Sundara

In browsing through Ravelry and various other places, I found this lovely scarf (Rav link) and these lovely socks (see Socks of Kindness in Sundara s.y.). I had given up on the idea of the scarf in it, because it's only 400 yards, but smelinda ended up with way more than enough yardage for the pattern, so it's back in the running.

Given this yarn:



And given that I don't plan on buying very much Sundara s.y.(*cough*$$$$*cough*) and given that I want to have about 30 yards left over to make a mitered blanket square...

What do you think I should do?


Feel free to leave impassioned arguments for one or the other, alternative suggestions, or creative insults in the comments.

Stop! In the name of mymittsareawesome...

I totally love these. They were great fun to knit, fit very well, and are warm warm warm. The only problem I have with them is that I have to take my watch off to wear them, which puts me in deep ignorance of the time and at a big risk of losing my watch. It's from Target, not exactly a family heirloom, but I like it and really want to keep track of it. Anyway, stats:

Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Deep Seaflower colorway (Warning: looks virtually nothing like the manufacturer's colorway pictures; check Ravelry for an idea of what it really looks like.) and Louet Gems in Cream
Pattern: Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang
Needles: 3.0mm KnitPicks Nickel plated (Medium size)
Modifications: None? None. I did use a different tutorial than the one she suggests for the tubular cast-on, because the one she linked crashed my browser on multiple attempts to access it, and so I left off the set-up rows for CO and BO. All else was done as the pattern said to.



Picture-taking had to be solo and the day was cloudy, so these are not the greatest shots. I wanted to get them done, though, before I wore them -- the Endpaper Mitts have lots of natural predators, such as the slightly torn steering wheel cover, the car keys, and the Overexcited Mutts Welcome Home Committee.



Anyway, I highly recommend this pattern and am plotting to make another pair soon, this time out of some nice Koigu. The Smooshy and the Gems did not come close to being the same thickness, and I was still working out tension issues through these, which makes them not quite as matchy as I would like. The next pair will be knit better, and probably loved about the same.

Moving On

After finishing the second ridiculously long single rib scarf in four months, my life became a desolate, lonely, empty wasteland. I became unsure about what my values were, and I felt my identity slowly melting back into the void. With the little strength and motivation that remained, I bleakly cast on for some Super Easy Legwarmers.



Ah! All better, tra la la. Sweet Single Rib eases the feeling of impending existential doom.

But for serious, I am loving these legwarmers. When I put the mohair (Crystal Palace Kid Merino) next to the Cascade 220 Quatro (color 5016) for the first time yesterday (terrible, considering I've had both for months with the intent to use them together) I kind of thought "ew." The mohair shade is a lot cooler than the kee-razy purple/pink of the Cascade. But knit up, it's pleasantly blendy and fluffy. These suckers are going to be warm.

I took Emily's excellent advice, and cast on some Endpaper Mitts:



And I'm loving them. I've done colorwork before - Ufserud is languishing, needle-less, in the UFO pile, though, so I've yet to actually complete colorwork. But, working with a yarn from each hand wasn't a completely new concept for me, and I'm getting more proficient at it. That's a really nice feeling.

This yarn is Louet Gems Fingering in Cream and Dream in Color Smooshy in Deep Seaflower. I got 3 skeins of the Smooshy with a Clapotis in mind, and expected to have enough left over for a pair of socks. The Smooshy goes really really far, I've found, so I still may get some socks out of it, too, once the Clapotis is done.

Funny that when the Clapotis and Endpaper Mitts came out, I liked them but had no intention of ever making them. Then in the fall, I woke up one morning and found myself wishing I had a Clapotis to wear. Surprising, but I went with it. Same deal for the Endpaper Mitts -- no desire to do such teeny colorwork, but then when my hands started freezing at work, they were all I could think about.

If you're looking for stuff to do on Ravelry, try the Endpaper Mitts gallery. The color combinations are endlessly entertaining.

Fee Fie FO: Gimme Scarf!

Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, 4 skeins black, 4 skeins orange
Inspiration: a scarf Keith Richards wears in Gimme Shelter
Needles: size 8 straights
Pattern: Yarn is doubled. Entire scarf is worked in single rib. CO 48 stitches, work with main color for 28 rows, switch to CC for 28 rows. Repeat until you have 9 sections of MC (8 of CC), bind off. Weave in ends, add 4" of fringe to each end (by which I mean, cut 8" lengths).



Keep in mind that this scarf is long relative to a 6' tall Other. It's 103". That's 43" longer than my tape measure. If you want a shorter scarf... stop sooner.

Socks, socks, stuff

My knitting efforts have been largely reduced to ball-winding and dreams these days. Well, and knitting -- plodding through the end of Gimme Scarf, which should be done here soon, with a bit o' winter left to enjoy it. And two finished pairs of socks:



Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in the Arugula colorway
Pattern: plain stockinette over 72 stitches
Needles: Size 0 Harmony

These socks were knit mostly in the dark; cuff #1 was Juno and The Savages, and cuff #2 was There Will Be Blood and License to Wed. One of those last two easily qualifies as the greatest movie I've ever seen -- I'll let you guess which. Oh, and with these I discovered that my in-the-dark gauge may actually be different than my with-sufficient-light gauge. Weird.



Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in the Giant Peach colorway
Pattern: Charade
Needles: Size 1 Knit Picks nickel-plated
Modifications: my own heel and toe, co 68 instead of 64

These were super-fun reward socks, which guarantees what feels like a breakneck pace. But while I felt that these were finished in no time at all, they actually took about a month.

I wore these this week, and while the Smooshy is lovely, I'm having doubts about its purpose as a sock yarn; the best way to describe the ball of the foot after one wear is "smashed." I'm definitely withholding judgment for now, but am planning a couple non-sock projects with the Smooshy in the near future.

I love how this yarn worked with the Charade pattern, and find that stitch pattern to be terribly clever. I can confirm Ravelry reports that it is less stretchy than a regular rib.



This gorgeous thing is a skein of mediumweight STR in Fred Flintstone. I got it through a swap with a generous Raveler and have been planning to make some Swirl socks with it, but after winding it up, two things are blocking my path. 1) This yarn should be knit in the month of November, and no other time, and 2) This yarn should be paired with Sunstone and made into a Chevron Scarf. Yarn doesn't normally speak to me like this (so forcefully!) so I've put it aside and am eyeing it warily from time to time.

Up next are more socks, though I'm not sure which yet, a Clapotis, and some Endpaper Mitts. What's at the top of your queue?