Boring Progress Report

If I don't insist on including photos or interesting content, then maybe I can post more often.

Thus, a boring project report.

1. The blue mohair scarf is done. I used about one and a half 50g skeins of yarn (70% kid mohair, 30% acrylic, 167-ish meters per 50 gram skein). I could have kept going, but the scarf was plenty long enough, thank you. It wraps around my neck and hangs to a good length.

Pattern comments: This was a very pleasant little knit. I didn't block it all that hard, and so it's not all that wide. The cables aren't very obvious, but I think it does give the scarf a bit of structure, if that makes any sense. The scarf looks nice on both sides. It's warm and fuzzy and pretty. I'd make it again. It's quick and easy to knit, and it looks more elaborate than it is. It would make a nice gift if one was needed, especially if it's done in some kind of luxury yarn. I suppose kid mohair counts.

I found the specified bind-off to be too tight, at least for my knitting style. I redid it with a very loose regular bind-off.

Someone mentioned using this stitch pattern for a shrug. I think that would work great! The sleeves could be worked circularly, or they could be seamed after the shrug was done. You'd end up with something that looked good either way. Obviously, one would do more pattern repeats to make it wider.

For those who aren't reading all the archives, the basic pattern is by Charlotte Quiggle. It's in the Fall 2000 issue of Interweave Knits, and it's the second scarf in the article.

2. Another granny square afghan is underway. The first 5-ounce skein of acrylic yarn is used up, and I'm on the second (a solid-color 7-ounce skein). To make my life easy, I use roughly 3-4 skeins of yarn without worrying too much about the exact size or anything.

3. I've resumed work on a sweater. This one is from spindle-spun Icelandic wool, from a sheep raised by a friend. I'm doing it in the round, bottom up. So far, it's nothing fancy. I've finished the lower body. I need to do the sleeves. Then it will all get joined together as I decide how to do the upper body. Some of that will depend on how much yarn I have left at that point. I might need to add some color patterns to the yoke.

4. Spinning is occurring. I plied a couple of bobbins of brown wool. It ended up being 650-700 yards of 2-ply, about 4-5 ounces. That's a depressing quantity of singles. Well, not too depressing. The yarn is pretty even if it's taking longer to spin than I had initially expected.

There's a lot more of this stuff left. It will eventually become a sweater or two.

But since I'm not in the mood to spin more of this just now, I need to decide what to spin next. The two main candidates are each 8-ounce blobs of roving. One is some kind of Ashland Bay multi-colored stuff in dark shades. Dunno what the fiber content is, but it's probably mostly wool. The other is an old Mountain Colors handpainted targhee roving in soft shades of green and brown. What will I do with the resulting yarn? I haven't a clue!

5. Spindle-spinning is occurring. The latest batch is some semi-compacted mostly-Romney. The roving was never all that wonderful. However, it was a nice shade of pale gray with darker gray streaks. It ended up getting dunked in a dye pot a few years ago at a get-together with like-minded friends. I've slowly been spinning up all the dyed blobs. They're all in the 1-4 ounce range, a good amount for spindle-spinning. This particular blob is a bright orange-y red. I strip it lengthwise into a bunch of skinny little strips, then open it up a bit with my fingers to make it easier to draft. Color variations end up getting spread out throughout the batch of yarn.

A lot of these blobs have ended up getting turned into the quickie hats I've been cranking out over the past year.

6. Next sock is on the needles. It's a toe-up plain sock, done in an old Opal self-patterned sock yarn.

I'm sure there's more, but I'm tired of typing now.