It’s done, sewn in and blocked out. And it’s small.. and I knew that. The swatch started as a foray into fairisle practice, then slowly made its way to a steeking practice. I didn’t have the right yarn for it, so I picked up a few balls of fingering weight Knitpick’s Palette yarn just so I could play with it. I made it in the 34″ size too… since I want to experience the whole she-bang once… figure out what I can do better if I had the actual DK weight yarn.. and where I should pay particular attention to.
Initially, I only wanted to show you this.

But I got carried away and stuffed myself into this too-small too-tight cut-off-my-circulation vest just for kicks… (yea I need to pay attention to picking up stitches.. see where it’s wonky and holey? That’s not gonna happen when I have my real yarn)
The giant practice piece here is better suited for a 32″ bust.. if you use fingering weight yarn and sz 3 needles like I did. My next piece is so going to ROCK!

Edit: Silly me.. totally forgot the most important part. I followed Eunny’s directions to the tee… her diagrams and instructions were very well-written and made this an easy knit. Can you knit and purl? Then you can knit fairisle! Eunny, thanks for the explicit instructions and impeccable pattern.

Ahh..the moment of truth..will it unravel? Hey…so far so good!
Is this the largest practice swatch you’ve ever seen or what?

Ever since Eunny published her Deep Argyle Vest pattern, I’ve been itching to try it out. But the search for suitable yarn has so far been unfruitful…should I go with Dale of Norway Heilo? Or Rowanspun DK? Briggs and Little Regal? Ah… choices. So while I wait to make a decision.. I decided to just knit a practice swatch with whatever I have.. you know.. just to see what it’s like..

Knit knit knit.. ah.. crap.. I’m knitting too tightly.. I need to loosen up my tension…
Knit knit knit.. ooh.. check out that argyle pattern…
Knit knit knit.. Oi.. I have gone this far.. might as well go all the way..
Knit knit knit.. yea.. I should totally practice steeking on this while I’m at it…Yea..this thing definitely won’t fit me when I’m through with it.. but who cares? I knit for fun. And this sure is fun.. and when I finally decide on a suitable yarn, you can be sure that I will have gotten the steeking down pat. Oh.. the yarn is KnitPick’s Palette by the way, in Blush and Fog. Sz 3 needles.. Photos taken under natural light.

Well lookie here, what’s that? Oh a finished Backyard Leaves Scarf for Anna!

Pattern: Backyard Leaves (Scarf Style)
Materials: 3.25 balls of Knitpicks Merino Style (DK weight) in Petal (123 yds/ 50gms), Sz 5 needles
Notes: I’ve always wondered about Knitpicks’ 100% merino yarn and lucky for me, Anna happened to choose this yarn for her SYNO scarf. This yarn is soft, albeit a bit halo-ish when knit up, but is delightful to work with. The original pattern used a worsted weight yarn and Sz 7 needles, and since my original attempts with sz 6 seemed a bit holey, I dropped down to sz 5’s. The resulting scarf is drapey and soft, and I hope Anna likes it. It’s my first attempt at knitting for another fellow knitter, so I hope the results are up to par.
The book does not tell you how to graft the two halves together other than telling you to match the leaf veins — which I found impossible to do. The 10 CO sts in the beginning were done provisionally, so in the end I just put those 10 sts back on the needle and picked up the 5 additional sts from the 3rd row and kitchener stitched it. Since I have no shame, here’s the grafted portion. Before blocking, the scarf looked very 3D. I kinda liked it the way it was, but that would be a pain to wear. So in the end, it became the 2D version after blocking.
Anna, I hope you like it. If not, let me know what I could have done better to improve it so my next participation in swapping knitted items with other knitters will be better!

This is what I have on the Backyard Leaves for Anna so far. I’m knitting both halves at once, so I can avoid the 2nd half syndrome. Merino Style is wonderfully soft for this scarf, and I’m knitting the scarf on Sz 5 needles as opposed to the sz 7′z mentioned in the pattern. Then again, the pattern called for a heavy worsted weight yarn while I’m knitting with a DK weight. I hope to get this done soon and send it off so Anna won’t be cold and scarf-less in Canada. I hear Ottawa is an icebox in the winter. Just to prove to y’all that I do knit with colors other than pink, here’s my progress on Stephanie’s Spring Grass socks. I have some fingering weight 100% wool Japanese yarn in my stash and it wants to be these socks. I charted out the lace pattern in Excel so it’s easier for me to follow and so far, knitting these have been a breeze. They want to be knee-length socks. Psst.. I forgot to mention that I used Purly White’s tips on YO Short Row toes for these babies. Much much better than the wrap short rows. She posted an awesome demo and you should all check it out!