Blizzard

For ages now, I have had in my stash two enormous single skeins of Schaefer "Susan" pima cotton in the Catherine the Great and the Rachel Carson colorways. Both were originally destined to be baby blankets, but, really, there are only so many babies...



I decided to do a very very quick project, the Blizzard shawl from "Scarf Style." It took me two evenings to finish, and I was able to memorize the pattern after only a few repeats. This yarn has gorgeous drape, although I might have liked it to be a bit longer. Oh, well. I think it is essential to make this scarf with a drapey yarn, or it wouldn't have the same appeal--and the Schaefer has a very nice sheen to it, so it has both drape and a nice depth of texture. I would definitely make this again in the same yarn, or another similar pima cotton.

Another baby has recently come into our circle, so the other Schaefer skein is now earmarked for a receiving blanket.

Flannels

I love that Britishism for a face cloth; I wonder if they still use the word, or is it just something from books...

My mother needed three special little gifts to give, and hoped I could oblige within two days (short notice!). I came up with the idea of using the Dorothea Dishcloth pattern, a very simple single crochet-double crochet repetition that makes a complex texture, but doing it as a square for a face cloth.

I dug around in my cotton stash for something a little finer than Peaches n' Cream, and discovered a cache of Plymouth Wild Flowers dk. I love this yarn--it's inexpensive, but feels soft and is nice to work with, and I like how it shows off the pretty stitch:



I did three sets of two, and packed them up with some of my favorite scented soap:

Sock Yarn in Search of a Non-Sock Project

As the spring days grow warmer, and summer is fast approaching in all its hot sunshiny glory, I am inexplicably drawn to cozy, colorful shawls. If you like shawls, and you'd like to make one from a single color, there's a whole lot of inspiration at Garn Studios lovely site with dozens of shawl patterns.

However if, like me, you're struggling to find things to do with odd bits and pieces of stash, you must try this fun project I discovered over at Yarnloopie: The Sunday Morning Shawl. Her shawls are stunning, very inspiring for a color-obsessive like me. I gathered up my sock yarn scraps and got to work, and continued until I had run out of the color scheme I'd decided upon. It took a few days, but the beauty of it is that, because it's simple garter stitch with occasional symmetrical increases, you need not watch your stitches carefully, and so can do it while watching a movie. I knit my way through "Night at the Museum II," "Robin Hood," "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "We're No Angels," and "The Sea Hawk." Brilliant!

I did a couple of rounds of half-double-crocheted edging with some extra sock yarn remnant in a solid, contrasting color, which I thought tidied it up a bit.

Here's my first finished Sunday Shawl:





And here's my next one, still in its formative stage. These balls of muted but lovely Koigu Premium Merino were originally purchased two years ago with the intention of making them into a "Charlotte's Web" shawl. I gave it the old college try, not once but twice, and found the lace pattern incredibly finicky and tedious, especially with all the color switching. But why not the simple Sunday Shawl! What a revelation, and so reassuring to know that they will go to good use!



You can find the pattern free on Ravelry.com. If you're not already a member, I recommend joining pronto. There are so many wonderful patterns floating around there, and you can get truly excited by browsing around other people's gorgeous work.