K1p1k1 into each stitch is going to make one heck of a major ruffle around the edge of this scarf. Doing it 200 times borders on insanity.
Fortunately, this makes for perfect airplane knitting. I’m partway there and a just announced hold on board due to mechanical difficulties bodes well for the odds that I get all the increases done today.
Cashmere. Lots and lots of robins egg blue cashmere! This is turning out to be the scarf of my dreams!
My swatch for the Tiny Tea Leaves Cardigan isn’t just too big; it’s WAY too big.
And this, in a nutshell, is why I always have to swatch. Not the “three rows and I’ll eyeball it” kind of swatch I often convince myself is sufficient. No, I need to be doing full on, blocked swatches if I really expect my garments to fit.
Tiny Tea Leaves calls for a gauge of 20 stitches and 28 rows = four inches. My gauge, on the size 7 needles the pattern calls for, is 5 1/2 x 51/4.
Disaster averted. You can be certain I’m going to carefully swatch until I get this one just right, and, all of my projects from now on!
I started Just Enough Ruffles yesterday. Laura Chau is a genius pattern writer, using short rows to curve the scarf inward and on toward the ruffled edge.
Having read the pattern carefully, though, I'm inclined to think that it was mis-named. It probably needs to be called Too Many Ruffles. I've just discovered that I'm going to be increasing three times in each stitch for a total of 600 stitches across the ruffled edge. 600. Really?
Although I am not looking forward to that cast off, the cashmere is soft and dreamy and the robin's egg blue color is very nice. Possibly my only real complaint about this one is that at least for now, I'm going to have to crank the air conditioning if I want to wear it. This scarf is going to have to wait for much cooler weather!
It's all done and it's definitely a hit!
This may be the perfect little lacy shrug – – with minor variations and in different yarns I can imagine it filling a lot of different uses.
I was out early, dyeing some yarn, which led to this:
Early in the morning it's quiet and beautiful and you can hear the birds singing on our street. And the light is beautiful. So, despite my best intentions to take pictures of the Dream in Color Shrug that I finished last night, I have a little hijack to show you beautiful things from the garden this morning. Shrug pictures later — I promise.
My Sister-in-Law gave me daylilies for my birthday about a decade ago. They are still incredibly beautiful.
As is the Echinacea, which I had to replant this year as mine suffered some form of disease that led to mishappen leaves. It's now back to its prior beauty.
I still have a few late Gardenias blooming. Their perfume always reminds me of my Grandmother who grew them on an enormous, beautiful bush.
Our roses are particularly heavenly right now.
And I have high expectations for the tomato plants, mostly cherry tomatoes, that I tuck in empty spaces in the border so that playing children in late summer can snack without coming inside. This is a favorite in our garden every summer.
One of the best things we did, besides underground sprinklers, when we worked on our yard early this year is the long stone wall that prevents erosion alongside our driveway. It is pretty and the cats are incredibly fond of its warm, wide ledge which allows them to perch next to their beloved Catnip. Hermione has decimated the patch she was particularly fond of, and is now reduced to sleeping on the young Rosemary hedge.
This, of course, was the best part of my early morning garden, my faithful helper Ollie, who loves all things outdoors. Not only does he love to run and jump on the new wall, he thinks the $6 nozzle I bought for the hose at Home Depot last weekend is the most righteous toy ever invented. As far as Ollie is concerned, the entire garden grows just for him. I couldn't agree more.
I'm stretching the truth here — just a bit. This is actually not a knit cat lovey, although Squirt really wishes it was. Instead, it's my Mom's new shrug, finished just in time for graduation and knit from this pattern.
I joked about it being too big for her while I was knitting it, and it actually fits just a bit large on me, but I'm hopeful it will work out for her. It feels amazing, and is just the perfect touch of added warmth.
I promise better pictures tomorrow when the sun is up if Squirt will relinquish his apparent attempts at ownership. I may need to knit up the leftover yarn into a little lovey for him, if I'm to get the shrug back.
This is definitely the fun part. Knitting done, finishing commenced.
I have sewn up the side seams and did a quick try on before picking up stitches around the opening so I can knit the body of the sweater.
Sadly, the sizing appears to be just perfect for my Mom. I had been secretly harboring hopes it would be too big for her and I would have to gracefully step in to spare her from the horror of it, but, sadly, no. It should be just right for her.
Next to pick up a bunch of stitches and knit some ribbing. I'm hoping to finish it in time for her to wear for her grandson's graduation.