Wine Scarf & Hat

Why oh why would a wine bottle need a scarf & hat?  Because it's freaking adorable!  Look.




My sister called me a few weeks ago & told me that she saw the cutest thing in a catalog - a scarf & hat set for a wine bottle.  And she wanted one but it was $17!!!  Did I think I could make that?  Now, I don't know about you, but I have stopped making random stuff for the people in my life because well, they don't like it as much as I think they should.  Or I guess I should say that I have stopped making unsolicited items of my choosing for people because if I'm going to make them something I want them to ZOMG-love-it.   So when my sister calls me up & asks me if I can make something....well, ding ding ding....I'm in! (I think she's figured this out, btw, and next my post will prove it).  So my husband told me to tell her that yes I can & I'd only charge her $10 (joke, of course).  I was going to wing it but a quick search for "wine hat" on Ravelry resulted in several patterns & I'm not one to reinvent the wheel.  I pulled out some scraps & whipped this up literally in a few hours.  It really is cute.  You can find the patterns here.

This is why I love hanging out with other knitters...

So I'm at knit night & had this conversation.

Candice (also a knitter): So, what are you making?
Me: A scarf for a wine bottle.
Candice: Oh, CUTE!

Not at all what I expected.  I can think of 17 appropriate ways to respond to that answer but only another knitter would respond with "oh, CUTE!" without even questioning why a wine bottle would need a scarf.

Full details to follow soon.

This is the kind of mail every knitter loves to get

Isn't that hilarious?  This box came from The Dizzy Sheep - it was full of my discount yarn that I bought over the Labor Day holiday.  It really made my day - it makes me want to be friends with whoever would write that on my yarn box.  I'm also pretty glad my mailman isn't as yarn crazy as me or it might have never made it to my house!

Casting on Like a Crazy Woman

I swear, I think Single Skein September 2010 (SSS10) has unleashed a beast. We are only 6 days in & I have already cast on for 5 new projects. As I talked about in my last post, I made this Mustard Scarf out of some yummy Lisa Souza cashmere

I still haven't picked a button - that is a whole different can of worms. I did weave the ends in & it's wearable, so I consider it DONE.

I also made this hat that I've been wanting to make forever

The pattern is Center Square & I mistakenly knit it out of Knitpicks Mainline, which is a 75% cotton / 25% wool yarn (also discontinued). Not a good combo for stranded work. It has no elasticity & frankly, it will fit a conehead. This is only my second stranded project and I tend to pull too tight - this really isn't good for stranded work & I'm really going to have to work on it. Either way, the yarn is used up & I got some practice holding one color in each hand. It is SOOOO awkward, but I find it really interesting knitting.

Other things I've cast on for:
The One Row Scarf in this awesome Malabrigo Seleccion Privada.

I found it at a yarn shop in Houston & I fell madly in love with it. They only had one skein & I had no idea what I could make with one, but I couldn't leave it there. Perfect candidate for SSS10. This pattern is pretty brilliant - it makes great texture but is dead simple & goes really fast. It's going to be adorable, if I may say so my self!

Another pattern I have been dying to make is this Rainbow Moebius. Mine won't be so "rainbow" since I'm not using a yarn with long color repeats like that. I'm using Cherry Tree Hill Supersock DK .

I got this yarn in my Loopy Groupie package. It's like they looked at all of my orders & sent me something they knew that I would love, because I do love this yarn! It does give my moebius a different look from the original, but I think it will be really pretty.

#5 thing that I cast on for is the Eden Scarf. I've been told that it isn't very practical, which is so very true! But I think it's adorable & I want to knit it, so there you have it. I bought this Mini Mochi specifically for this pattern after seeing some knit in this yarn on Ravelry. I think it will be cute & impractical - my favorite kind of accessory! 


So that's what I've been doing since last Wednesday. You know what else? I think the fact that we have officially been under 100 degrees here in Dallas for the last week has really helped. It even got down to 66 the other night! Suddenly it seems possible that one day it will be cool enough to actually need a knitted item. Hooray for fall (ish) weather!

What are you working on?  Any ideas for single skein projects?  I have a lot of month left.  

Every Yarn Tells A Story

Doesn't it? For me, it does. Today I'm going to tell you the story of this gorgeous skein of Lisa Souza handspun Cashmere Merino in Jungle. Sigh.


mmmm....cashmere. You don't really care about the story anymore do you? Last October when I went to Stitches East, I made a vow to myself that the yarn I would buy at the market would be different, original, nothing that I could buy at my LYS or readily get my hands on. It was a good plan, it really was. The night of the market preview I was totally overwhelmed. I was walking around in a bit of a daze surrounded by gorgeous stuff when the pen of yarn appeared. Yes, PEN of yarn. One of the vendors puts up some fencing & it is chock full of bags of yarn at discounted prices - it's INSANE. I got a little caught up in it & found 2 colors of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool that I really love & was hoarding them. Sweater quantities of a yarn I've been wanting at discounted prices. Heaven, right? It's exactly what I wasn't supposed to be doing but I couldn't help it, I was caught up in the frenzy. As I was trying to decide which color to get (or just get both), I turned around & hanging in Lisa Souza's booth was this single skein of yarn. A perfect combination of greens, handspun, plied like I like it, and a 50/50 cashmere wool blend. It was soft & squishy & beautiful & exactly what I envisioned buying at my first Stitches experience. I threw the bags of yarn back in the pen & immediately bought this skein of yarn. My first Stitches purchase which set the tone for my additional purchases & my whole trip. It's what I think about every time I see it in my yarn cabinet. This morning.....I wound it into this:



Today begins Single Skein September, which is a month long Knit-A-Long hosted through the Stash and Burn podcast group on Ravelry. The intention of the KAL is to burn through the oddballs of yarn that you have stashed - you know all of those hats & scarves & small stuff that you buy yarn for but never get to? For me, I like to buy a ball or two of something to "try out" or sometimes (as is the case with this skein), the yarn is fairly high priced & one ball is all I can justify. What in the world do you do with all of those single skeins? That is the question I've been answering for the past few days, planning what yarn to use for this challenge. My first thoughts fell to various hats & the odd skeins of different Knitpicks yarn that I often throw into an order to get to free shipping. Or the yarns that are on the clearance rack at my LYS because there is only one or two of a color left & I buy them because "they will be perfect for chemo caps". Or the countless one skeins that I've bought to swatch to see if I like it enough to make a sweater (PS...I NEVER follow through with this!) Then my thoughts went to this yarn. This lovely squishy, gorgeous yarn that I've been sitting on waiting for the "perfect" project & the "perfect" time to knit it up. I'm here to tell you, today is that day. No time like the present! I'm going to make a Mustard Scarf. I love the look of it, I have a soft spot for scarves, and it is knit on size 15 needles so it should go fairly quick.

Stay tuned for more updates on fast one skein projects during September - I plan to burn some single skeins! We'll see how that goes.