Slouching into the New Year.

I started a new pattern on Saturday night. It really was just something to fill the time while watching a Middle School Boy's basketball game. If you have ever watched Middle School Basketball, you won't blame me for needing something interesting to do. But sometimes a last minute, lark turns out to be a great decision. Slouchy('s no Slouch) is a free hat pattern that I found on Ravelry by Lea Kobayashi. (Free is good -- Remember?!) I have been looking at the pattern for the last few weeks and I even saved a PDF of the pattern on my computer. So, of course it was a natural when I needed to make a quick choice.

I have been working the pattern over the last couple of days worth of commuting and have made good progress. At this point I am almost through the 1st of two skeins of the Knit Picks' Wool of the Andes that I had left over from my Avocado Carnaby. As I said then, the stitch definition of this wool is excellent.

The hardest part about the hat so far was knitting the cables -- not actually knitting the cables, it was getting under the seat on the train to pick up the cable needle when I lost control of it going over a bump. The cables were a ton-o-fun to do. I have not done any in a long time -- and these were small and easy. Forming ribbing, they are both lovely and useful. I also like the detailing formed by the SSK and the yarn over. The combo creates an interesting spiral to the ridge of the hat. The hat is topped off with a quick i-cord and a decorative bead.

I am nearly to the point of decreasing for the crown of the hat. The knitting has been so easy that I have yet to grow tired of it. This may end up being a "go-to" favorite for gift making.

Happy Knitting!!

Remember -- Don't forget

As I have mentioned before, I commute daily by train into Chicago for work. This gives me lots of time to knit and nap. I usually nap on the way in to the city -- it is usually 5:50 AM when I get on the train; and I knit on the way out of the city. I usually take the same train in, sit in the same seat and often wake up at the last minute as we are pulling into Union Station. There have been three times when I am still sluggish and half asleep when I get off the train and have been forgetful enough that I have left my train pass behind. How I can miss grabbing a pass in a hot pink cover and yellow lanyard. . .  well that is beyond me!

I don't know if anyone reading this has ever themselves commuted, but monthly passes are expensive -- $192.52 a month at the present time. If I loose the pass on the last day of the month -- not a catastrophe, but loose a new pass before the month begins? Ouch!!!

But this is when the man who is usually the conductor on the 5:50 train come in. I learned a long time ago to slip my business card in the pass holder so that if I  lose it and it is found someone might turn it in. The conductor checks passes everyday and sells tickets to those who need them and he knows my pink and yellow pass! He has found it three different times and has called me and left it in lost and found for me. What a guy.

So I cannot leave this unrewarded and I have knitted a thank you gift. In the winter, the conductors have to hop off and on the train at every stop and many of them wear a scarf and gloves with no coat. I decided a scarf that will match his uniform would be perfect. So I settled on a navy blue wool scarf. I wanted it to be something that he can wear so it had to be a subtle design.

I selected a pattern that I found through Ravelry. Memory Lapse is a traveling rib. It is manly enough for a guy and just the "ticket" (pun intended!) as the name is perfect the price is free! The pattern was designed for use with a worsted yarn, but I changed it up when I found a beautiful DK Merino Superwash by Plymouth Yarn. Some modifications were meant to be.

The yarn, like many superwashes I have used has lots of stretch, so I dropped down from a US size 9 to a US size 7. I love, love, love the yarn! It is super soft and is forgiving to uneven stitches. There were a couple of places that I had to knit and tink and knit and tink and knit again and the yarn was sturdy and took the abuse.

The second modification that I made to the pattern came as an accident. The traveling rib is supposed to travel evenly in one direction, however, after just a few rows, I found that I had already switched directions. So I just decided to let the ribs meander as opposed to walking a straight line! It looked pretty wonky as I knitted it. The sides were all curvy and I was putting all my faith in the hope that blocking would make all the difference in the world.

Lesson Learned: Although one of the best purchases I ever made was the lace blocking wires, I have not really used them on more than just lace. So I decided to use them on this scarf. I blocked it out to within an inch of it's life at 10.5 inches wide by 60 inches long. However, it was too flat and the stitches that had been picked up on the blocking wires were stretched out and made the edges look all uneven. So I dampened the scarf with my hands and threw it into the dryer on low heat. Now it looks much better.

Happy Knitting!

Big and Burly

A few months ago, on a trip to my LYS, on impulse, I purchased a hank of Burly Spun by Brown Sheep Company, Inc. in the Prairie Fire color way. I didn't know what I would do with one hank, but I wanted to see what it was like to knit with a category 6 super bulky yarn. I found it the other day, when I was looking for something to knit on my daily train commute while I am working on the baby quilt for my co-worker.

The yarn is more like roving than yarn. There is no twist at all. The color has black and white hairs in it which gives it a rich depth of color. I have noticed that it does not take being knit over and over again well. So if you make a mistake and mess with the stitches at all, the yarn seems to wear somewhat. I think that this yarn would be easy to felt.

I decided that I would work on a muffler. A muffler is basically a woolen neck warmer/scarf. I know that different people have different ideas, but I have always thought that a muffler is more manly than a ladies scarf. One of my male co-workers has a beautiful one that his daughter made for him. It is only about 30 inches long and he wraps it around his neck and crosses the ends in front where his jacket zips at the front.

This muffler is done in a pattern reminiscent of my textured vest. The ends and sides has a garter stitch and the center is patterned in a waffle-like pattern.

Ledra's Big and Burly Muffler Pattern

1 hank Burly Spun yarn
1 set US size 10.5 needles

Gauge: 16 stitches, 30 rows per 4"

Cast on 20 stitches.

Work Garter Stitch for 5 rows

Then begin pattern row:

Row 1 - K4, P12, K4
Row 2 - K20
Row 3 - K4, *K1, P1* 6 times, K4
Row 4 - K20
Row 5 - K4, P12, K4
Row 6 - K4, *P1, K1* 6 times, K4

Repeat rows 1 - 6 until scarf is approximately 30 inches long and finish with 5 rows of Garter Stitch.

It is my habit to slip the first stitch of every row to get a nice tight, smooth edge. But this has made the garter stitch on the edge rather tight and the stitching in the center bows out. So after I am done with the muffler, I plan to wet block the scarf so that it lies flat.

If anyone tries the pattern above. I'd love to see your version.

Happy Knitting