Rill Scarf Completed!

I finally finished the Rill Scarf!  Below are pictures, one before I blocked it and the other two after.



It turned out great!  I was nervous blocking it, though now I'm not sure why.  You can tell the detail on the lace now where you couldn't before, and the ruffles lay out much better than before blocking.  I plan on getting more of the Juniper Moon Findley yarn and making this in other colors, and maybe trying it out in different yarns too. Once I got past the point where I had to keep pulling it apart and really got into the swing of it, it was such a fun project to knit.

I also figured out how to get the pictures of the baby blanket posted as well, so this will be a very picture-heavy post.

There are some flaws in this, but overall I was very pleased with how it turned out.  With the Louisa Harding yarn, it turned out very soft and kind of squishy, which makes it great for a child!

I'm down to one main project, which is a baby blanket I'll feature later.  I'm itching for other projects to work on so I'll be hunting down some patterns and posting more soon.

Knitters Conventions and Baby Blankets

Just got back from several days in Chicago, so I'm behind on my goal of posting 1-2 times per week.  Had a great time there, though!  My husband and I went as a belated anniversary trip, hitting Fogo de Chao (amazing Brazilian steakhouse), going to Second City, and seeing a game at Wrigley Field.

On our way back, I was able to go to the market at Stitches Midwest, a knitting convention that happened to be near Chicago the same weekend.  I love going to the knitting conventions.  Most of the time, I'm able to walk away spending less than $100 (which is pretty good for me!) since I have so much yarn at home I could practically open up my own store right now.  This was the biggest one I had been to, and I'm very tempted to travel to one of the other Stitches conventions that will be happening later this year and early next year so I can take some classes as well.  I walked away from this one with some jewelry and very large quantities of Panda yarn, which is one of my favorite yarns to knit socks with.  

Today, I want to show off a blanket I made for a friend's baby.  I found the pattern at freepatterns.com, Baby Blocks Blanket, and made this using Louisa Harding yarn, Denim and Tan in Albero, Light Green in Kashmir Baby, and Light Gold in Kashmir DK. Unfortunately I'm having trouble uploading the pictures of my finished product, so while I keep working on that, here is the photo from the pattern to give you an idea.

This was an easy project (to a point) because the squares were all just knit back and forth.  This was great to knit while watching TV or movies because it didn't require a ton of concentration.  The hard part was sewing the squares together.  I had to safety pin the rows together and use the whip stitch going around.  This took a lot more concentration because I wanted to make sure all the stitches were as even as possible.  It was so much fun to make though, frustrations aside, that I may make it again when someone else has a baby.

My only regret with this blanket was that I wasn't cautious enough about what yarn I used.  I love Louisa Harding yarn and thought it fit into the blanket beautifully, but the light gold Kashmir DK is hand wash only and I didn't realize that until after I fnished the blanket!  Luckily, the friend I gave this to was absolutely fine with having to hand wash it, but that's a big lesson for me for next time - If it goes near a kid, it needs to be machine washable!

You can check out this and other patterns I've used on Ravelry.com, user name is Mehan212. 

Complicated Projects

I always have a crazy number of projects going at the same time.  Well, maybe not too crazy but that depends on your viewpoint.  Some people are committed enough to work on the same project from start to finish without stopping to work on anything else, but I am definitely not one of those people.  I like to have different projects going depending on what mood I'm in or what I'm doing.

I always have one super complicated project going.  This is one that is a new skill or stitch I've never done before, and tends to take a lot of concentration to keep from screwing it up.  I absolutely cannot watch TV while working on this project, which I have learned the hard way!

I have an easy project going that I can work on mindlessly right before bed.  Right now, that is a simple knit scarf, but more on that later.

I always have a crochet project going, which is usually either a stuffed animal or toy balls.  Again, more on this one in a later post.

I took a sock class once to learn different stitch techniques, not expecting to ever actually make socks.   I ended up loving it and always have a sock project going as well.

And since I'm now of the age where all my friends are having babies, I have a baby project going, usually a blanket.  Count it up, that's 5 projects at varying degrees of completion!

Today, I want to write about my 'complicated' project, as I'm ridiculously excited about this.   It's called 'Rill Scarf' and the pattern is available for purchase on Ravelry.  Below is a photo, from mimknits on Flikr.

I am loving this project!  I am using Juniper Moon Farm Findley yarn, in a pretty grey similar to the picture. I had to rip it apart and start over three times, but once I got going, it's been coming along beautifully.  It combines a lace section, which always requires a ton of concentration, and 'short rows', which was a new concept to me.  The short rows are what give it the ruffle and, I think, give it a lot of character.  I'll post more pictures as this one comes along.  I'm about halfway done right now, and I plan on finishing within the next week or two so I can enjoy wearing it during the summer.

I'll post more in a few days, with pictures of my personal Rill scarf.  I rarely make something for myself, but I may not be able to give this one away!