Woolgathering Dot Net

It's a passalong!

I've joined LiveJournal's Pass-Along Scarf Community and I'm a member of Group 1. Each group member will begin a scarf and at a set time, pass the scarf to the next person on the list. At the end of the project, each person in the group would have knit a scarf section and every member will have their own personalized scarf, knit by six hands (including their own).

I knit my scarf quickly over the weekend using this yarn:

It's NORO Lily in a purple multicolor #122. I bought some bright yellow NORO Lily to match with the purple, but then I decided to use the yellow in a bucket hat and the purple was projectless until the passalong scarf project came along. I knit up a ~ five inches by one-foot section for the passalong in seed stitch. I don't have a photograph because my father had my digital camera and I had to seal it up and mail it away to the next person before I could take a photograph.

Today, I received a scarf from upstream:

This is Shannon's (adaintum) scarf. It's about a foot long and ~ seven inches wide in lovely green and white. It's very soft in a dropped stitch pattern.

Also included with her package was her purple sparkly notebook, for us to jot information about the scarf and get to know each other in the passalong ring. Her book has black pages and she included a silver gel pen with her book. How I love silver gel pens on black pages! I spent some time considering what I would do for my section of her scarf.

I searched through my current stash and found this:

A ball of Debbie Bliss Merino in a forest green color (325506). It looks like the best match. The purple/green NORO Kureyon that I have is the way-wrong value of green and would be too radical texture-wise from what she sent. All my purples don't match, too, alas. I read her comments in the notebook she sent and she writes that she chose her LJ name because it is an adaptation of the Latin name for fern. Oo. I remember reading or seeing a pattern or two with a "fern lace stitch". I quickly skimmed through my magazines when I remembered the Forest Path Stole from Interweave Knits Summer 2003. The fern block is 18 stitches wide, which means I'll probably do some sort of seed stitch border and do an increase in order for the scarf to look even. wrote to Shannon to see if it would be okay to do a pattern which would cause the scarf to have a right and wrong side, and she gave the go-ahead. Woo hoo! I've got about a week and a half before I have to mail this downstream. I can't wait to see my scarf when it comes back.

Yesterday, I picked up Sex and the City Season Six, Part One, which came out on DVD on Tuesday. I decided to start working on the fern lace stitch as a break from Salt Peanuts. I had to rip it out a number of times. The first time I started was on a walk with Mike. Halfway through my walk, I realized that I started the pattern too soon and I was using knitting needles that were too small (US8) compared to the dropped stitch pattern done by Shannon. When I got home, I tried putting the stitches on US10.5, but discovered that was too tight for my comfort. The US10 was perfect, though, and I began knitting again.

I took one of Mike's suggestions: I would start off with Shannon's dropped stitch for a number of rows, then transition into the seed stitch borders and then the proper fern pattern. This time, it looked good, except I started the pattern too soon and the lacey portion looked too close to the border of the panel. Again, rip rip rip!

Third time's a charm! Or so I thought. I was about 3/4 done when I realized that it looked funny. Really funny and weird. Well, it turned out that I read the pattern incorrectly. On one side of the pattern, it was k3tog. On the other side, it is sl k2tog psso! Barnacle! So, I had to rip that back again. Grr.

Fourth time's a charm, I suppose.

Due to the lace, the pattern dips inward, so it has a convex lens shape. I think it will look better after some blocking, but blocking will only help a little, perhaps to help it lie flatter. Plus, you can't see the fern pattern too well in this photograph; the white tablecloth doesn't show through as well as I would like.

I really love the lace work. Someday, I'd like to make the Forest Path Stole. Learn entrelac AND lacey fun!

I'm still working continuously on the Flame Sweater, since I want to make sure that I complete it by next week. Today, I thought all my projects were languishing. Then, I remembered by passalong scarf and it needed to be blocked. Well, the last few rows needed correcting and then it needed to tbe blocked. So, for about 30 minutes today, I set about tinking, making the stitches look good, and blocking.

I'm not the greatest blocker. I improvised with a small ironing board; someday I'll get one of those large blocking boards with proper inch markers and everything. Perhaps I'll make my own with a cork board. In any case, it's blocking, to be dry by this weekend. I realized that Monday is a holiday, so I'll mail it out first thing on Tuesday. Woo hoo! I can't wait to get the next scarf.

I never knew that there was such a thing as Sunday postal deliveries, until I received one today.

It's one of the LiveJournal Passalong scarf. This one is for Libbet (trillian42). I love the stitch and the lovely purples! Unfortunately, Libbet is allergic to sheep wool and so I need to look through my stash to find something that would agree with her. Probably the purplish NORO Lily that I have left, but double-stranded to give it more weight. Lily is Cotton/Silk, so I think that should be okay. I love the journal she placed with her project! Very cool.

Libbet described the stitch pattern in the journal, which is fabulous and I plan on knitting a few rows of it for my part of the scarf.

Today, I sat down and knitted the 7" section required for my passalong scarf. I considered double-stranding the NORO Lily that I used, but I believed I wouldn't have enough to complete it properly. I think with proper blocking, it can become wider and even itself up compared to the previous two sections.

I bought a cheap stitch holder for Libbet, since her scarf didn't come with one (just a waste piece of yarn). I hope she likes my section! I used the same stitch she used on hers; I like how she noted down the stitch she used. It's nice and open. I can imagine using it someday for a light shawl.

Libbet's stitch:
Requires and odd number of stitches
Row 1: K all
Row 2: *(K1, S1) repeat until last stitch, K1
Row 3: K all
Row 4: K2, *(S1, K1) repeat until last three stitches, S1, K2

In order to compensate for my thin yarn, I used US15 needles. Sometimes, at that size with the thin yarn I used, it's hard to manipulate the stitches well. Plus, my tension seems uneven (even though it might not be). Thankfully, it all evens itself out in the end. As I noted, a good bit of blocking can put my section to right with the others.

This scarf will be sent off next week. I wonder how my scarf is doing.

Passalong time! Actually, I've been a really bad pass-alonger. I was supposed to mail this on Monday, but life craziness didn't get me to get this out there until now. I actually did about seven eigths of my section quite a while ago, when my family went out to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for Father's Day. My mom drove, which afforded me about fourty five minutes of knitting one way. I finished the end at knitting meeting tonight.

I was excited when I got the scarf. It was delightfully colorful and I happen to have some sunny yellow Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport. But... what stitch? I decided to do my first basketweave stitch, to match the other solid color section (in sky blue basketweave). Check out my basketweave!

I like the texture of basketweave, but don't like how it is "one sided". I need to start compiling a list of beautiful two-sided stitch patterns. They don't have to be reversable, just look pretty good on both sides.

I'm having a bit of difficulty with the passalong scarf I received last week.

It's very pretty, in pink and blue, but I don't really have any appropriate colors to match it. None. I'm considering a grey yarn I have which kind of matches, but it's "waste" yarn, a really drab acrylic which I'm none-too-proud to use.

So, I'm probably going to pop out to a LYS and pick up a ball or two of something that matches well, probably in thick-ish wool. Something that gives good stitch definition, since I'm probably going to do a cabled design.

Argh. I dislike being indecisive about my project choices.

I managed to get working and today, I finished my contribution to the passalong in my hands.

I am using the climbing branches band pattern in Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge. I'm using some Patons yarn I bought in sky blue. I had no yarn in my stash that could match this project that I found acceptable, so I went and got a ball of it. I've got over half a ball left, which will be good for some other small project. There are a number of mistakes, but I think it looks okay and not TOO bad. I wish I wasn't in such a rush so that I could go back and really make it error-free.

The pattern is very nice when you can really see it.

Yes, it is very late. Sigh. It does look very nice, though, and it was good to get back to knitting. My thumb is still a little sore and only hurts when I jab it by accident.

The latest Pass-along scarf arrived in the mail today.

Red white and blue yumminess! But... can you see how I would be frustrated with it?

It's color-symmetrical! Very nicely color symmetrical! The white in the middle bordered by blues and reds. I'm torn about adding another color to the end. Adding another section to the end would make it look asymmetrical and wrong.

Since it is Erin's scarf (she's the one I mail the scarves to), I'm thinking of selecting a color and knitting a segment but not technically attaching it to the scarf. I'll utilize a provisional cast-on, which will allow her to decide to attach my piece to the work or not.

Perhaps I'll pick a cream yarn and do something unassuming that doesn't draw attention to itself. Not sure. I'll probably ask her if she has an opinion.

Looking at it makes me feel like I should say "pass me". It's just feels too perfect to make changes to it.

Erin's scarf is finally in the mail.

I just improvised stockinette blocks with seed stitch borders.

I've held on to it for so long that I made her some stitch markers.

Black hematite with red and white beads. Oh, and one that is made from mother of pearl chips. Pretty pretty! I need to start taking standardized photographs of all the stitch markers, so I can make a gallery of them.

Just in time. Look what came in the mail today:

Gorgeous! Mike doesn't like them, but I do. It's patchwork, kind of Doctor Who-ish. For my scarf, I asked for natural fibers only and any stitch that lies flat. I love all the passalongers that followed the requirement!

	My Section NORO Lily (70% cotton, 30% mulberry silk) US7 Seed Stitch
	Erin's Section Maskin Vaskbar Alfa (85% wool, 15% mohair) US7 Ridge and Diamond Stripes She included a postcard for me from Cape Cod. Gorgeous! She also is a long-time knitter. 30+ years. Wow!
	Kika's Section Sugar'n Cream (100% cotton) Garter stitch with random dropped stitch rows She's also a fairly new knitter and is into a lot of things I'm into (roleplaying, Sandman). So cool!
	Jenn's Section Colourworks (100% NZ wool) US7 Garter stitch Another comic reader! Hellboy! Fantastic! She's a fairly new knitter as well (less than a year).
	Libbet's Section Endless Summer - Sonata (100% cotton) US6 with yarn doubled in doubled seed stitch She's a recent practical knitter (although she learned a long time ago) and plays video games, which I think is pretty fabulous.
	Shannon's Section Local Yarn Store brand (100% wool) US8 Seed stitch She's a long-time knitter/spinner/weaver (wow). She does, get this, traditional Irish ballroom dancing! Woah.

Now, I have to weave in the ends and I need to decide if I am going to cap it with the same yarn I started with. I love it! The colors make me want to pick up my similarly-colored Charlotte.