I am just churning out projects this month! Winter came pretty much on schedule in San Francisco (it started raining just before the beginning of November, though it’s been warm again the last couple of days), and all that gray, rainy weather has me itching to knit again. My first project this winter was the Habitat hat from Brooklyn Tweed, knit from Cascade 220 wool yarn. It’s not a difficult pattern if you’ve done any sort of cable work before, though I found it was easier to read the chart after I drew a colored box around each of the cable notations so they didn’t run into each other. (I read later on Ravelry that some people had colored in the chart, which probably would have been even better.) I did screw up about 8 rows into the cabling the first time through, and had to rip it out and start over, but I was more careful the second time and had no problems. It’s been at least a decade since I did a cable knit, so I’m a bit rusty.

This is the followup to my first scarf, from my 12″ Ashford Knitter’s Loom. Like the first scarf, I used Brown Sheep Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn, but this time I used the variegated color (Ragtime) for both warp and weft. I like this version much better: it’s a bit darker, and the variation in the warp threads adds vertical interest to the pattern. Plus the fringe is not so pink.

I also switched to a 10 dents per inch reed for this one, so the weave is tighter. Because the Wildfoote yarn has 25% nylon, it did not “bloom” so much in the finishing wash (wool will full a bit, filling in the spaces), so I think the denser weave is better. The scarf I made after this one was 100% merino wool, and is a bit softer.

I know, you’re wondering what happened to scarves numbers 2 and 3. I haven’t gotten around to photographing them. I brought this one into work this morning and one of my coworkers was kind enough to model how well it went with her brown jacket and another one of my coworkers was kind enough to use her iPhone to take the photo. So this one got to be shown first.

This is a variegated, 100% merino wool fingering weight yarn from ValuTree’s Etsy store (in soybean). I used the 10 dpi reed for this one, 60 ends, for a scarf about 5" wide by 53" long (plus fringe). I got the whole scarf out of one 100g ball, with some left over. The scarf is beautifully soft and has great drape. When I did the finishing wash the colors didn’t run at all (unlike the Brown Sheep yarn). I totally recommend this yarn.

Here’s my first scarf, woven on an Ashford Knitter’s Loom. The yarn is Brown Sheep Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn (75% wool, 25% nylon) in Blue Blood Red for the warp (which runs the length of the scarf) and Ragtime for the weft (the back-and-forth part). Ragtime is a variegated yarn, so the pattern forms itself. The scarf is about 5 1/4" wide and 70" long.

It took about six hours to weave, mostly while I was watching movies or television. This is a sport-weight yarn, and I think I could have used a higher-density reed (the one I used was 7.5 dpi, which is maybe better for a DK weight?). I have a lot of the yarn left, so I’m going to experiment with that a bit.

The whole scarf took just under one ball of the warp yarn and just over one ball of the weft, which is pretty impressive—I could have gotten by with just one ball of the weft and made the scarf four or five inches shorter.

When my brother and sister-in-law visited last month, they delivered a birthday present from my parents: an Ashford Knitter’s Loom, and enough Brown Sheep Wildfoote sock yarn for my first scarf.

Fortunately, passing a shuttle back and forth does not require the use of one’s left thumb, though tying the warp threads posed a bit of a challenge.

A few months ago I came back from Calgary with a number of skeins of Philosopher’s Wool 2-ply and 3-ply yarn leftover from various sweater kits, with the intention of experimenting with felting. My first attempt was the Sophie felted bag from MagKnits. I used 6.5mm needles and the Philosopher’s 3-ply wool, and did the shaping decreases every eight rows (instead of every 10 rows) for a shorter bag.

Of course I didn’t measure the bag dimensions before felting, or felt a swatch ahead of time, so I can’t tell you how much smaller the finished bag ended up compared to the pre-felting version. I ran the bag through the wash (in a pillowcase and with a few pairs of jeans, as the pattern suggested) twice in succession, then allowed it to dry, but I wasn’t happy with the results—it was too stretchy and the stitch detail was still evident. So I ran it through the wash another two times, and that was much better.

The finished size is 10" by 4" at the base, and 6" high. The top is about 2" narrower in each direction (8" by 2"). I lined it with leftover Prints Charming fabric from Sew U skirt number seven, and some lightweight fusible interfacing. It still needs a button and loop to keep it closed but I haven’t found the right one yet.

On the whole I’m happy with the results, but I’m not really a purse person so I don’t know what I’m going to do with it now!

Somewhere I read a suggestion for blocking lace without wires, where yarn was threaded through the yarn-overs along the edges of the piece and then pulled taut. So I tried it for the long edges of the Rabbit Tracks scarf, using some leftover cotton yarn from another project. I think it would have been easier to thread the yarn through the yarn-overs if I had done so before I soaked the scarf, but aside from that, I’m impressed with how much straighter and lacier the edges are than the edge rows on the Bias Shawl. I’m almost tempted to block the shawl again using this method.

Yesterday I finished and blocked my Bias Shawl. I was worried when I finished the knitting part that the shawl would not be long enough, as I only had about 52 inches of length (a few other people on Ravelry said they had similar problems). But I blocked it to the width in the pattern (14 inches) with pins, and then stretched it as much as I dared as I blocked the length—I winced every time I pulled it—and the finished length is about 73 inches, which is only three inches short of the pattern’s stated length.

I thought it would be purely decorative, given the open lace work, but I was testing the length earlier today after removing all the pins and it does lend a bit of warmth. It drapes nicely over the shoulders, but it also crunches up to a good scarf width (as in the photo above), so I think it could be worn either way.

We had such a quiet, pleasant weekend for Thanksgiving that I was able to start and finish the Shimmer shrug. It is a pretty quick knit, since there is no front to speak of and the back is cropped.

I messed up the lozenge pattern on the back, and I also think it’s just a touch too small through the back shoulders. If I were to knit it again – and I might – I would probably add an inch to the width in the back. Originally I had planned to wear it with a sleeveless dress, but it doesn’t cover the dress straps in the front, so I’m wearing it mostly with t-shirts. Shrugs are my favorite thing to wear at work, because they cover my arms with more warmth than just a shirt but don’t make me too warm.

The shrug used less than six balls of Elann Pegasus yarn, and I bought seven, so with the leftovers I decided to knit up the Foliage hat from the Fall 2007 issue of Knitty over a couple of evenings during the week. I did the worsted-weight yarn version, but with only two repeats of the lace pattern after finishing the crown so it’s a bit shorter:

I tested the length on Edmond (who is slightly taller than the intended recipient of this scarf) and it’s fine, so I’ll pass on the fringe. I’m a little happier with it this morning, now that it’s blocked and dried. The stitch detail is not as fuzzy as I first feared.

There is another picture here in my Flickr stream.