Spontaneous Scarf #423,098,982

Here is the Spontaneous Scarf I made with the 3 new yarns from Stitch Nation: 1 skein each of Bamboo Ewe, Full of Sheep, and Alpaca Love. Basically I cast on somewhere between 200 and 300 sts on a long size 8 circ and did seed stitch using one color per row with about an 8" tail for knotting at each end for fringe. For more info about the much-loved Spontaneous Scarf, I did a blog post HERE that shows a scan of many scarves from the original Spin-Off article.

I added stripes in this scarf but most of my versions have been just one color in as many different yarns and fibers as I could manage. These scarves are a perfect way to use up all those odds and ends of yarns that result from a lot of color knitting.

MORE OLYMPIC KNITTING LINKS

Hannah Kearney, Olympic moguls gold medalist, is a knitter. HERE is an interview Sarah from Knitting.about.com did with her.

The free pattern for Mitts for Medals uses colorwork and cables.

HERE's gold medalist skiier Lindsey Vonn wearing the Dale of Norway Valle sweater. Personally I wouldn't  pair it with a La Perla bikini and high heels but I'm just boring that way. And HERE is the same sweater for purchase. I can't find a pattern for the sweater unfortunately.

HERE is a graph of the Olympic rings motif to be used for knitting.

HERE are lots of photos from the Kama web site of the athletes from Andorra wearing those gorgeous colorwork sweaters around the events.

Go check out MariannAn's beautiful Wintersocks for Ravelympics 2010. They're one of the most beautiful Ravelry knitting projects I've seen lately.

Stitch Nation Yarns

A month ago I received a sample of 3 new yarns from Debbie Stoller of Stitch and Bitch fame and Red Heart yarns. These yarns are all affordable at less than $5 a skein. The bright colors are definitely right up my alley.

There are three lines - Full of Sheep (single ply), Alpaca Love (an alpaca wool blend) and my overwheming favorite Bamboo Ewe - 55% bamboo and 45% wool. Bamboo Ewe has a lovely shine and is quite soft (the softest of all three) although I'd probably use it for something other than colorwork because it isn't as elastic as the others. For more information on these yarns, go to Stitch Nation Yarn.

I'm working on a simple spontaneous scarf with a skein of each  type. To make a spontaneous scarf, cast on enough stitches on a long circular needle for the length of the scarf and knit in seed stitch. Each row is a different yarn with about an 8" tail to knot for fringe. I'll donate the resulting scarf to our local House Rabbit Society group to sell at a yard sale.

TODAY'S COLOR KNITTING LINKS

Drops and Garnstudio have a really cute free colorwork sock knitting pattern for Valentine's Day HERE.

Schoolhouse Press is the first to offer Ron Schweitzer's beautiful Fair Isle sweater patterns in standalone booklets. (You can also order them in kit form from Yarns International.) I own Appalachian Portraits and his designs are even more spectacular considering he only uses naturally-colored wools.

The Smithsonian is teaching color knitting through their Resident Associate program. Go HERE to sign up.

Karen's Variety is a web site selling some fun vintage knitting patterns.

This beautiful free mitten pattern combines Nordic and Islamic motifs - Andalus Mittens.

If you buy a lot of digital knitting books, here's a good article called The Archaic Art of Printing E-Books from Home.

HERE are some upcoming colorwork books to look forward to: Estonian Mittens All Around the World, Norwegian Patterns for Knitting by Mette Handberg, and Poetry in Stitches is being re-released (for a whopping $45).

I hope to have a free pattern for a colorwork scarf to offer you soon; I just need DH to model it for the photo shoot. Happy Valentine's Day!

Spontaneous Scarf

CASHMERE SALE ALERT!!! CASHMERE SALE ALERT!!

Did that get your attention? Just two days after I was whining about the current lack of thin yarns at Elann they miraculously offer up some Peruvian Collection Baby Cashmere (alpaca/wool/cashmere blend) in fingering weight. I bought all of the colors to play with as it was only $2.75 a skein. I ordered enough to make several projects from Folk Knitting in Estonia including Merike's gloves and Kristi's mittens. Geane has inspired me by working on Kalev's mittens from the same book. My sincere apologies to those of you on a yarn diet - I feel like I'm waving a hot steaming piece of pizza dripping with cheese in front of someone virtuously eating a celery stick.



This close-up of the brown Spontaneous Scarf shows the woven look. The Spontaneous Scarf pattern is from a recent issue of Spin-Off magazine. Essentially you just cast on as many stitches as you can on about a size 6-8 long circular needle. (However many stitches you cast on determines how long the scarf will be.) Then you do seed stitch with a different yarn each row. Leave long yarn tails (after knitting these are knotted together and become the fringe) on each row. Knit until scarf is the width you like. I like to use the same yarn to bind off as I used to cast on - it gives it a neater more finished look. You can vary yarn thicknesses, fibers, colors, etc. Here's the red/blue Spontaneous Scarf which I made narrower than usual.



These are mindless and quick gifts that can be made from your stash. You can also make a stole by making the scarf much wider. Try making scarves in variations on one color or in complementary colors or all jewel tones or naturals, etc.

Spontaneous Scarf

Yep - that is a Spontaneous Scarf you see! The pattern is in the Winter issue of Spin-Off but basically you cast on until you're sick of casting on, then knit in seed stitch lengthwise with a different yarn each row. Go wild and use up all your odds and ends of different fibers and weights. I add on the fringe as I begin & end each side - I just tie a knot every four ends. I just love these - totally mindless knitting but fun to constantly add new fibers and play around with colors. In fact I'm using my Tracy Eicheim spindle right now to spin up some single play mohair/wool hand-dyed wool just to use for another Spontaneous Scarf. Bet you can't knit just one.

Today was a gorgeous day so I sat outside and combed out a lot of the gray alpaca fleece. It is full of VM (vegetable matter - i.e., hay, burrs, etc) so it is best to do this outside. As I was combing I would occasionally let some fly loose in the wind. The neighborhood birds are going to have the softest nests. I still don't know what I'll do with this alpaca when it is finally processed into yarn. Well I'm off until Monday! Hopefully there will be some excellent knitting time this weekend.