The Traveling Scarf: NC State Fan

Not long after I got home from the hospital another scarf arrived! The owner of this scarf is a big NC State fan. Apparently, their colors are red and white like a candy cane. I am not a big college sports fan so I am in the dark. I'm also still recovering from my C-section so I am not in a position to run out and buy red yarn. I have red yarn at home (I'm recovering at my parents' house so I have help with my son while I get settled with the baby), but I'm not sure my husband would be too keen on digging through my stash to bring it over here. I have burgundy yarn on hand so that is what I've used.

I wasn't sure I'd get it done, but I was able to turn it around pretty quickly. I didn't get a before picture of this one. The pattern of choice for this one was soda pop scarf. It's a fun stitch pattern. I think I could've used needles that were maybe one size larger for a squishier effect, but this is still okay.

My section is pretty dark compared to the rest, but I see I'm not the only one with a dark yarn. The last "red" person also used a burgundy color. I hope the end result is satisfactory.

At Last; Another Scarf!

After waiting for over a month to receive another scarf, the next installment of The Traveling Scarf project finally arrived. The color scheme for this one consists of grey, army green, brown, black, purple, burgundy, or turquoise. I have a lovely burgundy yarn that I would like to have used, however, the section I was adding to was a shade of burgundy already, so I opted for grey.  I really wanted to use my Caron United and since burgundy was out, grey was in!

The pattern instructions were very flexible. We could use any pattern we chose, so I found a stitch pattern I liked called Chain of Hearts. I found it on Pinterest, which is where I've been finding most of my scarf stitch patterns. It's a simple lace rib pattern, but I'm not so sure it looks like hearts. The site where I got the pattern used a much lighter weight yarn than the worsted weight I used. Perhaps it is meant for lighter weight yarns, but I still like the look of it. I guess I can sort of see the hearts in the pattern the more I look at it.

While I had hoped to get this scarf mailed before I went to the hospital, I didn't make it to the post office. Fortunately, I did get it finished before I went to the hospital; which was more important. I needed to get a bigger envelope. The scarves have outgrown the envelope size I've been using up until now.
These scarves are getting so long they don't really fit on my coffee table anymore, either! I have just thrree more scarves to finish and then I will receive my own scarf back. I can't wait to see it!

She's Here!

Our much anticipated arrival date arrived! Our baby girl was born on August 31, and this little munchkin is the smallest baby I've ever seen in person! Her birth weight was a mere 5 lbs. 15 oz. and she was 17 inches long. While we were at the hospital, she lost weight and dropped to 5 lbs. 6 oz. so we are now watching to make sure she maintains and gains. My point here is that she is definitely swimming in her dress, but it still looks good on her! She'll be able to wear it awhile so when it starts getting colder she will have a warm dress she can wear.

All We Need is the Baby

I finally got Baby Girl's dress blocked! I figured it might be a good idea to do it now since I'm scheduled for a C-section in exactly one week! The sleeves don't curl so much now. This pattern has no gauge written for it, so size may not be accurate. It's written as newborn, but we'll see. If she's a small baby, she'll be swimming in it. Regardless of how it fits, I plan to have her wear it anyway. If it's big she will just grow into it and wear it longer. I can't wait!

Knitting at the Crack of Dawn

I've been having trouble sleeping lately, which has resulted in my waking up at 5:00 a.m. or earlier. The other day I took advantage of this time to work on the baby's dress. I've finished one sleeve and just have to finish the other sleeve, sew the Picot edges, and weave in the ends; oh, and of course blocking. The pattern calls for crocheting the sleeves, but since I don't crochet, I have modified the sleeves to match the Picot edge of the skirt.

Here (left) is a closeup of just the bodice and the sleeve that is completed. I think it will work nicely with the Picot edge instead of the crochet. Maybe one day I will master crochet, too; but that day is not today. There are too many knitting projects I want to do! I can't have a distraction like crochet to deter me from knitting all the things!
Below is the entire dress so far. I'm happy with how it is coming along.

The Traveling Scarf: Trial and Error

Well, it took me several trials (I think I started this section over at least 10 times!), but I finally finished this edition of the Traveling Scarf. The criteria were pretty basic: bold colors and lots of texture! No pastels! I chose Plymouth Yarns Encore Colorspun Color #7121. It is greens and purples. The creator of this scarf said she loves bees so I chose the bee stitch!

Try as I might, I was noticing that my pattern was looking nothing like the tutorials I was referencing. I started over so many times and mine was just looking like a weird version of stockinette stitch. There was no texture whatsoever. Each time I started over, I watched the videos over and over and still couldn't figure it out.

Then, finally, I had an epiphany! After ripping it out and starting over for about the tenth time and worrying I wasn't going to get it out in the mail when I wanted to so it wouldn't be late; I realized I had been reading the pattern wrong the entire time! I was adding an extra knit stitch at the beginning of Row 4. Once I figured this out and actually did the pattern correctly, things just fell into place. Funny how that works out!

A Homecoming Dress

In the midst of all the scarves, I have started another project. I got busy on the dress for our daughter. I figure if I start early it will be finished by September. The pattern had me a little confused at first. It doesn't specify which is the right side (RS) or wrong side (WS). The way it is written would have had it switching back and forth. I think there are some errors in the row numbers, however, the errata link no longer works. So, I decided which is RS and WS and worked it accordingly and based on the instructions, I adjusted row numbers for some of the changes because I think they are just miscalculated. This is what I ended up with for the top half of the dress (the bodice). Now I just have to pick up the stitches and start the skirt. I have another scarf to finish in the meantime. I do think the yarn I got looks very nice!

Bodice (front)

Bodice (back)