Lacy Alpaca Scarf

Remember way back when I began a long-promised scarf for my friend Sarah? Well, I finally got it blocked the other day and it turned out pretty nicely if I do say so myself.

It did take me frogging it once for me to like the finished product. I initially had been knitting it single-stranded on size 6 needles. But it was turning out a little bit too dense for my taste so I started it over with the yarn double-stranded on size 10 needles. Much better!

I ended up using 6 skeins of Andean Treasure in Hot Rod Heather, which is 100% Alpaca. I LOVE the softness of this yarn and it's so warm. Sarah will be back in Skagway in just a couple days...hope she likes her scarf that she's waited on for about three year!

Noro Granny Afghan is FINALLY finished!

I've been working for the last month, off and on, to complete a granny square afghan out of about 9 different colorways of Noro. I've been wanting to do something like this for a long time, having been inspired by images of Crazy Quilts and also by many vintage granny square afghans , however the thought of changing colors every row in order to achieve the multi-colored look had really kept me from creating anything.

Enter one of my favorite yarns, Noro Kureyon. I have always been fascinated by all the different colorways and the seemingly endless hues that make up each skein. I figured that this would be the easier way to incorporate a lot of color without having to change color each round. Initially things went pretty quickly, but as with most projects I do I tired of it quickly and am actually quite proud of myself for seeing it through to completion. At one point I seriously thought that this project would languish forever in the corner, stacks of squares just begging to be pieced together to form something beautiful. But the desire to have it grace my knitting chair trumped my lack of motivation and I finally finished the border last night.

You can read more about this blanket here and here, and you can follow it on Ravelry here, and I'm so excited to FINALLY say that it's finished, but I'll probably block it soon to straighten out the edges and soften up the wool.

Details:

Approximately 30 skeins of about 9 different colorways of Noro Kureyon

Crochet hook size H

Notions: Tapestry needle

Here are some photos of the blanket lounging around my house...This is where I intend to use it the most. What better way to spend time in my knitting corner than to be covered in inspiring colors!But, I also suspect that it will get some use on our deck when we're sitting out there on chilly evenings playing Scrabble.
Or I could also see it as a decorative throw on our bed, for Jeff to use on nights that I hog all the covers...which I guess would be every night.

Whew! It feels good to get some projects finished before the summer hits and I have no time to think, let alone be creative enough to make something interesting.

Yep, that's right, tourist season is upon us and I'll probably be doing a lot of stockinette or repetitive lace projects, because I'll have no brain left at the end of the day for anyting more complicated. Looks like it's time to crank out some felted coin purses or something equally as mindless!