Warm Fuzzies Scarf

I love FO time :) I think that makes me more of a product knitter than a process knitter. I mean, I absolutely love to knit, it's relaxing and I enjoy it, but I love the feeling of accomplishing. And I especially love that feeling when the knitted object is a birthday present.

I wanted to make my friend Jenny a scarf and knew a couple of things about said scarf right from the start. First of all Jenny loves red, more specifically blue-red tones as opposed to yellow-reds. Second, she really likes great classic design with a little preppiness thrown in so I thought a cable-knit scarf would be perfect.

So DS and I made a pilgrimage to the LYS where I found an amazingly soft angora/merino wool blend - Elsebeth Lavold Angora in Cherry Red.

Next up was the pattern. I tried the Irish Hiking Scarf which I have made before but it just wasn't working for the yarn so I frogged. Then I tried the Reversible Cable-Knit Scarf from Lion Brand but again, a no go.

I finally found what I wanted while flipping through SnB Nation. I noticed the Warm Fuzzies scarf and the fact that the yarn used was very similar to my yarn so I cast on and it looked great!

The pattern is a mock-cable rib so you don't even use a cable needle, you just knit the 2nd stitch first and then the 1st stitch.

I also really liked that the pattern is reversible - the WS is a 2x1 rib. I used this as continental knitting practice time. I've read and heard that ribbing and seed stitch are WAY faster and easier if you knit continental so I gave it a shot. Those rows totally flew by, it was amazing. I knit them as fast as if I'd knit in my usual English way but without the frustration of moving the yarn back and forth.

Here's the finished product complete with fringe!

GORGEOUS yarns (or, why I haven't blogged recently)

It's hard to do much else when you've got not one but two yarns that are difficult to put down!

First up is this scarf that I'm knitting for my friend for her birthday. I knew I wanted to knit her a cabled red scarf and found this amazing Elsebeth Lavold Angora at the LYS. It's unbelievably soft and the red is a gorgeous vibrant shade. I'm using the Warm Fuzzies scarf pattern from SnB Nation - it's a mock-cable rib that I love because the wrong side is ribbed so it looks good either way. My friend's birthday is in early March but I'm making good progress. The cable part is very simple, just two stitches.




Next up is a sock yarn - Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Green Mountain Madness. The color is unbelievable - my photo below just doesn't do justice to the amazing shades of green and blue. It feels so soft too.



Since taking this photo I've moved all the stitches onto a circ because I'm giving Magic Loop a shot. After needles falling out TWICE and several "dig through the couch cushions/knitting bag/purse for the missing DPN" I decided to pick up the ML booklet and the new circ.

So far I really like ML - adjusting stitches and needles only twice in a round is definitely making the work go faster. I also like the fact that I can pull the needles through so that all the stitches are on the cable, less chance of dropping any.

So DH and I recently purchased a set of bedroom furniture. It's beautiful and I love that we no longer are cramming clothes into too-small drawers. But one of the big benefits is that one of the old dressers was moved to the guest bedroom - and it was completely empty...until now!!



Yup, that's it, my rather meager yarn stash! I'm not sure that even qualifies under the definition of 'stash'!