FO Friday: That Garter/Cable Thing

I finished it! Well, sorta. I cast off my design sample (so far known as garter stitch+cables+Malabrigo) yesterday evening. It’s one of those projects that I had really, really high hopes for. In fact, I’m not sure that I could have ever met those hopes, even if everything went perfectly and it was a breeze. In any case, it’s not exactly what I was expecting, but I think I’m coming to terms with what I ended up with.

I mean, it’s Malabrigo, so it just feels like heaven around my neck. Heaven, I tell you! And the texture has made it so thick and warm that I bet I could wear it in the arctic and still be comfortable.

The whole plan was to hit on the “sweet spot” so that the colors from a very, very variegated skein of Malabrigo Worsted would make up and down stripes. In the end, I’m pretty sure that perfect stripes are pretty impossible. I still think the pooling effect that I ended up with is pretty nice!

I don’t think this pattern will come out anytime soon. It still needs to be written and tested (and I already have 2 tests going on right now) before it gets released. I’m thinking of saving it for that collection that’s been ruminating in my head. We’ll see what happens.

For more FO Friday posts, check out Tami’s.

WIP Wed: Daniela

Eternity Scarf!

For those of you just tuning in, I’m working on a new design, the Daniela Eternity Scarf. New designs always take a little bit longer to knit, so it’s pretty slow going. Two days ago, I got to what I thought was half way through the pattern, decided that I didn’t like it, and ripped. Woops. I’m almost back  to where I was before, and I think that I’ll like the finished effect a lot better. Basically, I got rid of the border, and now just do the stitch pattern twice. I think this will provide more flowy-ness, making the ribbing a little less jerky. I guess we will see after I block the finished object 🙂

Close up of the first half of the stitch pattern on the outside.

But, besides that, the project is going really, really well. The yarn, Knit Picks City Tweed DK, is so light and fluffy, with just a little bit of a halo, that I was afraid that there would be problems ripping. There weren’t, and I was even able to pick up the stitches on the second row instead of ripping all the way back to the begging. Trust me, I was avoiding having to cast on over 190 stitches. Such a pain.

Close up of the stitch pattern on the reverse side.

That’s about all that’s going on in my knitting world. My attention has been stolen (just a wee bit) by classes starting up. I had my first this morning, and it was so nice to see some of the people in my program (education) again! I ended up having lunch and spending most of the afternoon with them, which severely cut into my knitting time. Still, if I’m almost half way down with the eternity scarf, I think that I’m doing quite well. But if you want to read any other (cough, longer, cough) WIP posts, check out Tami’s!

Cast On Monday: New Design!

I’ve started working on a new design. My sister is a self-proclaimed scarf whore, so I thought I would work on a signature pattern just for her. I’m calling it Daniela. She’s fairly fashion-forward, so I decided on doing an infinity scarf instead of a plain old rectangle. From there, I submitted a proposal to Knit Picks’ Independent Designer Program (which is officially the coolest thing in the world), and they sent me back 2 skeins of City Tweed DK (55% Merino, 25% Alpaca, 20% Acrylic) in Basil, a nice light green, to work with.

The swatch in what I swear is GREEN

It really is a lovely yarn, perfect for a scarf. It’s going to be light and drapey, but the fiber contents will probably give it plenty of warmth, which is completely perfect for my sister, as she is currently attending school out in the mountains, and I’m pretty sure she has no intentions of moving to a tropical climate anytime soon. The stitch pattern is a lacey rib that I’m pretty sure is from my own head (that is, it didn’t come from another pattern or a stitch dictionary). In the final product there will be a slight difference from the swatch (the decreases on the top knitted rib section will come from the outside), but it will match a little bit more with the wrong side. While it’s not identical on both sides, it is pretty reversible, which is always nice in a scarf.

I have a whole inch to show for myself!

My biggest problem has been coming to a decision about the sizing. Eternity Scarves are such a new fad that there doesn’t seem to be any standard sizes floating around out there. As of now, I’m including three options: a 22″ cowl, 45″ medium (what the sample is going to be), and an extra cozy 68″ large size. They’ll all be 7.5″ from top to bottom. If any of you have knitted anything like this, do those sound like standard sizes? Don’t be afraid to let me know if they seem strange- I’m perfectly happy to rip!