Great Grandma Scarf

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I have finally seen the light. It is WAY easier to knit from someone else's pattern than to tinker around and create something from scratch myself. I'm not a great collector of patterns, either in books or PDF files. Except for a book on knitted flowers (a gift), all my other knitting books are stitch dictionaries. And I'm not inclined to collect PDF files partly due to not having a printer. But this scarf I just made was so simple that I didn't need to print it out to be able to follow it.

Pattern: Bainbridge Scarf (PDF)
Yarn: Worsted Weight
Needles: 5.0 mm (US8)

Here's a little something for M's great grandma. She's 92 and hobbles very slowly with her walker. It is a tube that is worn similarly to a cowl, so this scarf is perfect as there is no risk of it falling off, and thus no temptation for her to attempt the dangerous manouevre of bending down to pick up something off the floor. Another advantage is no long dangling ends to catch on anything and make her fall. There are so many similarities between her and M. For both, you have to consider possible strangulation hazards with neckwear. Both are picky eaters. It takes just as long for both to get from Point A to Point B. Well, I could go on...

The Bainbridge Scarf was a little tricky to figure out how to wear, but I think I've figured it out. Here's Pooh Bear, my stationary model, wearing the scarf. My other possible model (viz. Missy) can't stay still. I must say he looks pretty good wearing the scarf! (BTW, Missy still refers to him as "her") The scarf is easy mindless knitting. So easy that I lost track of what I was doing and knit 5 inches before I realized I only needed 4 inches.

Now I'm wondering what to make next. Except for the mitt that will be used in the FGF Feb 2009 KAL (Ravelry group) and the lace scarf I started aeons ago, I think I will take a break from creating something from scratch. Knitting is like cooking. It's easier to look up a recipe in a cookbook than to create something from scratch. No point in reinventing the wheel. I do need to get a printer though.

(pers note: adjust for yarn weight, co120. could prolly go with 130 next time)

Pattern: Asherton Toddler Hat
Yarn: Cleckheaton Country 8 Ply
Needles: 4.0 mm (US6)

Never go stash diving with the little ones. They zero in on yarn based on color and will invariably pick out the nice non-machine-washable merino wool!

Missy wanted a new hat and she tends to gravitate towards the purples. I tried to show her the machine wash purples in my stash, but she’d turn them down saying, “no, it’s too dark,” or, “no, it’s too light”. Then she spies the shade of purple she likes and it turns out to be merino wool, hand wash.

We revisited the stash again another day, this time with some planning ahead and placing only the machine wash yarns on the bed (and a few “approved” hand wash yarns too) so she could choose from that. She decided on the same lighter pink yarn which was used in her 2nd hat of the same style (see 22 Jan 2007 post for 2nd hat; see 6 Oct 2006 post for 1st hat). Ok, we finally have yarn and color.

Next up, what style would she like her hat? After showing her a few, she decided that she wanted this exact same hat. Okeedokee. At least I knew I could knit one. :-)

Now this is Missy's new winter hat. The old one was was getting a bit short on her. She can still wear the old one, but the brim no longer folds up/down. I made this one with 20 rounds of ribbing, so it folds up while wearing, but I can fold it down a little more for more coverage when needed.

Outline: Warm Hands, Warm Thumbs
Yarn: Elann Highland Wool
Needles: 4.5 mm (US7)

Nothing terribly new here. This just shows the 4 pairs of the same basic k2p2 mitts. You last saw 3 pairs in my 17 Dec 2008 post. This one only adds one more grey pair. All gifts for Christmas. I am sooooo sick of knitting mitts. I made 8 pairs for gifts. The other 4 were the cable mitts you saw in my 22 Dec 2008 post.

So for a change of pace from mitts, I have started a scarf for L. AND I am finally getting to use the Knit Picks Options Interchangeable Needles Set I got earlier this month (4 Dec 2008 post). It came with 2 cord lengths. I found the shorter one too short for my liking, I'm not sure what I will use that for. The longer one in the set is perfect for knitting a scarf. Yup, these needle tips are pointy. Just like the Knit Picks Harmony wood DPNs, it made this yarn seem more splitty than it's ever been for me in the past.

I'm still waiting for the Knit Picks Nickel Plated DPN Set (sock size needles) to arrive. Still on backorder I guess.

We'll be going on a little mini-roadtrip, same place as last May -- Monterey, CA and Carmel, CA (see 29 May 2008 & 3 June 2008 posts). Forecast says chance of showers on the 2nd day there, hopefully it will only turn out to be cloudy. I'll be taking L's scarf with me, easy mindless knitting.

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