More Christmas Knitting: The Coolest Scarf Ever

It actually is called The Coolest Scarf Ever. But even if it weren't, I'd still think it was pretty cool. I love the fringed "fingers" that run the whole length of the scarf, on both sides.

This was Sharon's Christmas scarf. The Coolest Scarf Ever from Great Balls of Yarn. I used Jo-Ann Sensations Rainbow Boucle in Berry Print. I have to say, I really like the subtle gradiations of this yarn for this pattern. (Which, I guess you really can't see in either of these pictures, but it's there. Trust me.)

You know I'm not a fan of knitting with boucle yarns. And, by that, I mean I'd rather eat a plate of eyeballs. But this scarf really looked awesome with the boucle yarn. It gave it such an interesting texture.


The pattern itself is pretty easy. It's just a lot of casting on and binding off, with a lot of seed stitch in between. But, that's what makes this scarf take so long to knit--a lot of casting on and binding off, with a lot of seed stitch in between.

It was a fun scarf to knit, too. Fun to see the fringe accumulate as I knit. I think this is gonna be fun to wear, too.

Christmas Knitting Recapped

...although, at times, it felt like I was being Christmas Knitting Kneecapped.



But I did finish gifts for everyone. Here is the scarf I made for Eric. It's an old school Mario scene. I had hoped to use some existing patterns for the scene, but unfortunately, none of the graphs I saw fit my guage/needs/idea. So I ended up creating this thing from scratch.


I'll put out a pattern for this pretty soon. Basically, I drew it all on graph paper with colored markers (I know. But it seemed fittingly old school.) So all of that has to be transfered to some sort of usable electronic document. Also, I decided, as I was knitting that, for instance,
I needed to leave more space between one thing and another or I needed to add some clouds or I wanted to reverse one of the charts and have something pointed in the opposite direction... At any rate, what I eventually ended up with was not the same as what I had planned. It was better, sure. But it also rendered my charts somewhat useless.



This is all worsted weight yarn. And it does have a solid black back. So it is very warm. I think you could actually do this in sport weight yarn. But it was pretty difficult enough to find just the right colors for this, as it was.

My guage was 5 st = 1", so not bad. It still took for-freaking-ever to knit, and longer to weave in all those ends.

But Eric was happy with it, and that is the main thing.

The Stockings Were Hung

Merry Christmas to you! I wanted to show you Sharon's finished stocking. It came out really well. Red Heart Christmas yarn in Green. That stuff comes in the million yard skein, so I had already used some on some other stockings, and still had enough for this stocking. And I still have maybe 100 yards left.

I can't remember if I showed you the stockings I did for R & M. But thought I'd just take a photo while they were hanging by the chimney with care last night. Here are all the stockings, from left to right:My stocking, T's stocking, Eric's, Sharon's, R's, and M's. Those long ones are 3 feet long!

That's not my fireplace, btw. Fooled you. That's "The Yule Log" channel on the television. Finally had the opportunity to use that channel. (I discovered it in June.)

Christmas Knitting: First Blood!

The first of the Christmas knitting has been given! Here is the scarf I knitted for Jill's Christmas present. It was actually the first Christmas gift completed this year, so it's serendipitous that it is the first given.


This is the Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf in Patons SWS Natural Navy. SWS is such a nice yarn for a pattern like this, because of the long color changes. And it's very soft. I've heard some people say they have a problem with it breaking, since it's not really tightly plied. But, as you know, I'm a pretty loose knitter so I'm not keeping those strands wire-taut. I never have problems with SWS.

I used two skeins of this, so about 220 yards, which made the scarf about five feet long. The pattern was easy enough to do during our weekly D&D game, but complex enough to keep me interested when I was just knitting. And it really looks good. I have some more SWS in other colorways. I might have to make one for myself.Once I finish with all this Christmas knitting.

Bad Medicine

Or maybe I was born under a bad moon? I don't know. But I have had a shitacular last few days.

The highlights: I apparently don't know my own hulk-like strength and broke my curling iron.
Then I made it all the way to work without realizing I had a huge coffee(?) stain on my white shirt. Right in the middle of my boobs.

And I dented M's car.

Ok, well. That's the big one.

Yesterday involved frustration, disappointment, worry, and anger, culminating in physical violence against inanimate objects, property damage, five minutes of non-stop projectile swearing (not the longest I've ever gone, but probably a personal best as far as style goes), followed by an hour of hysterical crying and then five hours of drunk quiet contemplation.

What sucks even worse is that I ended up with an upset stomach at 3:00 am, cotton mouth and baggy eyes on a morning I had to work, the car is still dented, and half the Amaretto I made for Christmas gifting is gone.

What Is It?

It's a pile of yarn snips. The excess of a project.

That's right. One project and all those ends. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "My, Patwoman! What a large swearing vocabulary you must have."

And you'd be correct, of course. But this project is finished now. And it looks super. You will be so impressed with your friend Patwoman.

But it is a Christmas gift, so, alas, I can't show you until after it's given.

Stay tuned.

The Zen Of Knitting

Just kidding. There is no zen. Not in December, at least. December is marked by breakneck, sweatshop-style, on-a-deadline knitting.

It's Crazytown all up in here. For realz.

On an related unrelated note, I reopened the Booze Hag Brewery this weekend. A batch of Limoncello (and let me just say, zesting 10 lemons is not as easy as Rachel Ray would have you believe) and, of course, a batch of my fave Amaretto.

What's funny is that, as much as I will enjoy testing these liqueurs, I enjoyed making them more. And as much as I enjoyed making them, I enjoyed creating the label more.