yarn I thought was mostly grey was actually white to black with grey in between, so I’m glad that I used it for this scarf because the minor pooling  is not so obvious!

Each project is still a learning experience for me – and for this scarf I learned several things: First, I learned that it is possible to start knitting the wrong way in the middle a row if you’re not paying attention. Second, I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter if you’re knitting with mohair! I love this stuff! I didn’t even bother to pull out the wrong stitches (in part because I couldn’t figure out how many there were), I just turned around and knitted the other way.

Felting questions remain

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So, I may have been subject to irrational exuberance yesterday – upon closer inspection this morning I realize that I can still see some stitch definition in the felted bag. There’s no doubt that it’s felted, but it’s not felted-beyond-all-reason-felted, which I was hoping for.

I’m going to look online to see if people have had success with further felting even after something is mostly dried. I won’t be all that disappointed if this is as good as it’s going to get – I’m still pretty happy with the bag! But… if I could felt it further….

And, for my next trick, I’m going to turn this lump of fuzz into a scarf:

Redbeard and I were convinced that this had to be roving until the nice lady at the yarn store patiently showed us how, yes indeed, it was really yarn.

Quick side project

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I have been knitting, I swear. In fact, a couple days ago two things happened: my friend Gina pointed out a pretty scarf pattern and I realized my daughter and I had forgotten her friend’s birthday. So, a quick trip to the yarn store and about 1000 Yarn Overs later:

This was an easy scarf as advertised, except I should have paid more attention to the comments about the pattern (“It only takes one skein, so you know it can’t go forever”). Over 1000 purl stitches in a row (literally, in a single row)… and the yarn, while beautiful, is fiddly to work with so I don’t think that I’ve improved my purl technique (the opposite, maybe!). I will say, the best thing about working with mohair (or mohair-like substances) is that it masks mistakes really well. Which is good, because as far as I can tell, it prompts more mistakes, too.

Still – love the pattern! I’ll definitely try it again…