i like lemons

Simple, basic techniques that result in a beautiful, impressive-looking payoff. That’s how I would describe the Gathered Scarf pattern by Maryse.

Instead of starting and finishing with the frilled stockinette ends, I chose to start with the garter stitch rows, so the edges would be straight in case I opt to add fringe later. Cast on 20 sts with US sz 7s, followed the instructions for the garter rows, then increased to 40 sts with US sz 10.5s and followed the instructions for the stockinette rows.

The scarf measures 4 inches wide by 60 inches long and used 1.3 skeins (skein=100gr/220 yd) of Knit Picks Peruvian Highland (worsted weight). The scarf grew quickly, due to the stockinette sections being knit on the larger 10.5s and the needle-switching kept things from getting too monotonous. I’m not usually a fan of scarves that aren’t reversible, but the reverse side isn’t bad at all (it’s the left “tail” in the picture).

Now the question is to dye or not to dye? I’m not sure yet. I don’t have a particular color in mind at the moment.

 Number of olives knit this week: 4 (3 green, 1 black)
Total for the year to date: 45

Recognize what I’m trying to recreate in this picture? The voodoo heart is an illustration by Tim Burton for his poem Voodoo Girl from the book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories.

I haven’t been knitting the past week (except for the olives). Partially because I wanted to give my fingertips a rest. I was getting calloused, peeling skin on my fingers from needle and yarn rub. Eeeeew! But the rest period did the trick and my fingers look better this week.

The other reason is that I finally caved in and registered a domain. My ISP made it kind of irresistible by offering free registration for the first year and free lifetime hosting (well, as long as you stay with them). I’ve been spending some time trying to figure out WordPress and personalizing the blog theme at least a little bit. It still needs work but I’m tired of looking at it for now. You can take a peek by visiting http://ilikelemons.net. It is too soon to say that the domain will be a permanent home, so no need to update bookmarks. I will still be posting to my Blogger and LJ accounts, no plans to abandon either of them.

This past weekend I did take some time to do another test run on a honey yogurt bread recipe I’ve been working on. I think I have things just about right. I’ll share that recipe in a couple of weeks.

I intend to get my write-up on the finished Gathered Scarf posted this weekend.

My knit patterns are now available for download as printable pdfs over on Ravelry. You can also download the pdfs from the online pattern pages.

Another hat is the next thing on my knit list. The Trinity Stitch Beret looks to be cute and challenging. I’ve never done trinity/blackberry/popcorn stitch before.

Look what I found tucked waaay in the back of the closet.

It must be almost 3 years since I bought these balls of Crystal Palace Kid Merino. I think I had just finished knitting Branching Out as a gift for my mother. My first attempt at lace, though I did it in worsted weight yarn. I must have been feeling rather proud of myself, thinking I should try knitting one for myself using lace weight yarn. Nothing like knitting with mohair for the first time to knock you down a few notches.

I remember needing to frog and quickly finding out that mohair does not rip out easily. Frustrated, I decided to give that a rest and move on to knitting Arches & Columns in the cream color. Holding two strands together should be a little easier to control, right? It was, but I soon lost interest when things seemed to be going so slow.

Finding this little stash makes me think that I should give the Kid Merino another try. Right now the plan is for the black to go towards Arches & Columns, and the smoke/charcoal grey will be for Mist Lace. Maybe use the cream held together with some other yarn for a skinnier version of the Lace Ribbon Scarf?

Number of olives knit this week: 3 (green)
Total for the year to date: 41