Scarf With A Timeline

Last, but not least in the Christmas crafting reveal: Jamie's scarf.

Jamie is a knitter. Her projects of choice tend to utilize big needles and thick yarn. She likes her projects to be simple enough that she can talk and knit because most of the time when she knits she is doing so in the context of chatting with friends. Jamie, as is the case with most knitters, has a yarn stash that contains many beautiful yarns. Her stash also includes roving and other fiber, as she has also become smitten with spinning and dying fiber. Jamie recently became a first-time mom and is working full-time. With the increased demands on her time and energy, Jamie's stash has started to overwhelm her and become a source of insidious stress. She feels like there is so much she could make out of her stash, if only she had the time and energy to do it. This notion, coupled with her overflowing brain full of ideas, is driving her a little crazy.

When I asked her if she had any requests for things I could make her for Christmas we discussed options which resulted in her passing on some gorgeous white merino wool and silk blend yarn spun into a lofty singly ply. She bought this yarn when she came to visit me in Boston and we traveled to Rhinebeck together in 2007. Before she flew home, she started a scarf with the yarn. When she pulled the yarn out to give it to me, she had not made any progress beyond that first inch she had knit in Boston. Her request was for me to knit her something out of the yarn for her Christmas present. She wouldn't have to do the knitting, but she could still have something she can wear from the yarn she loves.

She was specifically imagining it as a wide, long scarf that could be wrapped around her neck a few times for big, fluffy warmth. After some Ravelry browsing, we decided on a pattern (Lace Ribbon Scarf) and I went to work on it.

Since she already knew what she was getting, I wanted to think of some way to make some part of it a surprise. When brainstorming ways to make it a little more special, I locked onto the concept of knitting memory. I had listened to a Cast On episode in which Brenda Dayne explored the concept of knitting memory. I had also recently seen a post on a blog (I can't remember which one) where someone had indicated the places they were when they knit parts of their project. I decided to merge these two ideas and take advantage of the linear shape of a scarf to turn one edge of the scarf into a time line. I liked the idea of Jamie being able to connect with where I was and what I was doing during the creation of her scarf.

I created the time line by attaching markers each time I stopped knitting. I kept notes along the way and numbered them according to the appropriate placement. After I blocked the scarf, I wrote up the notes and attached them at the appropriate points using a hole punch and a bit of scrap yarn. The result is the crazy edge shown in the photo above.

The funny part was that I knit this scarf during a really busy and distracted couple of weeks, so sometimes I would sit down to knit and at some point I would make a mistake, have to rip back and end up where I started. I made note of these points too so some of the markers were right next to each other!

Watchcap

There were two people on my gift-giving list this Christmas that seemed to be destined to have imperfect gifts. In knitting gifts for these two people, I made one failed version for each of them and one version that was passable.

These people were Roger, my mom's husband, and Sylvia, Jamie and Adam's baby girl. I first made Sylvia a pair of felted booties that were very oddly shaped and not at all shaped like her feet are shaped. I couldn't give her those so I made her mittens that were acceptable but not to my usual standards. I decided I had to just let it go in order to continue chipping away at the many other gifts that still needed to be made.

Roger wanted a brown stocking cap, which should have been simple, but somehow wasn't. I made 3/4 of a hat in fingering weight alpaca yarn only to finally admit what I had suspected from the start: it was resulting in gigantic, non-human proportions and needed to be ripped out. I was running short on time, so I headed to the yarn store and bought a skein of Lamb's Pride Worsted in their new semi-solid Cafe Au Lait color. My mom told me that Roger's head is "large" so I knit the large size of the Marsan Watchcap.

Again, it was passable, but a little too big. The design includes a very long cuff and that was definitely the case with my version!

I did like how the yarn showed such crisp stitch definition with the twisted rib and the color of the yarn was really well done. My mom says he wore it to shovel snow the other day, so that is promising.

Wipe

Next up on the Christmas gift reveal: sets of cloth napkins that I sewed.

They are folded in the triangle style I learned while working at a restaurant in high school. I was required to fold TONS of cloth napkins at the end of each shift. I folded so many napkins that I will never forget how to do it.

Hanging Towel Sets

We aren't done yet! I still have a bunch of Christmas crafting that I have yet to reveal.

A few people received variations on the theme of dishtowel and dishcloth set. I found some neat vintage hand towels from the thrift store and devised my own method for turning them into hanging dish towels. I have a crocheted version that was a hand-me-down from my Grandma that I love, so I tried to make some updated versions with knitting. I made the first one out of some handpainted, merino sock yarn and quickly learned that I really should just stick to kitchen cotton. It ain't named kitchen cotton for nuthin'.

Shortly before Christmas I was in a present wrapping frenzy when I realized I hadn't photographed these sets yet. I had a hard time capturing them how I wanted and I really just wanted them to be wrapped, so all that remains are these lackluster photos.

Sylvia's Mittens

Jamie and I got together on New Year's Day for breakfast, knitting, and gift exchanging. I finally got to give her Sylvia's mittens. I am not a huge fan of heart motifs, but on baby mittens I think they are quite appropriate.

These are made from 2 shades of Plymouth Encore yarn. I followed the Two Colour Baby Mittens pattern by Abigail Welbourn. I shortened them a bit from the pattern because when I made them for Zoe and saw them on her, I noticed that they were longer than necessary. From what I can tell, most babies tend to default to scrunched up fists when their hands are put inside of mittens.

Produce Bags

There were a few people on my Christmas list that I thought would enjoy sets of reusable produce bags. I made these out of sheer curtains I bought at the thrift store. They are light weight and can handle a good amount of weight.

I made them with a drawstring, hemp closure.

The edges are all cut with a pinking shear to prevent fraying. Also, I set the stitches per inch really high on the machine so the seams are really dense and strong.

I am imaging that these will be used to store produce harvested from the garden, produce purchased from the farmer's market and as a substitute for the plastic produce bags in the grocery store.

Brillo Scarf

Next up in the reveal is a scarf that my mom requested for her Christmas present. She and I were yarn shopping and she found this purple yarn with silver threads in it that she loved. She requested a simple garter stitch scarf out of it. After I started it, I was concerned about the texture and called her up to get her opinion. I explained that it felt like a brillo pad. She said she didn't care, so I kept on knitting. She wore it most of the afternoon after she unwrapped it so maybe she is OK with the neck exfoliating qualities of her new scarf!

This yarn is really hard to photograph. It is called Glisten and is made by Louisa Harding. It is a tape yarn with bits of tinselly, glittery silver mixed into the dark purple.

Felted Balls

I mentioned in my last post how tired all of the Christmas events made me and I guess it only really hit me when I got home from work last night and sat down to eat with Paul. I took a few bites of dinner and realized I was too tired to chew. So I went to bed. At 7pm. And I slept until the alarm woke me up at 6:30am this morning. I think I really needed the recovery sleep!

Now that most of the Christmas gifts I made have reached their intended recipients, I can start revealing them here. First off is a gift I made for my sister. I wanted to experiment with felting roving into beads. I know my sister can pull off funky stuff, so I made her a necklace using a combo of felted beads, fishing swivels, glass beads, spacers from a necklace my mom and I took apart, wire and miscellaneous findings.

The clasp features a silver star on each side.

I am not sure if she is going to wear it. She was a little weirded out by the felted balls. Oh well, I had fun making it. In the process I learned that those little suckers aren't easy to make. I think I actually broke a sweat when I was rolling and rolling and rolling them to get them to wet felt.