Scarf Kick

As I looked through my flagged photos in iPhoto, I realized that the blog is about a week and a half behind my knitting needles (and spinning wheel, for that matter). I've been doing a lot of sweater knitting and spinning lately, but right now I've got two more scarves to show off.

Pattern: Wisp from the Summer 2007 Knitty (pattern here)

Yarn: 1 skein malabrigo lace, colorway Vaa

Needles: size 3 (3.25mm) Addi Lace circular

Mods: no buttons/button holes but otherwise knit according to pattern until I ran out of yarn.

Timeline? I'm pretty sure I started this little scarf back in August or September and I finished the knitting sometime in late November. Then I let it languish in my knitting basket until I blocked it a week or two ago. This was definitely not a project that I worked on consistently - just something I would occasionally throw in my bag to work on during my commute.

Despite my lack of commitment to this project, I absolutely love the malabrigo laceweight. It's like candy in my LYS - bold, beautiful colors and inexpensive enough that I can justify picking up a skein whenever a color really catches my eye.

This pattern showcases the malabrigo beautifully, letting the softness of the fibers and the subtlety of the colors do all of the work.

Are you up for another scarf?

I've been calling this one "handspun scarflet" in my head since that's exactly what it is. I started out with this (490 yards of navajo-plied BFL top from Spunky Eclectic, roughly fingering weight):

Originally I thought about knitting Multnomah (Ravelry link), but I wasn't thrilled with the center increases. Instead I decided to use the same pattern components - garter center and old shale edging (I modified the lace to be a true garter lace with no purl rows) - and the basic shawl construction used in Evelyn Clark's triangular shawls. Think Swallowtail, Flower Basket, and Shetland Triangle.

NB - the colors are most accurate in this pic.

Even though the project was so simple, I had a lot of fun knitting it. There's just something special about knitting with handspun. I know I said that last time, too, but it's true!

I'm planning on making another one of these with some Dream in Color Smooshy that would look great on my sister. If there's any interest, I'll write up a little pattern for the scarflet (free, of course, since there's nothing revolutionary here).

I'm not the only one here at chez Tinks and Frogs who gets a big kick out of the scarflet. I had set it down on the bed for a moment and when I turned back around, I found this:

After reassuring myself that no claws were near the scarflet (Nayyir came to us front-declawed), I did what any normal person would do: I grabbed my camera. Enjoy!