Triangle Shawl

I've been at loose ends lately, not really finding anything that I want to work on. Yesterday I found a shawl that I had started last year and, for some reason, lost interest and just sort of put it back. I'm over halfway finished, so I've decided I'm going to finish it. You can see the pattern at Triangle Shawl. It's a Lion Brand pattern using Lion Brand Homespun. It's really easy to do. Mostly mindless knitting, which seems to be what I need right now. Too many distractions to try and knit a complicated pattern. One of my coworkers brought in a beautiful Lion Brand Homespun project that she is working on. Its pattern is here. It's called Pretty Poncho and she chose an offwhite color to make it in. I would like to use that same color and make a shawl out of it instead of a poncho. The poncho has a hood and I'm not sure if I want that on a poncho. I could maybe still make the poncho, just have an opening for the head without the hood.

I'll have to see how I feel when I finish the Triangle Shawl.

iPod Sock Pattern

This is really ctue. I don't have an iPod, but here is a cute iPod Sock Pattern that can be knitted to protect your iPod. It makes me want to get an iPod.

Rainbow Scarf

Rainbow Scarf

I still haven't figured out how to do this on my home computer, but I took a quick picture this morning of the scarf I made for my 3 year old niece. My boss had bought some of this same yarn and made one for her granddaughter. She had an extra skein of it left and gave it to me. It didn't have the label on it, so I don't know the brand name. I do know where it is at my LYS and I enjoyed working with it so much, I might go back and get some more in another color. This was a fun scarf. I used size 13 knitting needles, cast on 10 and just knit every row until I used up all of my skein, leaving enough to bind off.

In the past, I have been using bamboo or wooden circular needles alot for my knitting because there is less strain on my wrists than using metal or plastic knitting needles. My problem lately with the circulars is that I usually have to buy a longer circular because the yarn store is either out of the shorter size, or they don't carry them at all. I buy the shorter ones because it's much easier to work with than fighting the longer ones. You have that plastic circular thing that just plain gets in the way and is cumbersome. When I have bought straight needles before, I have only been able to find either the metal or plastic in the really long ones and those really put too much strain on my wrists. I don't have carpel tunnel, but I could feel the discomfort using the long straights.

When I bought my needles for the scarf, I noticed that my LYS had the size that I needed in bamboo that looked to be about 9" in length. I decided to try them and I love them! They are super light and it hardly feels like I'm holding needles at all. I would love to go back and see if I can find some more sizes in this length. I would love to find one in a size 15 since I knit alot of scarves with this size needle.

I just happened to already have a size 8 in bamboo that are about 9" long and that's what I"m using to knit the Branching Out scarf. I started it at lunch yesterday and knit the first 10 rows. My hubby and I had someplace we had to go last night, so I went home last night and started knitting on the 11th row thinking that I could get a quick row in before we had to leave. I was also half watching TV at the time and half knitting. Needless to say, I messed up row 11 and after trying to frog to where I made my mistake, I just said to heck with it and frogged it all out. So, this morning I cast on again and got my first 5 rows in garter stitch done. I'll probably work on it some more this weekend. I may not have time to do very much this weekend since it's Mother's Day weekend and we have plans or both Saturday and Sunday. Just from what I knitted yesterday I could see the pattern for the Branching Out scarf evolving and it was very exciting. I can't wait to try it gain and this time pay attention. This may be one of those projects that I just have to find a quiet place and do since I can't seem to do two things at once. Or rather following a pattern like that while watching TV or trying to talk to someone. The pattern is not hard at all, you just have to pay attention to what you are doing.

Branching Out

I have been having some trouble posting pictures to my blog using my home computer. I thought at first it was the Hello software I am using, but after using it today at work with no problem (see my Journal), I realize it's my computer at home. We have dial up and it is painfully slow. I'm going to try again tonight because I want to post a picture of a cute scarf I made for my 3 year old niece.

After seeing Cara's Branching Out Scarf I decided to try one myself. The pattern is available from Knitty. The pattern calls for using Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool yarn, but I decided that, until I know what I'm doing, I would just use some cheaper yarn. Just for practice I'm using Caron's Simply Soft Baby Sport yarn in a soft lavender and size 8 straight knitting needles. I started it at lunch today, and I knitted the first ten rows. I can begin to see the pattern forming and it's really exciting. Instead of following the chart, I'm using the written instructions. I find that I do better reading the instructions than following charts becuase I'm always losing my place. Using the written instructions, I can just mark off each row as I finish it. I think it's going to be pretty easy, providing I don't get too distracted while knitting it and lose my place.

I said that the Caron yarn is cheap. What I mean is that it is a little cheaper in price, but I thought it would do well for practice. It's a good yarn for baby sweaters, and soft scarves. I'm not sure how it will behave for this Branching Out scarf, but since it's a practice scarf, it won't really matter. And, who knows, it might turn out to be a nice scarf.