Big Lace Scarf (FO)

I'm not a lace knitter - not yet anyway(!) - I've knit some lace in the past, but haven't yet cast on any glorious shawls in gossamer fine yarn. But something lacey caught my eye in the More Last-minute knitted gifts book, and I just had to do it.

Pattern: big lace scarf from More Last Minute Knitted Gifts (Joelle Hoverson)

Yarn: chunky, unravelled from charity shop jumper

time taken: a day or two last week

mods: I subbed the yarn and knit with 15mm needles

The photos haven't come out terribly well, but you get the idea. It's big and chunky and involves a simple 4 row pattern, which I managed to screw up several times. Who knew that counting to 4 could be so tricky? After dithering a little, I decided to keep this as a scarf and not transform into a cowl, and this is also stashed in my box of things (along with its sister), waiting for the right person or right occasion to come along.

In other news, I am now without a sock project. But, as I can't seem to manage without a small project I can take with me to meetings, work, conferences etc, I have cast on something else small and portable worked in the round using sock yarn: some wrist warmers. I'm using the purl bee's long striped handwarmer pattern for my first pair. Watch this space...

Smitten Shmitten

Well now. The sun may be shining, but there are clouds overhead, and poor old Drew has gone back to the drawing (drew-ing?) board.

So, having knit furiously up to the armholes and completed the back and started on one of the fronts, I took stock. Hmmm. Less than three balls of yarn used for a project that is supposed to take 9 balls. Hmm. And, only 21cm below the armhole for something meant to fit a 4-5 yr old, even before washing/shrinking. Hmmmmm.

It wasn't stacking up. I checked on Ravelry, and I think there's only one completed Drew (perhaps that says something), which had the comment that it came up small. A forum post about the pattern and yarn requirement mismatch generated various comments mostly saying 'dont forget the hood' - which is a bit bamboozling as this pattern doesn't have a hood, but anyway. I usually find Rowan patterns/sizing to be generous, so thought age 4-5 would be fine for my average/slim 4 1/2 year old son. Then I got the tape measure - you know like proper knitters do - and actually measured my son and a couple of his jackets, and have decided to start all over again. This time I am going to use the age 6-7 size in terms of chest size/width, but aim for something which is about the same length as the age 10-11 size. I hope I'll end up with a jacket which he can wear for a little while at least, and not something which is so short he'll grow out of it before I have had chance to sew the zipper in. 

I spend an unhappy half an hour or so on Wednesday morning frogging all the lovely stripes, and then I took a deep breath and started again. I went to an interesting lecture later on that day, and got on with the reknitting while Carolyn Steel talked about cities and food and her book 'Hungry City'. Food for thought. If you are interested at all in issues around food shopping and supermarkets and growing your own (which of course most people are) then it's worth having a look and/or listening to Carolyn speak. She is very passionate about her subject, and there is lots of interesting info on her website and blog.