Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Gentleman's Scarf +/- 20 lbs



Behold the "Gentleman's Scarf" (Knitted Gifts by Ann Budd).    From the my first look, I wanted to make this scarf.   It just cries out for a well dressed man on his way to the theater.   Alas, I live in Florida and neither my hubby nor my sons would wear this well.    So, imagine, my delighted surprise when I met my mother's friend (not allowed to refer to him as "boy", or "gentleman", friend).    I do like him, though, quite a lot.   He is just lovely with my mother and I really appreciate his help and kindness.
Who better to receive the one Xmas gift that I will knit this year?



Choosing the yarn has been a trial.   I had hoped to find enough Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in a manly color but had no luck (I still think it is the perfect yarn for this scarf).    I did find some luscious admiralty blue Zara.  Loved the color, loved the feel, hated the gauge (for this project).  Thinking  I should have stuck to my original plan of using a fingering wt.  (The called for yarn is sport but I just can't imagine knitting tight enough to get 10spi), I found a gorgeous brown variegated Aslan Trends sock yarn .   I did worry that it would not show the pattern well but talked myself into buying it anyway (fell in love with the subdued, elegant, color).  However, after 24 rows (2 pattern repeats) it became glaringly obvious that the yarn was not going to show the pattern to its best advantage.

At this point I had already spent quite a bit on yarn that was not going to get the job done.   Back to my stash I went.   This time I decided to give this handspun, undyed alpaca a try.   Just 12 rows into the pattern, I can see that this is going to be much better.   The yarn is just a bit fuzzy but still seems to show the zig zags and cables well.   Finally, I am on my way.


In non-knitting news, I hit a weight lose of 20#'s yesterday.   I was so excited that I checked again today to be sure they were still gone.   Not to sound too "Mary Sunshine" but I really do think this diabetes thing might be a blessing in disguise.

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