Archives for 2016

I’m popping in one last time this year to wish you all a Happy New Year.

I started 2016 knitting a couple of hats, and I am ending the year working on Granito:

I finished my FrankenScarf on Christmas Eve:

Thank you for stopping by here from time to time in 2016. Onward to 2017!

The winner of a copy of the eBook Double or Nothing: Reversible Knitting for the Adventurous, a new eBook by Alasdair Post-Quinn is Annette Schipf, who has been contacted. Thank you to everyone who left a comment and told me which project spoke to you!

If you were not the lucky winner, remember that you can purchase an eBook version on Ravelry, as well as order a print/download combo via the author’s website.

It is December 23 and that can mean only one thing: I’m coming down the home stretch of my FrankenScarf. After today, there is just one more mini-skein each of Opal and Koigu to go. Miraculously, I have kept up, and I am currently knitting the skeins from Day 23 in my calendars.

On Monday a couple of my colleagues had some fun with the scarf in progress. Kate made herself a bit dizzy because she twirled into the scarf, rather than twirling the scarf around her.

And Leah had the same experience.

Both Kate and Leah were pleasantly surprised by how non-bulky the scarf is, considering how freaking long it is. By my calculations it will be close to 160″ long at completion! Since is is knit from fingering weight yarn, it is pretty lightweight, considering.

When completed, I’ll do my best to get a photo that shows the full length.

Happy holidays to you all, from me and Loki. Thank you for stopping in to visit. We hope you have a lovely holiday, whichever one or ones you choose to celebrate.

Loki has visions of catnip mice dancing in his little head!

Now, back to my FrankenScarf!

Day Eighteen of the FrankenScarf and things are getting . . . long.

I have something else pretty spectacular to look at. This:

This is Double or Nothing: Reversible Knitting for the Adventurous, a new eBook by Alasdair Post-Quinn. You can purchase an eBook version on Ravelry, as well as order a print/download combo via the author’s website.

The book has 14 patterns, all viewable here on Ravelry, but it is so, so much more! It is over 200 pages long, and has pretty much everything you need to know about every nuance of double-knitting, including step-by-step illustrated instructions for many, many techniques:

And if that were not enough, the patterns are awesome! My favorites:

This is Ferronnerie, a pretty tam that is worked in double-knitting entrelac. I didn’t know double-knit entrelac was possible, but here is proof! The sample os worked in Quince & Co. Finch, a fingering weight wool.

This necktie pattern is called Twice as Sexy, the name taken from the yarn used to work it: Buffalo Wool Company Sexy, which is a bison down/silk blend laceweight.

Waterford Crossing is a gorgeous geometric wrap, worked in The Plucky Knitter Oxford, a fingering weight merino/cashmere blend.

Anyway, if you are interested in double-knitting and what to make some really stand-out accessories, this book is for you.

And I have bene authorized to give away a copy of the eBook to one of my readers!

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this blog post and tell me which of the 14 designs from the book is your favorite and why. Contest closes noon this Wednesday, December 21, 2016, at which time we will select a lucky winner.

Loki

Loki is practicing his selfie skills!

Work continues on my FrankenScarf. Here it is, with the the Opal mini-skein for Day 11 just started:

It’s getting pretty long and I’m not at the halfway point yet. I could just stop when it reaches a “reasonable” length. But I think I’m going to knit until I’ve used up all my mini-skeins and end up with a very long scarf indeed. I can always wear it by wrapping it multiple times.

The stitch pattern is pretty mindless and usually mindless knitting bores the heck out of me so that I slow down. But I am really having fun seeing the color pattern emerge as I work each mini-skein. It’s hard to predict what’s going to happen from looking at the yarn in the skein. This segment was a particularly fun surprise!

Meanwhile, Loki is working on the art of the selfie.

The FrankenScarf is growing!

This photo depicts halfway through Day Seven. For each day there is a deep stripe of Opal and a skinny stripe of Koigu.

I am now at the point where I am obsessing over my ability to keep up and finish up each day’s yarn in a timely fashion.

I do think it looks like a fun scarf. This led me to imagine how fun it would be knit with this:

This is a complete set of Mason-Dixon Knitting Euroflax Linen mini-skeins. This is available for sale in four sets of five skeins in different colors (Earth, Forest, Fire, and Sea). I was lucky enough to grab a “mega-bundle” of all four sets when MDK was offering it for sale recently. I note that the mega-bundle is currently out of stock.

Wouldn’t this complete set make an awesome striped FrankenScarf? Think about it!

That’s probably exactly what Loki is contemplating.