Knitty Gritty Thoughts

Trinket Scarf

Trinket Scarf by Kim Hargreaves
Knit time: 3 months on and off
Final Size: 86 inches long (65" pre-ruffles and blocking)
Needles: US 2 (casein) and 6 (bamboo) both straights
Yarn: KidSilk Haze in Majestic, from here, in a kit
Interested in more info?  All posts about the Trinket Scarf here
Final Note: The body of the scarf got a little boring and I highly recommend a row counter.  Overall it was fun and I loved knitting with beads on the frills, it give it that little extra.  The kidsilk haze is very 'fluffy' when you knit with it, it seems to get everywhere!  It's quite warm wrapped around my neck and I can't wait for it to get a little colder to wear it out to a special occasion.
*sigh* Typepad just crashed and I just had to rewrite this post, grr.

Nearing Completion....

The Trinket scarf is nearing completion and all I can say is it involves lots of kidsilk haze, ruffles and beaded cast-off....yummy!  It's going to drive me nuts until it's done so I hope to have a FO picture shortly! =)

A Tisket a Tasket, a Trinket in my Basket!

Hi Everyone, surprise, this doesn't have a mystery stole picture in it!  I'm sure there's a few of you out there that would like to see something different today, I know I would!
Today it's all about Trinket by Kim Hargreaves.  I know I posted a pic a while ago of the lovely kit I ordered.  The kid silk haze is quite yummy, but a little fuzzy.  When I knit with it creates little puffs of fuzz that seem to find their way everywhere, including my nose, it makes me sneeze!  They give you 3 skeins to knit the scarf, 1 skein gained me about 25 inches of scarf, to date I've made it 35 inches, only 30 more to go!  The pattern itself is quite easy, I would rate it adventurous beginner.  The scarf itself is knit on a diagonal, and you switch between two needle sizes. 
Surprisingly, I'm knitting this on straights, even though I prefer circs and knit with little else.  I'm switching between Crystal Palace US 6 and Casein 2.75mm.  This is the first time I've knitted with Casein before, I found them at my LYS, Wild Fibre, I also picked up a set of casein double-points.  They have a slight smell to them that I can't quite figure out what it is, however they are smooth and flexible and easy to knit with. 
This project requires few accessories, I have a sheepy measuring tape and electronic row counter tucked into my bag but that's it, no stitch markers, nothing.  I love the little bag I'm storing it in, it's from Di over at Clementine's shoes.  She is amazingly talented, I had been drooling over her little box bags for a long time and when she offered them for sale, I bought one so quick she barely had time to post it up before I emailed her.  I've actually had it for a long time now, almost a year, but this is really the first time I talked about it.  Isn't it fun to find all this amazing talent on the internets?  I love purchasing items from fellow crafts-people, and have quite a collection growing.  In fact, I just received Orchid Bunny in the mail, a softie from Fiona at Hop Skip Jump.  I'll post pics of the little cutie next time.
Other than that I've been getting inspired to sew more often and found some cute little monkey fabric that seems to be all over blog-land lately.  Who can resist little sock monkeys???  I'm going to try to turn it into something fun this weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Habu Bag

Thanks all for the wonderful comments on Seraphim and the Entrelac Wrap.  I used random.org for the winning number for the yarn and it was Karla!  Congrats Karla, I'll be emailing you shortly for your address.

Moving on...to make up for missing Friday's FO, I have the Silk Linen Shoulder Bag from Habu Textiles knit in Shosenshi Paper and Tsugumi Silk, purhchased from KPIXIE.  Similar to this link, but a smaller size.  It was a lovely knit, I ended up getting gauge on US 5 needles.   I started off with Addi's, thinking the metal would make it slippery and easy to knit.  It drove me nuts!  I finally switched to bamboo, *aaahhh* my hands just about cried with relief.  I knit it on Clover straights and the second half went much faster. 

Overall I knit the bag to pattern, only extending section "C" by a few inches to give me additional depth and storage space. 

When finished I steam blocked it, although the ends were still a little curly.  It was quick to seam, and easy to finish.  The pattern was written "Japanese Style" which was easy to follow, but different.  The majority of the knitting is done to schematic, and you have to reverse the shaping yourself, so I would rate the pattern adventurous beginner.

It's a good thing I have a lot of FO's to show, because I haven't done a lot of project knitting.  I've been casting on about a zillion things, but haven't made much progress on anything but Trinket from Kim Hargreaves.  I'm close to finishing up the first ball of kidsilk haze, and have 24 inches.  The instructions have you knit in pattern for 56 inches, so I'm almost halfway there plus the ruffled edging.

It was a rainy day yesterday, the perfect time to stay indoors wrapped in a blanket with a cup of tea and knitting.   Later in the afternoon I worked on my Mailorder Project, a fun little needlecase with how-to's on embroidery stitches.  It was a fun flashback to my kid days, armed with a gluestick and some scissors!