The GMD Blog   Knitting, fibers, jewelry, aesthetics and life.

Fan Coral Scarf
Gauge: Approx 12 st/ 4 inches

Needles: US 10

Yarn: Trendsetter Yarn’s “Delicious”

Notions: 10-12 stitch markers, tapestry needle

This pattern is evocative of beautiful ocean corals, with their lacy open-work forms and wave-like patterning. The stitch pattern is derived from the popular and ubiquitous “Feather and Fan” stitch. Worked in a fuzzy, coral colored novelty yarn, this scarf really delivers a dose of undersea luxury–but would work with just about any yarn. A less fuzzy yarn will create a more obvious pattern, while a fuzzy yarn will create a subtler effect.

Notes:

* It is very important to cast on and bind off loosely in this pattern! This pattern is designed to work a scarf from end-to-end across the long side. The number of stitches you cast on determines the LENGTH. The number of rows you work determines the WIDTH.

*Adjusting this pattern for a different gauge is very easy! Depending on your gauge, you may want to cast on more or fewer repeats of the pattern. Each repeat is 18 stitches long, and it is easier to work this pattern if you have stitch markers between each pattern repeat, so you will need n-1 stitch markers where n is the number of pattern repeats.

* As this is a scarf, I don’t think achieving a particular gauge is very important, but you may want to do a swatch to see how many stitches you are getting per-inch, if you want your scarf to be a certain length. As written, this pattern will create a scarf that is about 6-7 feet long.

*This pattern also makes a great wrap–just make it wider (to do that, you will knit more rows).

The Pattern:
Depending on your gauge, cast on (loosely!) 198-234 stitches, placing a marker after every 18 stitches.
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Knit
Row 3: Purl
Row 4: *k2g (3x) k1 yo (6x) k2g (3x) Repeat from * to end of row.
Repeat these four rows for pattern, until scarf/ wrap is *almost* desired width, stopping at row # 4.
Work rows 1 & 2 one more time, then bind off in knit (loosely!). Weave in ends and block if desired.

Just a speedy update today. Spent the evening at a great talk by PZ Meyers, which allowed me to make great progress on the free-pattern scarf. Enough progress, in fact, that with a little diligence tonight and tomorrow morning, I should have no trouble finishing in time to post the pattern here, with pictures, tomorrow. I can’t predict the quality of those pictures, however, because it won’t stop raining here, and I’m not sure anything knitted benefits from being posed in a puddle. So the pictures are probably going to be taken inside with inside sorts of lighting…which are basically unpredictable sorts of lighting until you have professional umbrella lights, light boxes, etc. (I don’t). Until tomorrow, then…

It’s January, which is usually a slow month here. Usually. Fortunately, it’s been pretty busy for the shop, which is a great distraction from Inventory (that’s the “I” word around here) which is the main event this month. There is something really nice about making a sale and knowing that you have inventoried and logged a specific item for the last time.
On the yarn front, I just did a huge shop update with a bunch of new handspun yarns. I’m also planning out some new colorways and dye sessions to make them as soon as I have new wool/ yarn in, which should be soon.
On the knitting front, I am nearing introduction of several new patterns (including the promised scarf and vest–and others) after delays caused by the holidays, family crises, Inventory, pattern adjustments, and lots of frogging and re-knitting. I am also learning new skills so I can finish the vest. I’m learning those skills through a great deal of Amigurumi knitting, as I work my way through Hansi Singh’s great book “Amigurumi Knits”!
And now, for your viewing pleasure, a knitted worm from that illustrious book, to prove to you that I am, in fact, chugging along here behind the scenes!

I should be heading home today after being gone for a solid month. I’ve been taking care of a family member who had surgery, and doing some chores and projects around the house–and it has been a busy month. It looks like this family member is finally ready to sell their house and move closer to where I live, so I can look in on them more easily if need be, and so they can be more involved in my life. But this all means that there is a whole house to be readied for sale, with a comparable number of projects to go with. I often find that many projects go through phases where everything looks worse before it looks better–and it only looks better right when everything is finished.

One of the projects was installing a built-in bookcase in an awkward nook in a bedroom. There used to be a dresser there, but it was too deep for the nook, and partially blocked the bathroom door, which is really undesirable when showing a house.

The bookcase wasn’t the easiest project in the world, and it involved a lot of custom cutting, frustrating setbacks, and re-engineering, but in the end, I think it was a worthwhile project that will add to the resale value of the house, while also providing some much needed storage. I couldn’t have done it by myself, though, and a huge amount of credit goes to my husband for helping out on this one! Thanks Kev!

On my next trip out, I will prime and paint the new built in shelves to match the trim in the room, but for now, just having finished, usable shelving is a huge improvement.

As promised, though a bit later than promised, here is a quick, easy holiday scarf pattern.
I used 1 ball of lion fun fur in white (I didn’t use all of it) and I used a whole ball of Lion Suede in a bright red. The gauge I got was 3 st/ inch on US # 8 needles, but it is a scarf, so I would not fuss overmuch about getting gauge.

Notes: Seed stitch is great and easy, and it makes a scarf that does not roll up. This pattern can be made at any gauge, and with any number of similar weight yarns–so it’s a great stash buster too! Have fun and enjoy. For Hannukah, try using white or gold fur and blue suede.
The Directions:
Using the white fun fur,cast on 15 stitches, or any odd number that will give you a scarf with a pleasing width. At 3 st/ inch, the gauge I got, 15 stitches is a 5 inch wide scarf, which works well for this design.
Work in seed stitch as follows for 16 rows (or until the furry end looks right–and remember how many rows you worked).
Seed Stitch–K1 P1 across, to last Stitch, K1. Repeat this row (knit the knits and purl the purls).
After 16 rows, break yarn, and change to the red suede, and work for about 46 inches in seed stitch, then break the red suede, re-join the white fun fur, work 16 more rows in seed stitch, and cast off! (My scarf is 52 inches long.) Finish by weaving in ends–I use duplicate stitch to weave in ends, but only where I can see the stitches–so I didn’t bother doing a duplicate stitch in the fun fur. I didn’t feel like this design needed blocking, but if yours does, go ahead.

Happy Holidays

Today I spent a lovely afternoon in DC with my fabulous, and very favorite, aunt Elina. We spent our time together looking around the East Wing of the National Gallery in Washington DC–usually when I go there, everyone else is itching to go somewhere else, like Air & Space, or the West Wing, which has art “they get.” Personally, I find modern & contemporary art, even very abstract pieces, deeply moving. There is just something about the themes and tropes of the genre, as well as the representational style (or lack of representation) that I connect with.

At the moment, one of the special showings is a collection of studies, alternates, and “works in progress” from Jasper Johns. Initially, I did not particularly like the exhibit, aside from a few of the pieces. I did not, in essence, connect with much of the “raw” work displayed in that collection. However, throughout the day, we kept finding “finished” pieces of his work in other parts of the museum and in the permanent collections, and I saw, in light of the temporary Johns’ exhibit, how his explorations of lines, themes, motifs, and ideas, ultimately plays out. I connected better with his formalized works, which is probably not an accidental by-product of their completion, but rather a strong indicator that there is an element missing from the majority of the studies that is added in the final stages of creation, and which renders a work complete. This “final” aspect of the works, was highlighted by the display of often incomplete studies, and really proved valuable to me in terms of understanding Johns as an artist, especially as I was largely unfamiliar with his work. Without the special exhibit, I don’t think I would have taken as much notice of the Johns pieces in the permanent collection, or that I would have considered them as carefully as I now have. I think that this exhibit really provided me with an opportunity for greater insight into and connection with Jasper Johns as an artist, and I wish to commend the National Gallery for curating such an initially off-putting, and ultimately rewarding exhibit. I would love to see a similar approach taken for other artists in the future–I learned so much just by having the opportunity to see the very subtle differences between works that were considered tentative or experimental, and those seen as final.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of Johns work, finished or otherwise. I’m not sure one or two pictures, or even ten, could have captured the experience that my immersion in his work today really provided anyway. However, I did pause for a quick shot with some lovely diet-friendly desserts. The painting is Cakes by Wayne Thiebaud, a 1963 oil on canvas.

Okay, that last post was a bit short. So I will give you more pictures today, right now, right this minute, right here. Go!

It was really cold outside, but the snow was so gorgeous and quiet that I stayed out until my fingers were numb, and my camera fogged up and couldn’t focus.

Okay now, that’s all folks.

Things are very quiet here in Maryland, and I am enjoying the first snow of the season (and the first snow I have seen in a few years). I love the quiet of the snow, the really hushed, murmuring whisper as it falls, like the soft woosh of an owl in flight. The sun is fading now, and there is a picture I want to take. I took one earlier, and I will leave you with that for today:

No progress to report on the vest, so please don’t ask. I’m pretending there is no vest right now, and the only real reminder that It is Lurking about is the cold that makes me want a vest. Beyond that, there is no vest. However, besides the weaving-in-ends bit, the impromptu holiday scarf is done, and I should have pictures and easy-peasy directions up here tomorrow. I also made some progress on the patterned scarf pattern, I just could not find chart A , so I reconstructed that, which didn’t take long (but did take 3 sheets of graph paper due to errors). I’m contemplating casting that on now, but I am also thinking it’s late and I could do with some sleep before tomorrow AM when we are leaving very early to trek to the Macy’s 1 Day Sale–just after opening. Depending on the gauge, the second knit of this scarf pattern could actually be more of a wrap, as the width is determined by the number of stitches set by the pattern. I think that could actually make this a more versatile project overall, but I probably do not have enough of the yarn I initially selected for a wrap, unless I want to use more than one color and make it with stripes. I will have to make a swatch and try to figure out how much I will need…I was hoping to avoid a swatch, as it is a scarf. Damn.