Trenchwork

There really has been a bit of knitting here and there, usually when I had to be in company and couldn’t take a wheel or spindles with me (which incidentally was also the time when I couldn’t work; how rude would that have been?).  This, then, is what happened over the Christmas break and first few days of the new year.   (NB!  All the photos are dark today; between snow and the general darkness, it was a struggle to get anything which was both visible and not blue!  Sorry, guys.)

First, DH got a scarf.

It’s a very simple thing, knit lengthwise with all of its 400 stitches in straight garter stitch to keep it from being stiff against the neck, using Sarah’s Yarns DK Cashmere in Rich Blueberry, Navy Violet, and Rich Mahogany. I used one skein of each, and the thing turned out being a perfect length to loop around the neck doubled—which was actually about a third again as long as I had planned for. The yarn is lovely to work with, and knits up incredibly soft. It’s nothing fancy, but feels great and is warm, and doesn’t look like a “girly” scarf.

Second, this bulky brown yarn of Beta 1  . . .

became an oversized Flap Dash Bag.

I modified the pattern here and there so that I could just knit until I ran out of yarn, and while the photo doesn’t show you size, the entire thing is about the size of a large messenger bag, and is big enough to hold a surprising amount of knitting and fibery bulk. It’s rather casually lined (I’m an impatient sewer) with a brown quilting fabric

and I’ve made a panel to reinforce the shape of the bottom of the bag by covering a bit of light Pergo. The flooring is thin enough to bend and give a bit and still be strong, and weighs next to nothing. It’s pretty perfect, actually, and I needed something stiffer than normal cardboard or a second knitted panel in order to counter the bag itself; it’s not exactly a thin fabric.

The one drawback—and I really had wondered about this when I decided to felt it—is that the mohair in the yarn does shed a bit, so I just need to attack it with some cheap contact paper and a brush and get rid of the loose stuff. It’ll settle down with a little abuse.

Finally, the purple beaded yarn of #14 became a Luna Moth Shawl.

Again, the photo is dark, but the color is true even if it needs a bit of light. It’s a small shoulder shawl, and a free pattern, and is absolutely a breeze to knit. I’d heartily recommend this one for a first lace. It’s small enough to keep a new lace knitter from being overwhelmed, but it has the possibility to be as large as you want it to be. For my part, I was looking for a fairly simple lace pattern which would allow the beads and variegated yarn to not overwhelm the lace (or not be overwhelmed), but which needed less than 330 yards of yarn! Thank heaven for Vicki of Simple Knits and her nifty list of triangle shawl patterns!

The beads turned out to be even more subtle than I expected, and you really only see them when the fabric moves and the light catches them. Then there’s a quiet shimmer of color which actually surprises you, and makes you want to look more closely to see what elusive firefly was buried in the fabric . . .

And no—this photo does not do the fabric justice. For a better idea of things, go back to the yarn photos in the spinning gallery. I’ll try and get a better shot on a day when we actually have sunshine.

That should be in about six months.