Finished!

Pattern: Pseudo “Noro Striped Scarf”
Source: Inspired by Noro Striped Scarf
Size: N/A
Yarn: 1 skein Red Heart Super Saver (Worst! Yarn! Ever!) Print in Sugar plum, one skein Lion Brand Yarn Vanna’s Choice in Charcoal Print
Needle size: US 7, 4.5 mm
Pattern Modifications: Four rows of sugar plum, two rows of charcoal.

It’s dead, Jim. I went ahead and tried steam blocking the acrylic to improve the hand of the fabric. It was just too stiff to make a good scarf. I’m reasonably pleased with the results, given both the materials and that this was my first attempt at acrylic murder.

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My aunt’s scarf is off the needles. I can officially daydream about other projects without any guilt. K1 p1 rib is about the second most boring thing to knit that there is. Knitted lace has always seemed like the holy grail of knitting to me, and now that it’s an attainable goal, I’m getting the itch to do something bigger than a scarf.

Last year it seemed like lace shawls with feathered borders were “the thing.” I kept seeing them everywhere.

First it was the icarus shawl designed by Miriam Felton on the cover of Best of Interweave Knits. I recently bought the download from the designer to have a clean copy of the pattern without having to deal with consulting errata mid-knit. I’m lazy like that.

Then it was Anne of Knitspot’s irtfa’a shawl with it’s beautiful use of Blue Moon Design’s Raven Clan Colors. I’m partial to the Ravenscroft colorway.

More recently, I’ve run across the Seraphim Shawl, also by Miriam Felton. Curse you, Ravelry and your easy to use pattern search function. Don’t you know browsing patterns is better than surfing Don’t you know I’m something of an obsessive pattern collector when I find a designer I like? It’s your fault, Ravelry, that I bought the Zephyros Shawl, too.

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I got my pictures of the progress on the garden.

Working in the garden isn’t always fun, but I really enjoy the results. Right now, it’s still not looking like much, but I can picture what things will look like in just a few weeks even. Part of the joy is watching the garden grow and change. To me, that’s also part of the joy of crafting, and in particular knitting and crocheting.

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In Progress

Pattern: Pseudo “Noro Striped Scarf”
Source: Inspired by Noro Striped Scarf
Size: N/A
Yarn: 1 skein Red Heart Super Saver (Worst! Yarn! Ever!) Print in Sugar plum, one skein Lion Brand Yarn Vanna’s Choice in Charcoal Print
Needle size: US 7, 4.5 mm
Pattern Modifications: Four rows of sugar plum, two rows of charcoal.

This week is going to be rather busy, particularly since I’m going to have several nights of obligation on World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft is not a game. It’s a time sucking hole which can easily consume one’s life. The Rosie one seems to think this amount of time is “okay” because it’s only every other week. I remain unamused. Because of this, I needed a simple, mindless knit that I could work on during the down time between fights during this week’s raiding.

The stiffness of this yarn begs me to get it out of my stash so it no longer mocks me by being there.
It could be much worse, really. The colors play nicely together. Of course, what colors play poorly with black and gray?

While there are more mindless knits than this, K1 P1 rib is the queen of the brainless pattern knits.
While it’s not as hard on the eyes as it could be, it is a tactile torture device. Brillo could learn a thing or two from Red Heart Yarn in the scratchiness department. I’m hoping that killing this abomination will do something to improve the fabric. From now on, whenever my aunt picks out yarn, I’m going to explain to her that I live solidly in the middle class and can afford to spend more than 99 cents a skein on sale so I never have to knit with Red Heart Super Saver again. Note that my yarn snob hatred of Red Heart is reserved for Super Saver. Red Heart Soft is actually quite nice for acrylic.