Church Mouse Bias Before and After Scarf

Zauberball Crazy scarf to go with a teal dress I have in my closet.  The dress is more teal....photo washes it out a bit....looks almost grey

 Cast on 60 stitches Nov 2023.  The pattern suggests counting one's stitches often.  And further suggests that this is more important for the fast, experienced knitter even than for the beginner.  And I have found this to be true for me.  I have ripped many rows out trying to figure out where I lost a stitch or gained a stitch.  I suggest that any time you pause, you count your stitches before resuming the knitting.

I finished the scarf in January 2024.  I have already worn it several times in February.

The Blue Ewe Project

I have been knitting with a group at the new store that opened recently on Route 60 near the Pink Elephant.  Jonathan is the owner.  Jonathan works at Marshall and does this on the side.  I decided I wanted to knit with yarn that I had bought from Jonathan when I knitted in his store.  I started a shawl with sock yarn that I bought from him.  I am using size 4 needles.  I started a pattern that I thought was too much work for its beauty or lack of beauty.  I ripped it out and am using Casapinka's Breathe and Hope pattern which has a very similar look to the first pattern but is a LOT easier to follow and knit.  I needed something a bit mindless for group knitting.

I finished the project in June and blocked it by July 1.  I like it a lot!

Potential knitting project for my twins

I saw this on Ravelry and thought it might be a fun project for my twins to try their hand at knitting/

 

On the other Side by Lisa Hannes

Linda Wilkinson bought some yarn to participate in The Blue Ewe's knit along that is happening end of summer and early fall.  I had wanted to buy something in our new yarn store in our neighborhood and decided that I liked Linda's selection enough to copy.  Then I looked for a pattern suitable for my yarn purchase and decided on Lisa Hannes' On the Other side shawl.

The yarn is Araucania Huasco Sock.  It is fingering weight.  I am using size 4 needles as recommended by the pattern.  Below is a photo of the yarn sleeve:

I may want to try this pattern another time.  However, I found it too hard for the knitting together.  I switched to Casapinka's Breathe and Hope which seems to be equally pretty but easier to pick up and put down.  

 

Summer Wrap from JJill catalogue

 Early this year JJill sent out a catalogue that featured a gauzy scarf that appealed to me.  I decided to use the photo to design a wrap made out of summer yarn.  I chose Miss Babs Fingering yarn Damask which is a mix of 65% Cultivated silk and 35% Bleached linen.  Each skein had 420 yards and was approximately 110 grams.  The suggested needles were 1-3.  I chose to knit the wrap on size 3.  The care suggestions are to hand wash and dry flat.  Below is the photo from the catalogue.

I LOVE this scarf! 

 

Naturally colored cotton and Sally Fox

Today I received an e-mail from Handwoven Magazine that talked about natural colored cotton.

https://handwovenmagazine.com/colored-cottons-without-dye/?utm_source=drip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Colored+Cottons%E2%80%94Without+Dye%21&utm_content=HW+03.23.23+Newsletter 

I remember vividly having read about this subject in the 1980s and knowing about Sally Fox and her efforts to promote these naturally grown colored cottons.  These are cotton plants that produce cotton fiber that is not white.

I would bet my last dollar that I can walk upstairs in my craft/playroom and put my hands on cotton yarn that I bought in the 1980s in amazingly beautiful colors.  Unfortunately I am not at home and can't prove my point, but I'll look when I am home again and perhaps pull this yarn out of my stash to use for a project. 

Fringed Cowl

 I bought a cowl from Stitch Fix in the last year or so.  I was quite surprised by how much I like the cowl.  It is soft and easy and is fringed,  I wanted to duplicate it, but that has not proved to be so simple.  I have started and given up on several ideas.  The one I am now working on could possibly work,  I am in Boston.  I brought some red white and blue yarn that I thought I might use for a DAR wrap, but I haven't yet done so.  So I took out the Red yarn in DK weight,  It is Indiecita DK  100% Baby Alpaca.  I bought a cowl pattern by Ambah O'Brien called Zaggy Cowl for inspiration.  However, I am not following the pattern exactly.  I cast on slightly more stitches:  138.  It is a repeat of only two stitches, so any even number of stitches should work.   It lends itself to notecard organization which makes it fairly mindless.  I am liking it so far,  I just didn't want to loose my thoughts this morning.  I'll update my post as I move along on this project.