You know those times when you’ve finished your knitting and because of the lack of a decent camera you never got to post the FOs? Well that’s the case with my knitting these days. And then you put off posting the pictures because you think someday you’ll take better pictures and write a post about them? I’m sure you’ve all been there. (Ha ha.. October 4th update: Situation amended)

My sister called me up in mid-September and said that the weather conditions in Toronto already required winter coats. And then she requested for a scarf.

“Sure, of course. Let me email you some patterns so you can pick which designs you like. What color are you thinking of?” (imagination goes wild with heavily cabled patterns in reds, pinks, and other jewel tones)

“Oh, black, brown, or dark gray.”

“Seriously? But if your clothes are already in that color scheme, don’t you want your scarf to have some color to punch up your outfit?” (I mean, seriously, knitting with black yarn ain’t fun)

“Yea… but if the scarf is black then it’ll go with everything I own..”

“Well, I’ve got really really dark purple. Like, grape. It’s almost black. How about cream white? Can we settle for cream white?” (hello? color? hello?)

And then, before she told me which scarf designs she liked, I went ahead and knit her the Circles Scarf from “Knitting New Scarves”.

Then I sent her the link to Lynn Barr’s “Knitting New Scarves” and she liked it.

“I really like the Gathered Scarf too” (and also the Boteh scarf, but I don’t crochet, so that automatically disqualifies)

“Oh really? Then you’ll get that one as well. Color choice?” (thinking now that I’ve shown her that cream and gray looks well together as a neutral color combo, she may want to be adventurous with her second color choice)

“Black.”

Well, I guess in the end, she wants what she wants.

I’ve had a few inquiries in regards to the Swiss Cheese Scarf over the last few weeks and figured maybe others in blogland may be interested in making one for themselves. This is mindless knitting to the nth degree, but the results are beautiful (if I may say so) and a staple to anyone’s wardrobe.

The general idea is simple: Knit a few rows, bind of a few stitches, cast on the sts that you bound off the previous row, and knit some more. Rinse and Repeat. Pattern: Swiss Cheese Scarf, my own.
Materials: Sz 3 needles, about 800-1000 yds of laceweight yarn
Gauge: not important, but my scarf is about 10-12″ wide after blocking.
Recipe as follows:

CO 110 sts

Rows 1-6: Knit
Row 7: K5 (BO10, K8) 5 times, BO 10, K5
Row 8: K5 (CO10, K8) 5 times, CO 10, K5
Rows 9-14: Knit
Row 15: BO6, K8, (BO10, K8) 5 times, K6
Row 16: BO6, K8, (CO10, K8) 5 times, CO6
Row 17: Knit to end, CO6

Repeat Rows 2-17 until desired length, then BO all sts.

All rights reserved by me. Please use this pattern for your own enjoyment ONLY. Not for resale or distribution unless authorized by me.

I wanted an airy feel to this scarf, and just happened to have a bunch of laceweight yarn sitting in my stash. The same idea can be applied to any weight yarn, but you’d have to cast on fewer number of sts and play with the CO/BO number.

Edit: I’ve received a number of emails due to the holes not lining up properly. Apologies for those who have experienced frustration with this pattern, and special thanks to my readers for spotting the error. Thanks!

The scarf pattern in a downloadable pdf file is now available in the “Patterns” page.

Enjoy!

It’s been, hm, over a year. While I haven’t stopped knitting, it’s safe to say that I’ve slowed down significantly. Why? Life. It gets in the way of knitting sometimes. One day I may eventually write about the things that have transpired, but suffice to say that for now, I’m getting the knitting mojo back again and that I hope to have more FO’s for the year ahead.

This blog is meant to document the projects that I have made over the last year - pitifully few, but nonetheless let’s get to it. (Let’s face it, it’s more for me now anyways. I probably lost all my readers a long long time ago).

Ah yes, the Pomatomus socks. I knew from the get-go that the perfect st count for socks for my feet would be way less than the 72 sts that the pattern states to CO. So modifications galore and voila. Perfect fit.
Needles used: Sz 1 addi’s (2.5mm), magic loop, 60 sts leg to 64 sts foot
Materials: Koigu KPPPM (p219), 2 skeins
Next, the ball-band dish cloth that everyone and their mothers have made. I’ve made a few, and this is just one of many. I think we have seen enough of them around the blogland to get into the details.

And last, my Swiss Cheese Scarf. Appropriate name, non? This is probably the easiest scarf that one can make and I chose to knit from stash. I wanted a light and airy scarf that has enough texture to stand out, yet be simple enough that I can just sit down and knit without having to worry about patterns. Light and airy? Check. I will use laceweight merino. Simple? Check. Nothing complicating about binding off certain number of stitches and casting back on. Results? Mighty long to make, but mighty pleased.

Materials: School Products Lace-weight Merino. Color 7. Gifted by Joy.
Needles: Sz 3.

And there you have it. I’m in the process of knitting a Komi Hat right now too.. so expect an FO soon. The next time I blog won’t be a year from now, that’s for sure.

And oh, happy new year. It’s been so long.

Earlier this month, while surfing through the knit-blogs, I came across Katie’s site and we did a little yarn exchange - my leftover Rowan Plaid for her leftover Felted Tweed. The picture below details the three amazing balls of Felted Tweed that she sent me. (Now what can I do with a ball of Crush and a ball of Melody? Suggestions?)
I’ve always wanted to knit Bloom from Rowan 36, and I can’t make a sweater with three different colors now, can I? (Well actually I could but let’s just pretend I can’t). So then I scoured for Felted Tweed sale and hit the mother load. 5 balls of Felted Tweed in Whisper at just the right price - $6.00 per ball baby! Now I have more felted tweed than what’s needed to make Bloom, but who cares. It’s lovely lovely yarn, I tell you.
And then, as fortune would have it, I was just looking at Forecast from Knitty and happened to stop by my LYS to chance upon 7 balls of the exact yarn called for at $4.00/ball. With the amount of yarn I have at my disposal, maybe I can make a Demi from Rowan Vintage Style too, if I so choose.
Okay.. enough yarn porn. I did have a small FO during the break. Another DNA scarf. It so happens that BF would like a cream-colored scarf, and since he adores the DNA pattern, I made another one in Rowan Cashsoft DK. This yarn is delish - 57% extra fine merino, 33% microfiber and 10% of cashmere. At 142yds/50g, I used 3 balls. And get this, it’s MACHINE WASHABLE. Heck, the label says you can even IRON it too. Way to go, Rowan. It’s going to be part of a goody package that I’m sending off to him…. I just gotta finish up a pair of socks before I assemble the package.
Happy New Year All!

It’s been very quiet on the home front for the past few weeks, and to be quite honest I’m in a bit of a knitting funk. There’s been many attempts of knitting, leading to many instances of ripping.. and finally I’ve just decided to take a small knitting break. But winter has kicked in, and during this little break I’ve decided to knit another scarf for the BF in Canada.
Here’s the breakdown for the above geeky knitting..
Pattern: DNA Scarf by June Oshiro
Materials: a little over 4 balls of Plassard Superwash Merino (DK weight, 123yds/50gm), size 3 needles
Finished size: 6″ wide by 78″ long (incl. 18″ of neck ribbing). Measurements taken after blocking.
Notes: Variations of the DNA scarf designed by June Oshiro can also be found in the Knits Gene-ious section of Interweave Knits Fall 2003 magazine.

Of course, with the leftover yarn, I managed to whip up a pair of wrist warmers from Last Minute Knitted Gifts for myself.. why let good yarn go to waste right?
Oh, and worry not. The Renaissance Tunic wasn’t ripped. My brain just needs something simple and less-complicated right now….